BrightIdea

I didn't have donor hair from the chest or beard, but would if I had enough chest/back hair. If I was fairly certain scarring wouldn't be an issue, I'd definitely have it taken from the neck area of my beard in the event of another HT, but I haven't been able to gather enough information to make that determination.

I think things to consider on the beard would be how it might scar. You seem to have a darker complexion, so depending on how you scar, you might want to consult with a physician on how the scars might contrast to your skin.

I found this thread helpful:

StaggerLee Gets Repired By Dr. Konior: 1710 FUE, 150 Beard Hair Grafts Into Scars - Page 4 - Forum By and for Hair Loss Patients

All the best.

Happened to me today. I'm not sure if this is the same as your case? Or just hair attached to a normal scab

Hmm, not sure what to make of that. If you must know if these are grafts, I suggest saving the structures and showing your doc if you get the chance to see him.

Definitely don't touch or pick at the area. Just keep the attitude of letting nature do it's thing. Everything will fall off when it's ready. I've seen cases where some dudes are battling crusts for over a month after the HT, but they just let it be, and ended up with an amazing result. Here's a good example:

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/184961-konior-hairline-restoration-6.html

I had something similar looking after washing my hair but it was more soft and basically disintegrated after putting a little bit of force on it. I have a lot of flaky dry skin on my scalp so I'm hoping it's that.

How long after the HT did you observe this? Have any pics?

What did those grafts you posted the photo of feel like to touch? Were they hard?

The hairs and structures collected in the image were captured fresh out the shower. I believe the tissue pictured was more "scabby" in texture and form, or even crust-like, but they look clear/transparent because of how wet my head was after a shower. The feel of the structures was more like wet scab attached to hair.

Glad this seems to have worked out. I will add that regarding the Bernstein study mentioned above that even though it is possible to dislodge a graft on day 10, the likelihood of this happening and the amount of force/trauma that it would take for this to happen is significantly smaller than the much more crucial 3-5 day window your surgeon mentioned. I think this is going to work out just fine for you. Happy growing!

Thanks for this input. It's encouraging. I was extremely ginger and followed directions. Looking back, I would've not touched the area for 2-3 weeks and let nature do it's thing, but I'm not sure that's the correct care with regard to crusting.

I'm far from it having "worked out" for me. I won't really know until a year. And that's the pain of it all, but I'm not gonna count hairs or obsess. I've done enough of that leading up to the procedure to know it's not productive. Whatever happens from here on out, I know I took action on something that's bothered me for a really long time. I've done all I can, so I'm gonna do my best to be at peace with it and exercise patience. All the results I've seen from my surgeon have been outstanding. He's assures me I'll be happy when this is all done, and I believe him.

Excellent progress. Big difference overall. Congrats on the weight loss and the hair gain!

BrightIdea, I believe you went to Dr. Konior correct? Did you email him the photo? He's the best person to ask about this for sure, and in my experience he is great with communication so you'd probably hear back from him pretty quickly.

 

Not sure whether or not those are lost hair follicles, but I can say that when I was shedding it started later, and it was only the hairs, no bulbs attached.

I've been in touch with my doctor throughout. His communication is excellent.

My hairline still looks great. I did have a lot of grafts put in to thinning areas. At this point, I'm not really able to distinguish my native hair from my grafted hair. They did an amazing job. Thanks for your input.

Just to clarify: how many days after surgery did you start seeing these hairs?

I didn't touch the grafts at all days 1-6, except for light misting, gently pouring water using a plastic cup on the back of my head and letting it flow over the front. Day 7, when I started tending to the area a little more, is when I noticed these structures. I may have been overzealous in the removal of crusts.

And did you have any bleeding?

No bleeding whatsoever.

The grafts would have found a blood supply and firmly attached after about 72+ hours or so. It sounds like you did everything expected and explained by your doctor. I was wondering if you took the residue/supposed grafts in the picture back to your doctor to be inspected? I suspect you’re fine and this is a normal occurrence. If they were grafts, the result will be inconsequential if only a few were shed. Everything will most likely be fine but return to your doctor with the questioned grafts (if you still have them) for a consultation if you’re still concerned.

My doc wasn't in the day I reached out, but gave me the option to stop by his office and consult with another doctor and the techs. Of course, I just couldn't wait, so I elected to see another doctor instead of waiting one day (I know, I should've just waited another day). While there, one of the techs were inspecting my scalp with a q-tip and similar structure came loose. I collected it from my forehead and showed the doctor, to which they replied, "Yea, but there's no follicle."

My doc advised me not to stress about it if the grafts weren't touched 4-6 days after surgery. He viewed the image above and said they do look like follicles. He eluded to the possibility of the early healing bonds' integrity being compromised if there was forceful manipulation of the grafts.

There's nothing to be done at this juncture except wait with respect to regrowth. He also assured me multiple times he'd correct anything I was unhappy with. They really did an excellent job. My hairline still looks good and I marveled at how clean it was post-op. I had been anguishing at the possibility that I may have done something to compromise the beautiful job they did.

Thanks for your input everyone. Though this doesn't seem to be normal shedding, I was able to find one case on the internet where someone was losing these type of structures - kinda fleshy/crusty pieces with hairs attached, and they reported their HT turned out fine:

https://www.baldtruthtalk.com/threads/18068-Crusts-scabs-falling-out-look-like-grafts-after-hair-transplant

Just gotta wait and see I suppose. If anyone went through something similar, please chime in and let me know how it turned out.

Hey all,

This is my first thread. Thanks to everyone that has been so helpful in making my FUE decision.

