waitforanagen

If this is just adding density and you have existing longish hair... I would think after 2-3 weeks you could hide it. Get some graftocyte and use it heavily the 1st 2-3 days, then lighter for the rest of the week..... this REALLY helped me to 1) not develop scabs and 2) the ones I had were small and fell off easily by the end of the 1st week. As for skin complexion (redness) I use a green redness concealer and mineral power based foundation(or whatever they call it) on top of it. Both can be found at your favorite drug store chain. I'm about 2 months post-op and my scalp is still pink... have to do the makeup routine every day (getting old). Don't rub your scalp until 3 weeks to be completely safe. BTW how quickly did you heal from your 1st procedure? i.e. how long until it wasn't too noticeable?

I would totally vote for FUT for a case this large. I am still do not understand why people want FUE for a huge number of grafts. Correct me if I am wrong, but with either surgery, for a case this big, you will have to have some hair to cover scarring either from FUE or FUT (i.e. shaving your head clean is out of the question). So given this, I would rather have 1 thin scar to deal with than LOTS of little scars scattered about the back of my head.

I just had one myself and I would consider myself somewhat borderline (NW 6). In my inexpert opinion, I honestly don't think you are going to get good results attempting it. The best you may be able to do is cover the front and forget the crown. FUE is out of the question..... you will need at least 3500 grafts (presuming average density of ~2, which it doesn't look like you have) to cover the top. FUT is the only viable option in your case. If you have average density, that will mean a scar that will run ear to ear across the back of your head. So if you do FUT (or I suppose FUE for that matter) you are committing yourself to having some hair on your head to cover the scar(s). So be sure you are ready to commit to that and be realistic with your expectations. I know my surgeon (highly respected/known) would probably tell you that this is not the thing for you..... Before you do it, get 2 opinions from known/reputable surgeons. Sorry, I know it is a bummer....

Ordinarily I would say yes... but you just had hundreds of slits cut into your scalp and that, I'm sure, provides a quicker path to the dermis. Chemical burns can and do cause permanent hair loss. Not to mention the tissue that has been inserted has been under alot of stress (hypoxia et al) Do I have any studies that show this? No... no research has been conducted on applying petroleum solvents on freshly transplanted hair grafts.... so this is speculative on my part but I would not expect good things to happen though. Having said all that, hair grafts are pretty resilient so hopefully no permanent damage was done. However, I think rubbing any kind of thick ointment immediately post op ( < 4 days) on the receiptent site seems to be a dangerous thing to do. If keeping the site moist is the objective, there are better ways to go about it... (e.g. copper peptide occlusive dressings etc...). Of course, neosporin on the donor suture is no problem at all (I did it myself, but used a "cream" based triple antibiotic - easier than the thick jelly formulation) Myself - I sprayed graftocyte (copper peptide solution) on my receiptent and donor areas. Quite aggressively the 1st 3 days, actually. There is some science that it improves healing but most of it is based upon large wounds, not little slits.....so some folks question whether copper peptides treatments help much at all on receiptent areas. Per my Dr instructions, I didn't touch my scalp in the 1st 4 days or so... then I gently washed it using a cup of water and baby shampoo.... did this until 10 days post op.... at which point I resumed somewhat normal shampooing. Good luck and happy growing!

I would guess in response to number 1 that the act of rubbing it in would place the grafts at serious risk of being dislodged and/or damage the newly forming vasculature. In response to number 3, I will presume your joking..... needless to say that putting a solvent on wounds, grafts in particular would seriously reduce the possibility they will survive.

Actually, I prefer them to go dormant. At least for me, with a very bald NW6 scalp, it looks quite weird to have a "buzzcut" look on top with a deep red scalp underneath. I like the slow and more subtle approach... scalp goes back to normal complexion... and you look like you did before the procedure..... 2 -3 months later, some follicles start waking up and gradually growing thin hair that gets thicker as it grows longer.

