Bernstein Medical - Center for Hair Restoration

Tag Archive: Incision

When Are Surgical Staples Removed After Hair Transplant?

Q: I hear you leave staples in sometimes up to three weeks after a hair transplant. Why do you leave staples in that long? – M.C., Boca Raton, FL

A: My reason for leaving some staples in longer is that the tensile strength of the wound continues to increase (significantly) during the first three week period after surgery — actually, it will continue to gain strength for up to one year post-op. To give the wound the best chance to heal, on average, I take out alternating staples at 10 days and the remaining staples at 20 days.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2013-06-06

Do I Need a Hair Cut Before My Hair Transplant?

Q: I am considering having a hair transplant. Does my hair need to be cut? — I.S., New York, NY

A: In all hair transplant procedures, we are able to transplant into areas of existing hair without it having to be cut. The question of whether hair needs to be cut in the donor area depends upon the way the donor hair is obtained (harvested).

With a Follicular Unit Hair Transplant procedure using single strip harvesting method (FUT), only the strip of hair that is removed needs to be cut. When the procedure is finished, the hair above the incision lays down over the sutured area and it becomes undetectable.

In Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), particularly in sessions over 600 grafts, large areas of the donor area must be clipped short (to about 1-2mm in length) in order to obtain enough donor hair.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2017-01-17

After Hair Transplant, Do Patients Wear Bandage And If So, For How Long?

Q: Do patients need to wear a bandage after the surgery and for how long? — L.H., West University Place, T.X.

A: In a properly performed follicular unit hair transplant, the patient can remove any bandages the day after the procedure and gently shower/shampoo the transplanted area. The bandages do not need to be reapplied. The reason the dressing can be removed so soon is that follicular unit grafts fit into tiny needle-size incisions that heal in just one day.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2017-12-01

What are Options for Fixing Wide Donor Scars?

Q: I would like to have the donor area from an old hair transplant repaired so it does not show the scar when I cut my hair shorter. What are my options?

A: Widened scars can be improved in two ways: they can be re-excised to make the scar finer, or hair can be placed into the scar to make it less visible.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2013-06-07

After an FUE Hair Transplant at the Hairline, Will Bumps Go Away?

Q: I have had a hair transplant done in the hairline of 1,000 or so FUE grafts. However, as the hair sheds, under natural light the recipient skin seems bumpy with incisions and holes that are noticeable. Do these tend to go away with time once they have healed? — S.S., Glencoe, I.L.

A: If a follicular unit transplant is performed properly (using either extraction or a strip) there should be no bumps or surface irregularities. When the hair restoration is totally healed, the recipient area should be appear as normal looking skin.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2017-12-01

What Are Consequences of Trichophytic Closure in FUT Hair Transplant and Infection of Donor Area?

Q: Could you tell me in case there is an infection at the donor area following a hair transplant, will it prevent the hair to grow after healing if the donor area closed by Trichophytic Closure? What are the problems which may the infection cause? — S.S., Park Slope, NY

A: Infection may cause the donor incision to heal more slowly or with a widened scar after a hair transplant. It may affect any closure, Trichophytic or not.

The risk of infection after a hair restoration procedure is made worse by a tight closure, but not necessarily a Trichophytic closure, unless too much skin was removed at the edges leaving the dermis (deeper part of the skin) exposed.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2017-12-01

Is There a Second Scar with a Second FUT Hair Transplant?

Q: When a second hair transplant is performed, should there be a second incision or should it be incorporated into the first? – D.V., Inwood, N.Y.

A: It is a very common practice to make a second separate scar in the second hair restoration procedure. This is done to maximize the hair in the second session, and it is technically the easiest to perform. If you incorporate the old scar in the new incision, there will obviously be less hair. As long as the upper incision is still in the permanent zone, the hair quality will be good.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2017-12-11

Hair Loss in Women the Topic in Dr. Bernstein ‘Early Show’ Interview

Excerpt from the interview:

Julie Chen: Dr. Bernstein, I want to go through all the options that are available for women, but what is the difference between female and male hair loss option-wise. What can we do to treat it?
Dr. Bernstein: The main difference medically is that women have hair loss often from hormonal changes and it’s due to an imbalance between progesterones and estrogens. That equilibrium can be reestablished with medication. Often birth control pills can do that.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2015-05-21

Dr. Bernstein Talks Hair Transplant Repair On ‘Good Morning America’

“Good Morning America” interviewed Dr. Bernstein in their two-part series on hair transplant surgery. Below is an excerpt from the interview:

Charles Gibson: Are there good candidates and bad candidates for this?
Dr. Bernstein: Yes. And actually people that wear hairpieces are sometimes tricky because their baseline is a full head of hair, so one of the important things that we had to discuss in the first consult was what his expectations were and whether he realized that a transplant wouldn’t give him the fullness of a hairpiece, but of course, it would look much more natural.

Watch the full interview.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2013-05-10

Follicular Hair Transplantation Makes Splash After Bernstein Introduces Procedure To American Academy of Dermatology

Cosmetic Surgery Times features Dr. Bernstein’s presentation to the 55th annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology in their April 1997 issue.

The article describes Dr. Bernstein’s introduction of the concept of Follicular Unit Transplantation to the academy as well as the keys to making the technique successful. From the article:

“‘Hair doesn’t grow singly it grows in naturally occurring groups of from one to four hairs. In follicular transplantation, we use these naturally occurring groups as the unit of the transplant,’ he told CST.

Although the procedure is highly labor intensive, it can actually be less expensive than conventional hair replacement surgery, because it can be performed in a single, but lengthy, session.

‘It is also much more efficient and conserves donor hair much better than conventional hair transplants. Every time you make an incision in the person’s scalp you waste some hair and make the remaining hair more difficult to remove. Accessing the donor area just once or twice will increase the total amount of hair that is available for the transplant,’ Dr. Bernstein told CST.”

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2014-07-14

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