I'm worried about my FUE procedure. I'm 16 days out. Out of an abundance of caution, I didn't touch the grafted zone days 1-6 except to apply ointment. After that, I began being a little less conservative in removing crust and flakes. Most hairs that have come off in the process of applying ointment or flicking off crust seem to have a bulb-like structure, or something that could perhaps be a crust or dried flesh attached. It's not just a hair. It's kinda like a drumstick-type structure attached to a hair, or in some cases, it's only this crust/flesh-like structure without the hair. I did follow directions and have been very gentle in handling the grafted zone. I understand that shedding can begin between 1-5 weeks.

I'm wondering if these are grafts that didn't take or grafts that I possibly damaged when gently removing crust, or maybe they're native hairs shedding. Maybe they're what normal shedding looks like. Does anyone have any images of hairs or follicles they lost after their procedure to compare?

Can anyone describe what their hair looked like when it came out after their procedure? Was it just the hair, or was there something attached to it?

I visited the doc on Day 9. My doc wasn't in that day. It was either wait or have another doc inspect the scalp. Another doctor and 2 technicians examined my head and said they didn't see any blaring gaps where grafts could've fallen out. Furthermore, doc said the grafts are pretty much anchored after 4 days. No one was alarmed.

Any input would be great. I just want to know if this is normal or not.

This is looking great. I think the front and midscalp is gonna fill in nicely. Even though the hairline hasn't had the time it needs to fill in at 4 months, you can already see the way it's beginning to frame your head and face when comparing these images to your pre-op photos. The back is undetectable. There's no evidence of persistent redness in the grafted zone. I bet no one even suspects you had something done. There are so many good things to take away from your most recent update.

Thanks for sharing. Congratulations on the progress.

I'll hit 3 months on January 19, so just over a week away. I'm starting to notice a bunch of little sprouts along the hairline, particularly on the right side. Not doing anything for me visually yet, but nice to know something is happening.

 

I had a bit of a scare on Sunday morning when I woke up to a line of red blood on my scalp in the recipient area. It looked like a cut or a scratch, but I have absolutely no idea how it happened, and it wasn't there when I went to bed. I sent pics to Dr. Konior and he suspected it was a fingernail scratch, and that the follicles are likely OK. By Sunday night it was much less visible and today it seems almost fully healed, so I think it was a superficial surface injury and hopefully I didn't do any damage to the transplant.

 

Still very curious about how it happened as I've never scratched myself in my sleep before. I did have some pimples popping up right where the scratch was so I think they may have been irritating the skin and maybe it caused me to scratch my head in my sleep.

I can imagine it can be quite itchy after the procedure. It's plausible it happened in your sleep. I can see myself doing something like this because I've woke up with minor scratches occasionally with no idea how they got there. For what it's worth, from all the posts I've seen, the grafts are most vulnerable up until the 2 week mark.

Must be encouraging to observe evidence of growth. Congratulations on the sprouting.

Will do! You made a great decision by choosing Dr. Konior. Part of the reason I haven't been obsessing too much at this point is because I'm very confident in Dr. Konior's work, and I could tell that he was extremely meticulous when conducting the surgery.

 

Also, because my hair is longer now, I'm not looking as lopsided as I did in the Month 2 photo, so I look a lot more normal and nobody would ever suspect I had anything done. Just a guy with a weak hairline, which I'm used to haha, although it's thinner at this point than it was prior to the surgery.

 

Very much looking forward to when the real growth starts. Will definitely keep this thread updated as I'm using it as a journal to keep track of my progress. It always frustrated me when people disappeared without continuing to post their results, so I plan on keeping this going until I reach the final result. I'll be back with a new photo at the Month 3 mark.

When is your 3 month mark?

Yeah, I heard he's extremely meticulous and detail-oriented. Another reason I chose him is because he executes the entire procedure. Many HT doctors only harvest the grafts, and have the technicians/staff finish implant to the recipient site. I'm not too far out!

I'm not too far out from taking the same plunge with Konior. My biggest worry is facing the phase you're going through. Apparently, it's totally normal though and you just have to weather it.

Keep us posted with updates. Your post will help a lot of other people. Thanks for sharing.

@StaggerLee123 Thank you for posting the requested images. It provides a good idea of what someone can expect from using the neck as a donor zone. Much appreciated my friend.

Yes the beard hair grafts went into my scars only. There is zero evidence that any grafts were taken from my neck area, it is remarkable the skin looks untouched.

I'm scheduled with doctor K. Any chance you could post-op and present-day pics of the neck/beard donor area? Or any pics at all from present day if you don't have any immediate post-op pics would be appreciated.

Congrats on your look! Amazing results.

Yes, that has been the way i have done it before through Dr Keser. maximum of 500 grafts a day.

 

Dr Koray uses a manual punching tool as Keser but they extract and put it all in, in one day. He makes up to 5000 grafts in one day if needed. Its a different approach but you cant deny hes results.

 

Dr Keser has a really small crew and are not willing to take big "riskier" cases anymore due to age and fatigue. He does all the work himself compared to Koray that leaves all the work to his assistants. This makes repair patients and bigger cases harder for him. He took me in for a second time so he is obviously willing to deal with people that has had HT before.

 

I think i will go with the shape that i already have. If you look at my right side you can see that i have a V shaped temple point. Im thinking of just high lighting that and making it stronger. How far im not sure, i have to elaborate that with a surgeon.

Congratulations on your amazing results.

Is that to say that Dr. Kesser both extracts the follicle and implants the graft himself?