Doctors on Hair Loss & Hair Transplant surgery.

What are the ways to camouflage strip hair restoration scars?

Camouflaging Strip Scars

Scars in the donor area from strip harvests may be problematic for many men. They may be short or run from ear to ear. Sometimes they widen over time, occasionally to more than two centimeters, which is deforming. This is usually due to an overly tight scalp, too low a placement, or poor surgical technique. They also change the direction of hair growth below the scar, relative to above the scar, which may cause a “shadow” of the linear scar to be evident even with the hair grown out somewhat.

IN order to minimize the appearance of scars, several strategies are available. There are cosmetics such as Dermatch, which may help disguise the scar. The hair may also be grown out fairly long to attempt coverage. This, of course, may not be an option for those with an over harvested donor region.

Surgical scar revision may be attempted, often without success. This consists of excising the scar and them suturing up the wound, hoping that the resultant scar will look better than the original one. This can work in some instances; however, if the condition that led to the scarring is not remedied, then even the best revision may fail.

Grafting into the scar is another option. Because yields tend to be lower in scars, this may take more than one surgical procedure over many months to have a significant cosmetic effect. Either body or scalp hair may be used; scalp hair is generally a better choice if it is available.

Tags: dermatch, donor area, hair cycle, hair growth, hair restoration, scar grafting, scarring, strip scar, surgical scar revision

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Dr. Cole, what is the C2G stand for?

C2G stands for the Cole Isolation technique to go or CIT to go. CIT is a proprietary method of harvesting individual follicular units one at a time such that there is no need for a strip harvest. Strip harvests leave linear scars and no one can predict how wide the scar will be or whether it will be pale white in color or red in color. Either way the strip harvest leaves you will a linear scar that obviates your capacity to wear your hair short and leaves you vulnerable to others suspecting you’ve had a hair transplant previously. Often patients are so concerned about their strip scar that they cease going to a barber or hair stylist for fear of exposure.

In an effort to overcome this social stigma we developed the CIT procedure. The single negative to this procedure has been the requirement for patients to shave the donor area. This can result in problems blending back into society or into one’s work place. The goal of C2G was to develop a procedure that allows patients to keep their hair long so that they can return to their normal social environment within a few days.

C2G is a procedure where only individual follicular units are trimmed and the resulting individual follicular units are then transferred to the top of the scalp after harvesting them via CIT. Only the individual follicular units are trimmed so that you have a normal appearing donor area from day one and you also have the advantage of avoiding the strip scar altogether. Now there is no reason to avoid taking advantage of all the long term benefits of CIT. This includes no linear strip scar, no prolonged strip scar pain, no prolonged strip scar tightness or numbness in the donor area, more hair per graft (more bang for you buck), and a lower follicular injury rate (transaction rate).

There was once a draw back to CIT. Now there is none. C2G is the future of hair restoration surgery.

Tags: c2g, cole isolation technique, donor area, hair restoration, hair transplant, hair transplant surgery, strip, strip scar

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