Month: January 2023

Maybe you are one of the lucky 5% that start growing immediately and keep growing without going through the shedding phase. I see this and the patients who have this happen usually have a full head of hair by the 4th month, much earlier than normal.

The post-operative picture on the left shows recipient area necrosis (a loss of blood supply to the graft area). This area healed with the scar that you are showing in your 6 months photo as I would have expected (photo to right). You need another hair transplant to fix this. You should ask your surgeon to make it right for you as this reflects a surgical problem.

 

 

 

 

What you are seeing is terrible post operative washing. You should have washed off all of the crusts on the day and the day following the surgery. When this is done correctly, within three days of surgery, you can resume full activities, heavy exercises if you wish.

The recipient area requires daily washes to keep it free of crusts. I generally recommend the use of a sponge and supply my patient with a surgical sponge to fill with soapy water and press on the recipient area daily. By repeating this daily, all crusts can be washed off without any fear of losing grafts. If any crust are present, use a Q-tip and dip it into soapy water and roll it on the crusts. That will lift them off without dislodging the grafts. Never rub them, just roll the Q-tip on the recipient crust. I like to see no evidence of any crusting in the recipient area and the crusts from the donor area gone in 7-10 days with daily washing.

 

We do know that for a few patients, these permanent hairs may not be permanent after all. We don’t understand what you are reporting, but I would suggest that you see your surgeon and ask him/her to look at the donor area microscopically and see if those hairs are miniaturizing. If the donor areas have miniaturized hairs, this could explain what you are seeing.

Hair transplants work very well when you are balding. I had hair transplants for my crown, and no one knows unless I told them. I performed hair transplants on 6 relatives, including my wife and daughter-in-law, and they were all happy with them. There is a balance between your concerns about balding and your sense of need to do something about it. Hair transplants are not for everyone. Even though I invented the FUE, I still perform half of our hair transplants with strip surgery, often in older men or men who are going to develop an advanced balding pattern. The decision to do an FUE vs FUT is a personal decision for each patient.

Hair Transplant Should I Wait? from tressless

I’m 23 years old, male. I was concerned about my thinning hair and my forehead is also very high. I was wondering if my forehead could be lowered along with hair transplant in one session and also a general estimate of what it might cost. Could the surgery be financed?

Another concern that I have is whether my transplant area and donor area would be red and swollen for various number of days. How many days are we talking about here? Since I am a college student I am concerned if people will be able to tell I had a hair transplant surgery after I come home from the procedure. Will the transplanted hair and the hair from donor area shed very badly and leave me looking like I have thinner hair than I used to and how much pain should I expect?

Thanks for addressing my concerns.

Thinning hair in a 23 year old man is usually caused by genetic balding. You should see a good doctor to have your hair mapped for miniaturization and have your hair bulk analyzed to be sure that you have genetic balding. If this is the case, then the use of medications like Propecia will be critical to stopping or slowing the balding process from progressing.

The redness after a surgery depends on two factors — the color of your skin (white skin is more likely to turn red), and the general way your body reacts to a wound (scratch your forehead with your fingernail and then wait 5 minutes to see if it turns red). If and when you become a candidate for a hair transplant by presenting with a clear balding pattern, then you can at the time of the transplant, lower your hairline. Costs vary depending upon what has to be done. Financing is available.