Category: Post-Operative

I have a very important question?

After my surgery, i started getting scabs (crust- normal), which lasted about 10- 12 days. After the 12th day, i decided to massage the scabs with oil. I did that for two days and further massaged it with my hands in the shower, used shampoo to wash it up. Now, i feel like i have made a mistake. massaging the scabs away? does it mean that my hair follicles are also damages and my hair transplant is a failure? I am scared and confused. please reply ASAP

We performed a study on grafts being secure after a hair transplant by pulling our grafts on successive days. We found that at 12 days, the grafts are secure. If you were gentle on the washing technique, usually the scabs that remain will loosen easily with soap and water. I don’t think you did anything to be concerned about.

You can read the article in PDF format here — Graft Anchoring in Hair Transplantation

After 13 days post transplant, I developed lots of scabs on my head. I used a brush to help remove these scabs as it is said the scabs can damage the regrowth process. But using the brush removed much of the transplanted hair in one go along with the scabs. Was using a brush a mistake? Or would the hair roots not have been affected by the brush as it was on the 13th day?

Great work on the site, a real help.

Cheers

I do thank you for reading the site and I am more than happy to give you general information, but shouldn’t you be asking your post-surgical questions to the doctor who performed your surgery? Answering such specific and personal post-operative questions (simple as they may be) could be potentially misleading just by the fact that I do not know what was done in your particular case. I mean, developing scabs on 13th day (with no scabs prior) is very strange if I am reading your question literally!

Small scabbing (1 to 2mm size) on the transplanted recipient sides after a normal follicular unit hair transplant surgery is common, but very minimal. With daily hair washing it should resolve in a week or two. I am not sure how you brush your scabs away, but if the hair grafts are not locked in by that time, you run some risk of pulling them out with the scabs. I would ask your doctor and have it checked out to make sure it is healing properly. See our published article on the subject — Graft Anchoring in Hair Transplantation (PDF file).

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Dr. Rassman,

I had 1600 grafts transplanted to my hairline, filling in about 1/2″ below its current level. It has been exactly one week and I am a bit worried about the left side. The center and right side look like they have solid coverage, but the left temple area looks sparse, with empty spaces. Is it possible that the grafts aren’t visible, or that they may have fallen out?

I certainly am not in a position to tell you what is going on, but the doctor who did your surgery should be the first place to go to find this out. I wish I could offer more, but I didn’t perform your surgery and I don’t know what was done in the operating room or how many grafts were placed in each area. You just had surgery a week ago, so definitely have an open line of communication with your surgeon to alleviate any of your concerns. There should be good photos of you immediately after the surgery so that you can see the coverage you got on your troublesome left side. Good luck.

I train regulary in full contact fighting sports. How long would I be out from training after a hair transplant???

If your surgery was done using the FUE technique, 7-10 days should be adequate (or until the scabs have gone away) before resuming your training. For a surgery done using the strip technique, I would wait 4-6 weeks.

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Hi,

Before writing to you i tried finding a similar case to my problem but i couldn’t. i have asked my doctor this question but i wanted another opinion to make sure that everything is going well. My question is that i have had my transplant (strip method) done a week ago, and i am feeling tightness in the donor area , where it feels a lot tighter to turn my neck and look at the left side than turning my neck to the right side, is this a normal feeling or should it feel equally tight on both sides? and if it is normal, how long will it take to be moving my neck normally and freely?

It is normal for the area behind the head (where the strip was taken) to feel tight. It may actually feel tighter than it is. When I (Dr. Rassman) had transplants, it felt tight in the donor area, but in a few weeks, it felt less tight and more mobile. Bending the head and turning it may be an indication of tightness, but in a few weeks, it should substantially lessen.

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i had my second HT 25 days ago. my grafts are growing and i can see the hair. is this a good indicator of my surgery? i feel most grafts are growing. my question- does this growth indicate a successful surgery and if i lost my hair after a week or so, will it grow back after falling out depending on this growth i see now?

thank you

That is great news! Good for you. Hair growth occurs immediately in about 5% of patients. In some patients, some of it grows fast while other grafts grow slower over the 4-5 month time frame. I know when my patients grow immediately, they (and I) get excited. I only wish I knew how to make this happen more often, but it will always grow if the transplant was done correctly and if it does not grow, just be patient and it eventually will appear.

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