Repairing an Old “Pluggy” Hair Transplant
This following article was written by recommended hair restoration physician Dr. William Lindsey and posted on our Hair Restoration Social Community and Discussion Forums.
I had the old style “plugs” back in the 90’s and had some repair work years after (2 sessions) but the hairline was not natural. Then, I had a plug reduction in 2007 by a well known [tag]hair restoration[/tag] doctor. I still have some plugs on each side that are noticeable that I would like reduced as well as to add some grafts via [tag]follicular unit extraction[/tag].
None of the grafts that were taken from the reduced plugs grew in all the areas where the plugs were broken down but I noticed some grew in the virgin parts of the scalp. Also, when looking at some old pics, I could swear that I lost some of the other transplanted hairs in the area. So, I am wondering if the trauma to the scalp caused the old transplants to fall out as well as the new ones not to grow. Could this be due to a lack of blood flow?
Depending on how big your plugs are, taking them out via [tag]FUE[/tag], excising them, or even including them in your new hairline are all options to be discussed. I often favor the latter and just pack hair around the plugs. While not “virgin scalp”, this [tag]hair transplant[/tag] technique has been very reliable for me.
I’m not a fan of excising a plug, sewing it up, and then grafting above it as I do think the blood supply could be an issue leading to poor [tag]hair growth[/tag]. In those cases, I’d excise on day 1, put those hairs somewhere well away from the site of surgery and then plant around the plug site 3 or more months later with a different surgery.
Dr. William H. Lindsey, MD, FACS
McLean, VA
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David – aka TakingThePlunge
Assistant Publisher and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog, and the Hair Restoration Forum
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