Hair Restoration Blog

Many hair transplant patients are concerned with the scar of cosmetic surgeries including hair transplants. Several techniques have been suggested to minimize the scar such as corticosteroid injections, irradiation, ultrasound, silicone applications into and around the forming scar. However, the effects of most these methods were far from satisfactory. Botox is a new method that could be used to minimize the size of both facial and scalp scars. The use of Botox for reduction of facial scars from surgeries was first suggested by plastic surgeons who were trying to reduce postoperative effect of facial muscles on stretching and widening of scars.

In many patients with ugly scars of the face, botulinum toxin (Botox) was used successfully to induce temporary paralysis of the muscles during revision surgery. Botox with the same mechanism can help minimizing tension on the healing wound edges until collagen could mature and scar if completely adnd firmly formed.

The use of Botox has been suggested for the treatment of stretched scars on the face by many plastic surgeons now. Hair transplant surgeons also use Botox for treatment of the hair transplant widened scars of the donor area that do not show improvement with a simple scar revision procedure. There are reports of successful decrease in the final size of the scars with injection of Botox into the muscles surrounding the maturing scar. We at the Los Angeles hair transplant offices of US Hair Restoration don’t offer Botox to every patient who is having a hair transplant surgery through strip technique, but it certainly could be used for the patients who suffered from widened scars of prior surgeries and did not respond to the other methods of scar revision.

Q:

Hi, I have a few thousand grafts already and I am interested in getting more as well as trying to revise my scar. My donor area is still quite dense.

A:

Scar revision could be done through several different methods depends upon the location, size and orientation of the scalp scars. The scalp scars that are not aligned with the Resting Skin Tension Lines (RSTLs) generally do not respond well to the revision through simple excision of the scars. For these scars hair follicular unit transplantation is a better solution. Filling the scalp scar with follicular unit transplant can be a successful method for the scars that do not respond to the regular excision. We have treated the scars that have been previously operated with multiple simple excisions by other plastic surgeons with no significant improvement in the final size and appearance of the scar. For more on scalp scar management with hair transplantation, you can read on one of my presentations in the fifteenth annual meeting of the international society of hair restoration surgery (ISHRS) which was titled: Hair Transplant and Neurosurgical Scars. You can also check our website at www.ushairrestoration.com to get more information on the modern hair restoration procedures and possible options for repair of old surgeries or scar revision procedures. You can also browse the Hair Restoration blog at www.ushairrestoration.com/blog to familiarize yourself with the available hair transplantation methods and techniques for revision of the hair transplant scar.