How to Avoid Pluggy Look from Hair Transplant?

Pluggy look is a technical complication from unskilled doctors and technicians.  A good hair transplant surgery will go unnoticed by others.  That is why finding the cheapest doctor is not the most wisest choice.

Pluggy look is a result from usually an older technique.  FUE (I prefer NeoGraft) and proper placement considering natural density patterns, orientation, and an eye for aesthetics should avoid a pluggy look every time.

This depends on the technique and surgeon used for hair transplant. Thirty-or-so years ago, hair transplant was associated with the pluggy look due to the now-antiquated methods that were used. Nowadays, this is not so. Any experienced hair transplant surgeon with skill and artistic propensity should be able to implant donor hairs without a pluggy result. The same may not be said of novice practitioners, which means you need to extensively research surgeons and not just arbitrarily pick one. Furthermore, certain modern techniques are prone to more natural-looking results. For example follicular unit extraction (FUE) has a greater capacity to create soft, gradual hairlines due to its use of non-traditional donor hair (such as finer caliber nape hair).

There are a couple of ways to avoid this look.  One is the use of micro grafts (1-2 hairs) and mini (3-4 hairs) grafts, a wavy pattern to the hair line with placement of micro grafts at the hair line.

Dr. ES

Make sure you see patients with your hair type, density, texture and similar ULTIMATE balding. What looks good today with mild hair loss can look poor in 20 years. In more than 30 years of doing both grafting and flaps, we find many patients prefer the advantages of the Fleming-Mayer flap. Since we do both flaps and grafts we don't care which the patient chooses after seeing both. Most surgeons or dermatologists do only grafts.

Most hair transplant surgeons perform follicular unit hair transplant by either a strip technique or follicular unit extraction. Hair plugs have not been performed for quite some time. Many factors determine what will lead to a natural result such as hair direction, angulation, density, hairline design, etc..... Make sure that your surgeon shows you a lot of before an after pictures during the consultation so that you can see what he is capable of.

With today's modern techniques one should no longer use the old plug grafts method.  A transplant today done properly does not look like the patient had a transplant since grafts contain 1-3 hairs. 

These days, anyone who does not achieve an undetectable result from a hair transplant has not had an aesthetically performed procedure, and therefore has likely not done his/her homework. The use of the microscope in follicular unit grafting allows for the smallest grafts that can then be placed in an aesthetic fashion to create a natural appearance. Doing research online is generally the best way to be assured of getting an excellent result- be sure to view hundreds of before and after photos as part of your homework.

Good hair restoration has moved far beyond the plugs, i.e., 4 mm round grafts containing 16 to 20 hairs in each.  However, we have still not moved beyond bad work.  Compression, pitting, bad angles, traumatic insertion, kinky hair, unnatural curl, wrong graft to site fit are all things that I still see in cut-rate clinics or inexperienced hands.  The way to overcome this problem is by having not only an excellent surgeon but an amazing team.  To me the success of a transplant involves both elements.  My new textbook, Hair Transplant 360, is a two volume edition with one by me for physicians and one by my assistant, Emina, for assistants.  Nothing like that has ever been written before.  Focus on quality of every member is the key to excellent outcomes.

best,

Sam Lam

finding the right doctor will guarantee that you will have a nature look. Ask to meet patients who were done by that doctor, then you will know