SCALP
MicroPigmentation
Changing lives one ink dot at a time
s a medical practitioner in the
hair restoration industry, I see
many different cases on a
weekly basis. Some cases
are straight forward while
others require extra attention. Five years ago
a young man named John (not his real
name) came in to the New Hair Institute for a consultation. He had no hair
anywhere on his body, he wore prosthetic
eyebrows and he had no eyelashes. This
medical condition is called Alopecia Totalis. A milder form of the same condition
which leaves random bald patches on the
head and body is called Alopecia Areata.
Both conditions are caused by a malfunction of the immune system. It is not
known what triggers this autoimmune
reaction in the body. Some medical research suggests that it is a combination of
genetic susceptibility and an environmental trigger such as a virus or a bacteria.
With both Alopecia Totalis and Alopecia
Areata, the body’s immune system attacks healthy hair follicles which results in
total baldness or patchy baldness. In both
instances, the effect on the victim of these
conditions can be socially devastating and
contribute to extreme low self-esteem.
During the consultation, John explained
how he was living his life under a hat
for more than a decade. He never took
it off in public or when in the presence
of other people. We spoke about his
condition and I explained how there are
no specific FDA approved medication for
his condition although some doctors will
use certain medications as an off-label
treatment. He was interested in our Scalp
MicroPigmentation (SMP) procedure.
SMP is the art of tattooing small dots
30 | S Magazine
on the scalp that mimics the look of
a shaved head or a buzz cut. The
ink is specially formulated so that it
can be applied to the upper layers of
the scalp’s skin. Small medical grade
needles are used to lightly inject the
ink just below the surface of the scalp
unlike a regular tattoo where a larger
needle injects ink deep into the epidermis.
During the SMP procedure, the patient
can choose to be sedated or remain
awake. In both cases, local anesthesia is administered thus making the
patient’s experience pain free. For the
next several hours, a New Hair Institute
doctor and an experienced technician
will work to simulate the patient’s hair
line and hair follicles through the art of
SMP. Three to four sessions are usually required to complete the procedure
and they are usually sc Y [YۙH