hope2345

My recipient looks exactly like this at 4.5 months out. What's the cause of it, and does it eventually return to normal?

I'm starting to lose hope myself. I've had one Vbeam treatment thus far, but I'm only a week out and I see no improvement.

I'm really hoping all will return to normal. It's looked like this for about 3 months now. Hair is growing, but the skin is ruined.

Thanks

Gaps could be giving the appearance of hypopigmentation. We're basically 'blind' when judging your situation, so it will be good to see the pics.

Thanks for the reply mattj.

I am a bit hesitant to put up my photos online

I was wondering: when shock loss hair returns, does it usually come back thinner than usual? I see a couple hairs coming back (which I hope are from shock loss) but they are very thin. I am hoping they improve with time.

Likewise, I think my extraction sites are turning in hypopigmented spots, and they seem to be getting wider/larger. I thought scars shrink over time? Should I expect them to shrink with time?

I'll have some photos up tonight. Thanks Matt.

The extraction points are very obvious right now when in dark lighting. I was told by a dermatologist I saw after my HT that these extraction points will eventually fade away and not be noticeable at all like they are now (although the hairs are gone and will not grow back at those sites).

My extraction points seem hypopigmented now. I think that is why they stand out in low lighting conditions. Especially pictures. Do these scars even repigment themselves to match surrounding skin? I know my dermatologist said they will, but I'm hoping that this is the case from people who've had Fue. I just don't understand how scars heal, and now that my scars are lighter than surrounding skin, I'm scared that it won't improve.

I have light skin. Dark hair. But I read light skin rarely gets hypopigmentation once completely healed. Hoping that's true.

It's best to allow time to go by for all healing to occur. Although at six weeks, you should be fully healed. You may have heard of shockloss. It's more common with patients who have strip surgery, but isn't unheard of with FUE patients. It's hard to tell exactly what the problem is based only on your description, but I wouldn't expect 550 grafts, spread out, to leave you with a patchy donor.

Right now, I see patches even at a 1 guard. I think my skin is also hypopigmented. I understand hair won't grow back at those spots, but will the skin heal over time? At two months post op almost, it looks hypopigmented and stretched at each extraction point.

I wouldn't expect there to be any effect to follicles surrounding the extracted grafts, especially with a relatively small procedure that was spread out. 6 weeks is too soon to judge.

Thanks Mattj

Why is six weeks too early to tell? What happens over the next few months? Does some hair grow in those gaps? Do those gaps fade and contract? Sorry for the questions. I'm anxious and want to know why this is happening.

Could those grafts around the extraction points have fallen out? And will they return?

How long should I wait before I know there is a problem?

Thank you

Can you post an updated photo of your donor area? I was hoping to see how it heals, as I recently had FUE and am scared to bits the donor will look terrible. I often have a skin fade haircut, and am afraid it will show.

1 month 26 days Update (Almost 2 months, first hair cut)

pic hosting websites

I had my first haircut post op today and so as promised, here are photos to show my hair after the haircut. I decided to go quite short on the sides and at the back to expose the donor area. As you can see from the photos, the scars are quite noticable and red when I wear my hair short. The scars look kinda like a linear FUT strip. Also, there is an area that looks particularly thin on the left of the back of my head (also the right side of my head). I hope that this area and right side of my head are just experiencing shock loss at the moment. Also, I hope the scars become less noticable as I continue to recover.

 

Although most the transplanted hair already shed in the recipient area, there are around 5 or 6 that grew long with the native hair. There are quite a few that did not shed and stay relatively short. I am still unsure to whether shave these hairs off. As for right now, no growth can be seen and I hope to see some improvements soon!

Hey man!

Thanks for posting this for us to see. It really helps us other asians.

I had 550 grafts taken from the donor area for a recent procedure, and I'm scared of how my donor will end up looking. I went for a haircut 1 month after and had a bunch of spotty areas. Did Dr. Diep say this the donor area scars will fade and contract over time, and things will look better? My doctor did not advise me, and says that what's done is done. So that scares me

Anyone able to help? Thanks

I recently had FUE of 550 grafts total. 0.85 punch used. It's been about 6 weeks since procedure. Went to prominent USA clinic. 2 and 3 hair grafts removed only.

Went for a haircut, shaved the donor down and noticed larger gaps where hairs were extracted. Gaps are quite large and it seems as if the surrounding hairs have been lost too (for every extraction site, the extraction site seems like it lost 3-4 hairs. I say this because adjacent sites of the same size have roughly 3-4 hairs each). My doctor says scars will fade and contract over time and that it's too early to judge. Is that true? I don't see any hypopigmentation at all. Just gaps where hair is gone. I have dark coarse hair and fair skin complexion. I often shave down. This is very concerning. Was told my procedure was so small there won't be a visible difference at all even shaved down.

The donor area was widely spread out, and there were no extraction points touching at all. Redness is very slight, if any, remaining. Possible shock loss in fue donor? Was told unlikely to happen but possible. Also told that I might scar widely. Would that still contract over time?

Thanks Bill! Can you check your PM?

I am worried that the inflammation from washing my face with the scrubs killed the grafts. I'm not worried about having dislodged any. Since I didn't see any blood when washing, I think my grafts are all in place.

I'm getting a lot of pimples and ingrowns right now and was worried about what's going on. I look terrible right now.

Anything that can aid the healing? Area is still very red, with lots of pimples and black spots under the skin which look like ingrowns.

Thanks for your replies

I recently had a FUE done to enhance my stash/chin hair.

One week out (7th day post op), I was told I could resume normal washing routine, so I began using my usual face wash and exfoliating scrub. My grafts became inflammed and most grafts became red and bumpy at the root, so I stopped using it. I was given a topical steroid (applied twice a day, for a week) to calm things down. At this point, my scabs had all fallen off (they had all fallen off by day 5 and doctor said I was healing faster than normal with regards to scabbing).

All my hair has now shed after 6 weeks. I was wondering if I am at risk of my grafts failing.

I was very careful in the first week after the procedure, using the shampoo I was provided by the clinic and only using my finger tips. I should have known better than to use an exfoliating scrub, but thought it would be ok because the surgeon gave me permission to resume normal washing. There was never any grafts that were pulled out, or any blood. I'm scared the inflammation damaged the grafts beyond repair, and I'm particularly anxious because all my hair has shed now and it looks worse than before.

I read that after a week, things should be ok. But I wanted to know what you guys thought.