ZeoRanger

It would be awesome if they started growing all at once. After 3 months the endless wait would be over.

Did some research and think it has to do with the programmed growing phase of the hair. Not the condition/state of the actual graft.

I ended up plucking the hair in question. No more discharge since then.

1) sorry don't know. I'd recommend asking the doctors if they feel comfortable extracting curly hair.

2) varies from clinic to clinic. Some will say you can buzz from day 10, others say you can buzz the donor after month 1 and recipient after month 5. Apparently there's a clinic that even says 9 months

3) Scabs should all come off by day 10. Luckily post op redness will not be that much of an issue for you as you have darker skin. The redness was def the absolute worst (and only) bad aspect of an ht for me.

I think there is a thread from someone who had a nose job after a HT in the "other plastic surgery" sub forum here. That patient would have been under general anaesthesia. I don't know if he ever commented on his overall yield but I think that sub-forum would be a good starting point for your research.

On the other hand I've never read a post-op guide that advised you against other surgeries until your grafts have grown out.

Why do the transplanted hairs not grow all at once but between the 3rd and 9th month?

They all shed about the same time. Are some grafts just weaker/slower, take longer to revasculize? Or has it to do with the growing phase of the follicle?

Are there any good articles/reads on this?

Update: I was given keflex 500 mg and felt ok taking it since it was mentioned here.

I'm also taking vitamin b, k and pro biotics just I'm case.

Thanks for all the replies. I should be fine then.

I find living post op really tough because everyday you fear doing something that could ruin your results. I wish I could just fast forward the next eight months.

My clinic is overseas - usually takes them a few days to reply and then it would be too late.

Are there any specific antibiotics that are 'blacklisted' for HT patients?

Tomorrow I will have to take a one-dose antibiotics pill. It's just precautionary after getting dermal fillers. I don't know exactly what antibiotic it is.

I'm 4 months post op. Is one pill a risk for my grafts??

Your head may still feel numb for a few months. Not nerve damage but a temporary side effect of local anesthesia.

Most likely your hair will shed soon and then regrow after 3 months.

Tried taking a photo but it is too small to recognise anything. The surrounding tissue of the 3 hairs out of the graft simply looks shinier. Kind of like when you peel off dead skin. This is all smaller than 1mm in diameter.

I have had a tiny amount of blood coming from 1 specific graft. 3 hairs have already been growing out of that graft.

Whenever I washed my hair for the past week I noticed that this particular graft looked like a tiny fresh cut. It would crust over during the day. The bleeding is not much, like if I would put press a white tissue on it for a minute, there would be a tiny red dot of blood on it.

There's no pain, swelling, pus, or any other sign of infection. It does not spread either. But for some reason this graft has been discharging a minimal amount of blood for the past few days. I only picked up on it because tap my recipient site with Kleenex to dry it.

Any idea what is going on at 4 months? I've googled folliculitis to death but it simply does not look anything like it.

My only guess is that one dead hair is trapped so it does not heal over properly.

Just wondering if you pluck (deliberately or accidentally) your new hairs post-op (few months out), would it affect the graft permanantely?

Or does the "after 10 days, grafts are secure" rule apply and it will regrow just like normal hair?

I think it's not a good idea to compare your case to others because you will only get more paranoid. That's what happened to me. I started searching for 3 months pics and some (lucky) guys pretty much had decent coverage which did not install much conference.

At 3 months 10% of your should start growing. Most likely you won't see much but you can feel a bit of fuzz when you run your fingers through the recipient site.

You'll have 9 months of growth ahead of you. On a daily average basis you'll grow less than .3%

So at 3 months there's usually not much to expect.

I would pay huge attention to scabbing and its prevention to be precise. I had 2 major scabs that formed after my transplant. Exactly where those large scabs formed was where i had a really poor yield. I think the scabs formation stopped the grafts anchoring properly.

Is it proven that there's a correlation between scabs and poor yield? My doc scabbing is normal. Also there's more scanning when there's dense packing.

What actually constitutes to scabbing? Dried up proper blood or also that translucent stuff (sebrum)?

I hope so. Flu season is around the corner here in Australia and I still have 8 months of growth ahead of me. Sometimes I wish I could be quarantined, isolated and locked up so nothing happens to me and my grafts can mature in peace.

Don't use witch hazel. For some reason my clinic did not endorse it. Better to be safe than sorry. I think aloe Vera may feel nice but I'm not sure it actually strips the redness away.

My redness faded after 3 months and then it faded quickly.

This is hypothetical but I'm curious...

Say you're on your long post-op journey, 3 to 5 months in, and down the track you fall sick. (Flu, stomach flu, virus etc) GP prescribes you medicine ect which you normally would not take since you're healthy and free of chronic disease.

What impacts would this have on your transplant? Would they be more sensitive/fragile/prone to permant damage than your 'normal' follicles? Or would the transplanted grafts just be as resistent to e.g. flu virus or antibiotics? Or are they likely to be wiped out while normal follicles survive the medication / illness.

Hopefully someone can weigh in. Thanks.

There is this study that confirms the grafts are securely anchored after day 8:

Graft Anchoring in Hair Transplant Surgery (2006) | Bernstein Medical

A clipper should not be capable of pulling a graft out once the grafts are anchored.

So I think the no shave rule till month 6 exists because the recipient site may still be sensitive and a cut from a clipper could cause an infection in a worst case scenario. If you search this forum there were a few threads on this topic and apparently there are a few clinics that don't want you to shave before a few months are out.

Ok this response has me worried to be honest.

Does this basically mean you should refrain use of ANY medication (prescription) for 12 months after surgery apart from finasteride? I think it makes sense to stay aware from hard core meds that would be supplied in hospitals for chemo etc but over the course of a year it's more than likely that you will need prescription medicine at some point.

The post op guides should really make a list of what is allowed and for what you need to ask permission from the clinic. The GP prescribing it, won't have a clue about a potential effect of everyday medicine on recently planted grafts.

I avoided the annual flu shot this year thinking I went overboard. But now I'm glad I didn't take it.

 

Zeoranger,

 

You can't cut your hair for 6 months after surgery? We inform our patients that 10 days after surgery they can buzz, cut, or put products in their hair.

Yes. My clinic has a very strict post op rule book.

No products for 2 months; no shaving for 6 months. I know it contradicts what other clinics recommend.

Were you operated by a doctor as well or only by techs/nurses?

Price should not be the main indicator, reports posted by former patients are the most important research tool. I wouldn't focus by result from clinics because their marketing peeps will only select the most stellar result.

As long as the grafts get enough blood supply in the scalp and were not transected, they should grow.

A doctor charging less than 1.5 euro per graft? I hope the price does not reflect the quality of work.

I'm a bit confused - I thought it was typical for shedded hairs to have that little kink/hook?

Whether that is a damaged graft is really hard to tell. I feel like you can never distinguish btwn scabs or other stuff. Fact is you'll bleed when you pull out a graft before it's anchored.

Then again you're also not meant to cut hair using clippers before the 6th month. A theory I don't really understand because the grafts are supposed to be securily anchored after day 9.

I have read a lot of post-op manuals and none made a reference to avoiding such medicine.

It is not a medice that listed hair loss as a side effect, so technically it should not be a problem.

Just to be on the safe side, I suggest contact your clinic before taking it.

Otherwise you'll be pondering every day for the next 10 months whether you made a mistake.

Or hopefully someone here will be able to provide a definite answer.