Over the years, all kinds of things happen to your scalp. In addition to the ordinary signs of aging, you might get cuts, scrapes, or bruises. Due to all the natural oils in hair and the scalp, you can end up with pimples and other irritating issues on the surface of the skin.
For the most part, you might not even be aware of many of these problems. But when you start losing your hair, they become more noticeable. By the time you’re considering hair restoration, you might be alert to several nagging issues on your scalp, including scar tissue.
How Does Scar Tissue Develop on the Scalp?
You don’t need to be involved in a big accident to have scar tissue on your scalp. It can develop just from accidentally scratching or picking an area of skin that was already weakened in some way. While lots of scars disappear over time, some of them will last throughout life. It depends how deep the damage is.
Scar tissue is the body’s way of repairing damage and “knitting” the skin back together so it can heal. But it is different from ordinary skin because the fibers that connect it are all oriented in one direction.
By comparison, the cells of unblemished skin tissue are connected “randomly.” Likewise, healthy skin is made up of individual cells rather than bundles of fiber. This means scars are actually stronger and much tougher than healthy skin, as if the body is trying to protect that area from getting hurt again.
This has big implications for hair loss and hair transplant surgery.
Can You Perform a Hair Transplant on Scar Tissue?
If you are planning on a Las Vegas hair transplant, your hair transplant expert will evaluate the health of your scalp. It’s important to note any areas with scar tissue. Yes, these areas can be treated as part of a Las Vegas hair restoration! But the process is a little bit different from elsewhere on the scalp.
How a Hair Transplant Works on Scar Tissue
Hair transplant surgery works on scar tissue, but you will need an experienced Las Vegas hair restoration doctor to make it happen. The process takes some extra steps compared to most other hair restoration.
Because scar is made of thick, fibrous bands of collagen, it doesn’t leave behind room for hair follicles. Follicles are capsules situated under the skin that contain hair and allow them to regrow over and over.
Likewise, there’d be no way for the follicles around a scar to be supported by the healthy blood vessels underneath them. Sometimes, a larger scar can even disrupt nerve function! That adds to the challenge.
But hair loss can still happen in these areas, so all this calls for a different approach to hair restoration. Hair transplant surgery over scars must use hairs that are completely contained inside their hair follicle.
Because the whole hair follicle is transplanted into the damaged area, it starts to receive blood flow from nearby blood vessels as soon as the grafting is complete and the surgical site heals. This provides the nourishment it needs to grow hair.
Sometimes, this can take multiple treatments. Your doctor needs to keep a close eye on scarred areas to be sure the graft is successful. Additional procedures and medications can be used to flatten out the scar so the hair will look more natural.
Worried about hair loss? Don’t let scalp scars stop you from pursuing hair transplant surgery. A Las Vegas hair restoration doctor is just a call or click away. Schedule A Consultation to get started.
