Does Anyone Else's Scar Feel Thin?

[TheEmperor]

My scar is on the wider side, 3-4mm and is pretty easy to see unless hair is combed the right way.

 

The scar did not stretch, and I did not feel any tension after the operation, but the scar is still wide.

 

When I run my finger over the scar, it feels like the scar is "thinner" that the surrounding skin. Like there is a depression or ridge in the middle of the scar.

 

I am trying to figure out why I got such a poor scar. This was tricho from one of the best doctors. The only scars I have seen that are worse from a virgin scalp are stretched scars.

 

Mine was always wide. At first red, and then when redness faded, now white. No tricho hair growing within.

[Severn]

Well, I can only speak from my experience from my scalp reductions. The first two were perfect in that I couldn't even detect I had been cut after a couple of days. It didn't even turn red in the incision area. The third one obviously was under too much tension even though it didn't "feel" tight. I walked out of the office with it bleeding like a stuck pig. Right off the bat it was 3-4mm. They obviously cut out too big a piece and could not get it to close properly. With the constant bleeding underneath the skin it formed a hemotoma in the back of my head which hardened.

 

After a month or so, it stretched out a little more. But the obvious problem is that it was closed with too much tension even though I didn't really feel the effect. It sounds like that's what happened to you.

[TheEmperor]

Oh crap. .. I was hoping that it was just my natural healing tendency.

 

If taking 4500 grafts put too much tension, then the prospects for getting good graft count in a folllow up without stretching are slim.

[Eman]

The hairs may not have grown back around the scar possibly due to shock. And the width of your scar could be due to the way your body heals. There are a number of factors that could have caused the wider scar.

 

In my case the hair grew back through the scar but darker than the surrounding hair . If I keep my hair a tad longer in back it blends or if I get my hair cut by a good stylist, the way they cut it helps.

[imissthebarber]

Emp - 4500 will definitely cause significant tension. I'm surprised that your reaction to this seemed negative though. Over time laxity returns to the surrounding area, so if you had a scar excision, IMO the scar would definitely be closed with a lot less tension and therefore there is a high probability that it could be improved. Also keep an eye out for developments in the use of extracellular matrix in scar healing over the next few years.

 

Re-reading your post I see where you are coming from, I guess most folks on this path want more grafts. You could always do some in-person consults to assess how many grafts you could get for a follow up. You may need to plan for a further scar excision/repair 12-18 months after your next HT if you go that way.

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

This is one of the potential downsides of taking donor strips that contain 4500 follicular units. Bigger strips=bigger wounds= more tension=bigger scars. Some patients have tighter scalp to begin with. Did your doctor recommend scalp exersises or was a two layer closure used in your procedure to close the donor wound? Scar revisions can be performed at a later time as well as FUE into scars. I admit I have had patients who really wanted to get a large number of grafts on the first procedure, and told me they really did not care about the scar in back. Probably because they intended to always keep their hair longer in back.