This mostly depends on your baldness and skin complexion. I am currently 4 weeks post op and it is definitely still noticeable. Scalp is pinkish, which I try to conceal with make up products. But I am a norwood 6 with light complexion. If I was early norwood 5 (i.e not totally bald recipient area) and with a dark complexion - at 2 weeks you may very well have no signs people will notice at a distance. This presume that most/all of your new hairs have fallen out. Me, at 3 weeks most of my hairs fell out (the graft hairs) but I had to shave off the rest (electric razor). It takes a green tint concealer and mineral make up to subdue the pinkness. By far, the worst is concealing the zig zag line running along the hairline. Interestingly, no one at work has said anything to me but I'm sure they noticed. I catch them staring a bit every once in a while. I *think* most people look at it (with what I am doing with make up, it is kind of subtle) and know something happened but are not quite sure what.... It would be nice if dr's had folks on the staff that could assist with concealment approaches using make up. Since it is typically men, few have little to no experience dealing with make up - I just had to research and figure it out for myself.... For me, it is not so much completely hiding it (would be nice though) but I can't go to work/public with a bright pink scalp with sawtooth edge on the front of my hair line. I have to do something to subdue it. Hope this helps....

Also curious if anyone knows an answer to this.... When the grafts were placed, the hair within them was trimmed short (obviously). So to look at me the hair looked like small stubble. Over the next 1-2 weeks the hair grew until it looked like a buzz cut, then most fell out. Though not all.... at 3 weeks when I had to return to work I cut them with an electric razor so it wouldn't look weird. Is this an indication the grafts actually took? i.e. if a graft dies, does it continue to push out a hair and grow? Just wondering if this is an indicator of graft survival. Now if only this stupid redness / pinkness would go away :-) Hydrocortisone 2.5% is doing little......

Yes about 1700 one day and 1700 the next. The harvest from one side, stitch you up (trichophytic closure).... then harvest from the other side the next day. The harvest was not too big a deal other than having a wound run ear to ear and trying to find a way to sleep :-). FUE was not an option for my NW 6 head :-). FUE is a waste for large areas, in my inexpert opinion. Good news is I have good laxity and donor density and could do another 4000 if I wanted to - so the Dr says.....

Well, I guess I will find out in about 8 months or so.... I just was getting a bit worried at 6-8 hours. BTW I had FUT... I guess it works as my surgeon is well known/respected and has been doing it for several decades now. Since we worked from front to back, on pretty a much bald scalp; if the grafts died from being out of the body, I would expect to have denser graft survival on my hair line then thin out, then get denser and finally thin out as you go back..... as this mimics the implantation time on both days. The other wild card in this (sure there are many others) is I was wondering how good of an idea it was to go back to back days. On the second day they injected my scalp with again an anaesthetic/vasoconstrictor... granted it wasn't directly in the same area but very close. In retrospect I wouldn't think reducing blood flow in my scalp, just as the previous days grafts are trying to reestablish their blood supply, would be a good idea. I've read grafts are pretty hardy so hopefully all goes well. And, of course, my "concerns" are all speculation with no experience or a lick of science to back them up.... :-)

Hi, I am curious and somewhat concerned about something.... I am 4 weeks post op for a 3400 graft HT. I had 2 sessions of 1700 back to back (day apart). I'm norwood 6 and covered the top of head leaving the crown still bald (not that any of this is relevant to my question). I was concerned during the procedure(s) how long my grafts were out side the body. Basically, the donor was harvested about 10AM and we didn't finish up until about 8PM or so each day.... so about 10 hours. Of course they were being put in as we went so some were in within hours, others not so much. I've read some studies on this that, as a rule of thumb, you lose about 1% per hour grafts are outside the body. Just wondering if this long of a session (1700 each) lasting 10 hours is typical and should I be concerned about poor graft survival? The petri dishes were chilled and used some sort of special solution (not straight saline or ringers), can't remember what though. I suspect I am a bit paranoid.... or maybe just looking for some reassurance :-) Thanks,