What Type Of Lip Scar Revision Do I Need?

Q: Dr. Eppley, what scar revision procedure would you recommend to help improve this widened, red/pink, rough, indented scar above my upper lip? As you can see, the mustache hair follicles were killed in the car, so there is no hair growth. It is a year old and seems to be done improving on its own. Please help. 

A: Your upper lip scar, as you know, is wide, indented and hairless. Fortunately it lies in a near vertical direction which is a perfect orientation for a straight line scar revision. The existing scar needs to be cut out and hair-bearing upper lip skin brought together after removing the indented scar. This brings healthy tissue back to healthy unscarred tissue. This alone may be sufficient and will make a big improvement. Depending upon beard hair growth around the scar afterwards, a few hair transplants could be done if there is not good hair density across the scar. But you don’t want to do any hair transplants before formally removing the scar as that would never look as good. This type of scar revision is an uncomplicated office procedure done under local anesthesia. By removing the lip scar the surrounding beard hair will be closer together and the lip depression removed.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana