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Can a bad hair transplant be fixed?

While there are a high number of hair transplant success stories, there are also many bad hair transplants out there. A bad hair transplant can leave patients with both physical and mental scarring.

Disappointing hair transplant results can feel like a waste of time and money. It can also feel like a betrayal of your trust by your hair transplant surgeon, who may have promised results they haven’t delivered.

If you’re the victim of a bad or failed hair transplant, you may feel despondent and disappointed with the procedure. But there are things you can do to fix it.

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Why do people end up with bad hair transplants?

To understand how to fix a hair transplant, you need to know what’s caused it. Most hair transplants that go wrong result from one (or a combination) of these factors:

Incorrect diagnosis and suggested treatment

Some hair transplant clinics have one objective: to get you in the chair for surgery. That means they may not assess the cause of your hair loss, which is extremely important for knowing how to treat it. If your hair is caused by temporary conditions like  or illness, a hair transplant procedure may not be suitable for you.

Hair transplant surgery also won’t stop continuing hair loss. So if you have a procedure while you’re still losing hair, this can continue long after surgery, creating a patchy or uneven appearance.

Surgical errors

Errors during hair transplant surgery itself can also result in a failed hair transplant. Overharvesting hair follicles from your donor area, poorly designed hairlines, hair transplant trypophobia, poor hair growth, and patchy transplants can all occur if you work with an inexperienced or unskilled hair transplant surgeon.

Hair transplant costs can help you understand the skill level of your transplant surgeon. Watch this video from our hair loss consultant Matt Devlin to learn more about hair transplant costs.

Poor post-surgery aftercare

Unfortunately, patients themselves can also jeopardise the success of their hair transplant procedure. If you don’t take care of your hair transplant, you can damage your chances of a good result. This includes actions like:

  • Exposing your transplanted hair to sunlight
  • Allowing trauma to the transplanted area
  • Not following the aftercare recommendations from your hair transplant clinic

The real cost of a bad hair transplant

A bad or failed hair transplant can make you feel low. Failed hair transplants can seem like a waste of time and money. The good news is that many bad hair transplants can be fixed, provided you still have some hair in your donor area.

Unskilled or inexperienced hair transplant surgeons are liable to overharvest follicles from the donor area. If they take too many, there may not be enough hair follicles left to fix your botched hair transplant.

How to avoid a bad hair transplant

If you want to avoid spending time, money, and headspace on a failed hair transplant, there are some things you can do to avoid it.

  1. Choose an experienced hair transplant surgeon
  2. Don’t be tempted by cheap rates that promise big results
  3. Understand the recovery process
  4. Follow the aftercare advice from your surgeon and consultant

How to fix a bad hair transplant

If you’ve already experienced a bad hair transplant, try not to worry. According to an ISHRS report, many people don’t achieve their desired result after 1 hair transplant procedure. Going back to your clinic (or, if you’ve lost faith in them, finding a different reputable surgeon) is the first step to fixing your unsuccessful transplant.

Camouflaging unnatural-looking results

There are a few ways surgeons can correct bad hair transplants. The first is camouflaging obvious grafts from previous transplants. By placing micro-grafts in front of larger existing grafts, they can camouflage unnatural-looking hair plugs or old implants to give a more authentic hairline.

Hair graft removal

The other option is graft removal. This is where existing hair grafts are carefully removed, dissected, and redistributed to gain a more natural finish. With this procedure, there are generally no new donor grafts that need to be harvested. It can also be used in conjunction with the camouflaging procedure.

FUE hair transplant procedure

Thirdly, if you are self-conscious of linear scarring from a previous FUT hair transplant or plug-in style implants, you can use FUE hair transplant surgery to hide the scar tissue. FUE won’t cause any further linear scarring when hair follicles are taken from the donor area. Learn more about getting a hair transplant into a scar.

Scalp micro-pigmentation

Scalp micro-pigmentation is also an effective way to disguise hair transplant scars, give the appearance of high-density hair, and even outline hairlines.

If you’re suffering from a bad hair transplant, let our experts at the Wimpole Clinic help you find the right solution for corrective treatment.

Do you need expert advice about your hair loss?

At the Wimpole Clinic, we specialise in tricholog (the study and practice of cosmetic procedures for the hair and scalp) and offer a number of highly effective treatments to overcome bad hair transplants.

We use Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT) or Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) to correct poorly performed hair transplants. These surgical procedures require a great deal of skill from the surgeon, so choosing an experienced and reputable clinic is key to a successful hair transplant.

To find out how we can help you fix your bad hair transplant, book a free no-obligation consultation with our trichology team.

Can a bad hair transplant be fixed?, Wimpole Clinic

The Wimpole Clinic offers FUE Hair, Beard & Eyebrow Transplants & Trichology.
Talk to a specialist ☎ 020 7935 1861.

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