Corrective Hair Transplant

Recently, there has been a number of people contacting Young Hair Restoration who asked us if it’s possible to reverse a hair transplant. The short answer is no. A hair transplant procedure is permanent, which is a fantastic benefit if it is done correctly.


However, we have seen patients who have searched for more affordable hair transplant options and took on a risk to travel either or outside of Australia to get a hair transplant. This sadly appears that we have seen patients who were unhappy with their results, and who are struggling to have it corrected by overseas clinic, due to the language and cultural barrier, but also the cost and uncertainty of travelling back overseas without guarantees the problem will get fixed. Unfortunately, not everyone is aware of the danger medical tourism. Of course, not all clinics abroad fall under this category but there are risks to be considered when traveling for a cosmetic treatment outside of your home country.

Having a hair transplant by an inexperienced person can lead to a number of problems in the future, even if your results might seem fine to start with. You could be left with unnatural looking hair line, damage to the donor area – or an over harvested donor area, hair follicles that have been implanted under incorrect angle – which could grow in the wrong direction – all are causing an unsatisfactory result.

Any clinic that offers unlimited grafts, really needs to be avoided. The donor follicles are a non renewable resource, and any clinic suggesting that using these follicles in an unlimited way must be deemed unethical.

Unlike clinics in Australia, many hair transplant clinics in Turkey, India and similar countries are not governed by a professional medical body – this means there is no way to see if the clinic is reputable, is your surgeon even a surgeon and what to do in an unlikely event of dissatisfaction? There have been a number of reports of some clinics illegally operating, with many nurses and practitioners not having the same medical training as doctors and nurses as in Australia.

There are a few reasons why a patient may be unhappy with their previous surgery:
• Poorly designed hairline
• Poor, uneven density -incorrect hairs placed in hairline
• Incorrect angle of hair implantation – hair growing in wrong direction
• Over-harvested donor with patchiness or scarring
• Lack of post care medical treatment to prevent further hair loss

If your hair transplant is unsatisfactory, you can choose to travel back overseas however this means having to pay the cost of travel, accommodation and most important aspect of life - time. Unfortunately, for some people the problems arise sometime after the treatment and the clinic they went to might not still be operating. After all many patients don’t want to risk going back to the same clinic overseas post unsatisfactory result.

If you are unsatisfied with your previous hair transplant - revisional hair transplant surgery can work to help build on the density of your hair and can correct a hairline. However, you need to be advised that when you have previously had a hair transplant that hasn’t worked as well as you might have hoped you can run into the issue where your donor hair was over harvested, meaning you’ve not been left with enough donor hair to use for future hair transplants.

In some cases it may be possible for previously transplanted hair grafts to be removed and transplanted – however, this is not recommended as it can result in less natural looking results and further scaring.

Hair transplant scarring can also be an issue from a bad hair transplant. The most common scarring Dr Young sees is from clinics using older methods such as FUT, often referred to as strip surgery. This leaves a long strip shaped scar on the back of the scalp. Dr Young has been trained extensively to seamlessly cover scarring left from strip surgery hair transplantation.

That being said FUE, can and does leave a scar, in the correct hands and appropriate harvesting % of the donor, and also in the optimal areas of the donor, there should be minimal scarring. Multiple FUE procedures, and re-harvesting will magnify the scarring.

Please note many clinics in Sydney and Australia are popping up with cheap hair transplants, be very wary of there safety, infection control, and also skill. We have heard of many clinics over harvesting and discarding unused follicles in large numbers. Most of these no medical input.

If you’re looking to have hair transplant correction surgery, we recommend getting in contact with us to book a consultation with Dr Young.
Dr Young has performed a number of corrective hair transplants during his practice and we look forward to help you to achieve your hair goals.

Please note, this can be very challenging to repair some hair transplants, and may require a few procedures to reach an acceptable outcome.