Hair Transplant for Scar Repair

What Is Scar Tissue?

Scar tissue is the fibrous tissue produced by the body as it repairs an injury or surgical wound. Collagen fibres replace the damaged tissue and close the area, but the repaired skin is not identical to the skin that was there before.

A scar is often firmer and less flexible than normal skin. It can be pale, dark, raised, sunken, wide or uneven, depending on the cause of the injury and the way it healed.

These differences matter during hair transplantation. The surgeon needs to know whether the scar is thick enough to hold a graft, flexible enough to create recipient sites and sufficiently supplied with blood to support new growth.

The scar should also be mature and settled. A scar that is still red, painful, itchy, raised or changing needs further assessment before surgery is considered.

Why Doesn’t Hair Grow Naturally Through Scar Tissue?

A deep injury can destroy the follicles that originally produced hair in the affected area. Once those follicles have been lost, the scar cannot replace them on its own.

Scar tissue can also have less blood flow than the surrounding skin. Follicles need oxygen and nutrients from that circulation, so poor blood supply can make natural regrowth impossible and transplanted growth less predictable.

The tissue may also be hard or tightly bound down. This can make it difficult to create recipient sites at the right depth and angle. At the other end of the scale, a very thin scar may struggle to hold a graft securely.

Healthy follicles implanted during surgery can grow through suitable scar tissue. The important question is whether that particular scar can support them, not simply whether transplantation is technically possible.

Why Cover Scar Tissue With Hair?

Many patients seek treatment because a scar remains visible through their normal hairstyle. A widened FUT scar, for example, can show across the back of the head and make shorter haircuts difficult to wear.

Scars through the hairline, eyebrow, moustache or beard can be even harder to disguise because they interrupt an obvious pattern of growth. The eye is naturally drawn to that break in the hair.

For some people the concern is purely cosmetic. Others want to make a scar from an accident, burn or previous operation less prominent because it affects how comfortable they feel about their appearance.

Transplantation does not erase the underlying mark. It uses growing hair to soften its outline and reduce the contrast between the scar and the surrounding area.

Which Hair-Transplant Method Is Best for Scar Repair?

A scar-repair transplant raises the same question as any other hair-restoration procedure: how should the donor follicles be collected and placed to produce natural-looking coverage?

FUE scar repair

Individual follicular units are normally removed from the donor area using a small punch. Each graft can then be checked and distributed carefully across the scar.

FUE avoids the long linear donor scar associated with strip surgery. Instead, it leaves small circular extraction marks spread across the donor area. When the extractions are planned properly, these marks are normally easier to conceal than a single strip scar.

DHI placement

Follicles harvested individually can also be placed using DHI. The main difference is the placement stage, where an implanter device is used to insert the grafts into the recipient area.

Whether this approach is useful depends on the scar, the number of grafts required and the level of control needed around existing hair.

FUT strip surgery

FUT removes a narrow strip of donor-bearing skin before closing the area with a linear scar. It can provide a large number of follicular units, but the resulting donor scar must be considered before this method is chosen.

FUT can still provide useful grafts, but it is rarely the obvious choice when the patient is seeking treatment for an existing surgical scar.

The final method is chosen after the scar and donor area have been examined. Donor supply, graft requirements, hairstyle and the condition of the recipient tissue matter more than the name of the technique.

Can I Have a Hair Transplant Over My Scar?

Hair can be transplanted into many surgical, traumatic and burn scars, but not every scar will support reliable growth. Suitability depends on the condition of the tissue underneath the visible surface.

A hypertrophic scar is thicker and more raised than the surrounding skin. Restricted circulation through that tissue can reduce the number of transplanted follicles that grow successfully.

An atrophic scar is thin or sunken. In this situation, the tissue may be too shallow or delicate to hold grafts at the usual depth. Placement has to be adjusted and the achievable density may be lower.

The assessment will also consider:

• the cause and age of the scar;
• whether it has fully healed and stopped changing;
• its colour, thickness, texture and flexibility;
• the quality of its blood supply;
• the strength of the available donor hair;
• any history of keloid or poor scar formation;
• active infection, inflammation or scarring hair loss.

A small test session can be useful when the scar’s response is uncertain. This allows the healing and initial growth to be reviewed before a larger number of follicles is committed.

Inflammatory conditions

A scar linked to inflammatory hair loss should not be transplanted while the disease is active. The surgeon will ask about previous flare-ups, treatment and current symptoms before discussing an operation.

If inflammation returns, it can damage both existing and transplanted follicles. The condition therefore needs to be medically stable before surgery proceeds.

How Much Does Hair Transplant Scar Repair Cost?

The average cost of a scar-repair hair transplant is £5,000. Smaller scars usually need fewer grafts and less operating time, while wider or more complicated areas require a larger procedure.

Price also depends on the condition of the scar, the donor hair available and whether the work can be completed in one session. If treatment needs to be staged, that will be explained before surgery is booked.

Finance is available for patients who prefer to spread the cost. Current information can be found on our hair transplant cost page.

Protecting the transplanted grafts

Follow the washing and aftercare instructions provided by your surgeon. The recipient area should be kept clean, but the new grafts must not be rubbed, scratched or picked while the early crusts are healing.

Antibiotic ointment or dressings should be used when they have been prescribed for your procedure. Do not add products to the area simply because they are sold as wound or hair-growth treatments.

Avoid direct sun, excessive heat and very hot showers during early recovery. Exercise, hats, haircuts and a return to normal washing should follow the timings given by the clinic.

Diet and supplements

A balanced diet provides the protein, vitamins and minerals involved in normal wound healing and hair growth. If a deficiency is suspected, it should be assessed properly rather than treated with an unplanned mixture of supplements.

Tell the clinic about every vitamin, supplement and medication you take. Some products can interfere with bleeding, healing or prescribed treatment, so new supplements should be discussed before surgery.

More recovery information is available in our hair transplant aftercare guide.

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