I'm having surgery in October with Dr. Arovonitz in Detroit; had 1300 grafts from mhr in march 2006 with a wide scar; could the doctor leave the old scar and then end up with two scars; to me, that would be better if it would allow more grafts; to me the scar isn't a major deal cause I wear my hear long enough to conceal; ideally I would like just one scar; but rather have two if I get get the grafts needed to give me the cosmetic improvement in the front.

I have two scars courtesy of the Shapiro Medical Group. My procedure was done that way to also allow for a few more grafts to be taken. I'm going in for third this November and I've asked they combine the two scars and use what grafts they can from between the two previous lines. This will be my last surgery. Good luck to you.

dhoose75,

This is not common practice however, if you share your desires with Dr. Arovonitz - he will tell you what would be best for your situation.

Personally speaking I have to admit I'm a bit surprised that a clinic would create two scars even at the request of a patient. I'm not so sure it's in a patient's best interest, especially since an already wide scar will become even wider, not to mention a second scar.

To understand this you have to visualize/conceptualize what is happening when a strip is removed. Scalp is taken which means skin is stretched in order to close the wound. As skin stretches, the skin of the scar will also stretch.

The following hair loss Q&A blog discusses the benefit of scalp exercises - however I discuss more in detail my observations of how skin works.

I hope this helps.

Falc

Falc,

I doubt dhoose75 has a "ear to ear" length scar since he only had 1300 grafts.

My guess is he still has a virgin side to use and should probably use it then revisit with his last surgery to combine them ear to ear and end up with one longer scar as Not so bad suggests.

This was my case, I have had two smaller strip session scars, one on each side.

dhoose,

Just a few thoughts to add...

Ideally it is better to remove the entire scar and remove enough tissue to yield the appropriate number of grafts - IF the wound can be closed under minimal tension. Remember, sometimes a scar will go wide as a result of poor closure. But, in other instances, the scar is simply located in an area of the scalp this more susceptible to stretch back. Should the latter be the case, you may be playing with fire trying to revise the scar AND get a decent number of grafts. So, while it is better to leave a single linear donor scar, it is not always possible depending on what happened with a prior physician or prior surgery.

nobuzz,

Good point. I guess dhoose75 will have to clarify for us.

Falc