LeonSlack

1 minute ago, AlexMeister21 said:

He didn't extract grafts from above my scar but he did extract from below it. There are some thinner patches on the side where my scar is but I'm okay with it. As for my crown, I have a baseball-sized bald spot at the moment. Laorwong checked my scalp back in November and said I still have baby hairs in my crown region so wanted me to wait a few months to see if they grow back from a shed I had.

 

I'm not too sure of the punch size for the beard. I assume it was still around 0.9mm. He uses a Trivellini device for extraction. 

The Trivellini is a very sophisticated device! I was looking through your pictures and you definitely do have hair growing out of the scar. I think your estimation is correct, that you’d need another 500 or so grafts to hide it further… but I believe SMP, as the doctor, mentioned would be a better idea. You could also do trichopigmentation which is a temporary SMP. Either way, definite improvement on the scar. 

4 minutes ago, Criscross said:

I will keep posting! And i will post a detailed case report when I find the time and when growth is starting. 
 

Btw, the doctor said there are easily 2k grafts left he could extract just from that area if needed. So that’s a nice reserve there since I don’t need the hair on my neck anyways😁

But of course most of them are singles…

They are mostly singles but the thickness of the beard hair is sometimes double the thickness of scalp hair… so it definitely can add density. Did you have your beard hair put into your crown? 

2 minutes ago, Criscross said:

Motorized punch, I think punch size was 0,9.  I will add 2 more pics, after one day, and on the second day post op.

 

like i mentioned before, healing was great. 

Thank you for this info! Beard donor is getting very popular and the more info we have on it, the more it settles people’s nerves. Please also keep us updated on how your skin irritation does over the next few weeks. As already stated, it should heal on its own. Best of luck in your growth! 

On 12/28/2023 at 11:26 AM, Criscross said:

It was healing great, after 3 days it was almost invisible. The punch holes were completely healed, just a slight redness of the skin. 
2 weeks post op they started to develop. It became a little itchi and some redness developed but probably due to me scratching the area sometimes. 
It doesn’t feel infected at all, just itchy and there are some ingrown hairs.

All together It looks very good, it’s just these underground encapsulated little balls that I’m a little concerned of because i don’t want to develop some kind of abscess. 

They are not easy to see, just to feel when you pinch the skin. 

Out of curiosity, was a manual or motorized punch used? Punch size? It really does look like there are no signs of extraction. 

2 hours ago, Criscross said:

It was healing great, after 3 days it was almost invisible. The punch holes were completely healed, just a slight redness of the skin. 
2 weeks post op they started to develop. It became a little itchi and some redness developed but probably due to me scratching the area sometimes. 
It doesn’t feel infected at all, just itchy and there are some ingrown hairs.

All together It looks very good, it’s just these underground encapsulated little balls that I’m a little concerned of because i don’t want to develop some kind of abscess. 

They are not easy to see, just to feel when you pinch the skin. 

That doesn’t look bad at all. The best part is that if anyone saw it, they’d never think you had hair removed from that area. Many men deal with skin issues under the chin because of shaving. Just give it some time. 

6 hours ago, Criscross said:

I don’t have the exact numbers right now. 
But around 1000 grafts, 500 on each side. 

That’s a reasonable amount, not too many. How did it heal initially? How long did it take to develop these bumps?

10 hours ago, Criscross said:

Hello, I recently had grafts taken out from my beard in the neck area(20 days ago). 
Now I got some ingrown hairs.

It does not look exactly like a pimple but more like tiny balls under my skin. There is no yellow cap, they are more underground.
I already started to inform myself on how to possibly treat them.  
Keeping the area warm and moist using a towel to soften the skin, do regular peelings, and using and antibiotic ointment which softens the skin, pulls the pus to surface and keeps it antibacterial.

Does someone have other more advice on how to treat them? 
Someone went through the same and it resolved by itself? 

 

How many grafts did you have taken from this area?

As already mentioned, this will resolve on its own, don't touch the area.

On 12/25/2023 at 2:40 PM, AlexMeister21 said:

I don't have any issues with my beard donor area at all. I usually shave, but it still looks pretty much untouched. Here's a photo of the donor right after surgery.

Something else I wanted to ask, do you know if the doctor used a motorized or manual punch for these extractions and the punch size? Thanks in advance. 

2 hours ago, AlexMeister21 said:

Thanks, Laorwong did a great job. I do notice some slight thinness in my scalp donor area, but I'm probably the only one who would notice. Considering going back to him for my crown.

Would the doctor still extract grafts from above your scar? It seems like you still do have hair there. And tbh, your crown doesn’t look bad at all… I hardly see any loss in the pictures you’ve posted with your hair grown out. 

I also have to comment that even after taking over 1000 grafts from the area under the scar, it looks untouched. From the post op pictures, it doesn’t seem like any grafts were taken from the sides. You look great, btw. 

Just now, AlexMeister21 said:

Yes, it healed rather quickly. I think I waited about 1.5 weeks before I shaved, but I believe the doctor said I could have shaved after 5 days.

Thank you! I think you did the right thing to wait to shave. Otherwise, I’ve heard that area can get quite red. 

4 minutes ago, AlexMeister21 said:

I don't have any issues with my beard donor area at all. I usually shave, but it still looks pretty much untouched. Here's a photo of the donor right after surgery.

Thank you for that info! And you mentioned earlier that it healed in about 3 days? That’s miraculous.

How long did you wait before doing a shave with a razor in that area post op?

Do you have any pictures of your beard donor after the extractions? Do you shave this area? Any issues?

@Steeeve Looking good man! I’m envious you are further along. 

I had dissolvable sutures put in since I’m out of town. (Even though I may just have them removed now since it’s been 2 weeks.) Anyway, one of the ends of the sutures (the knot) gave away this morning. Now, I feel a noticeable indent in that area. It was so flat before. I guess that’s because of the sutures holding everything together?

Did you feel a noticeable indent once the sutures were removed?

Thanks as always.   

@Steeeve Fianally let the shower water hit my head today and washed my hair with shampoo. I was freaking out the whole time since I have quite a bit of native hair. Afterward, I went and combed and some scabs started to come off. But I mean, not that many. I didn’t want to scrub in the shower overly hard to the point it caused pain...

I think it’ll take definitely a few showers for them to all come off. I’m just at day 9. How long did it take for all your scabs to come off? 

But boy. I have oily skin and it felt amazing to shampoo that hair all over and rinse. 

@Steeeve I’ve sorta hijacked your thread. I hope you don’t mind too much. It’s been a week. Donor pain is a lot better. Pings and pangs like you described in your post. The suture line is turning into crust though. I see some brown crust coming off. Did you start scrubbing this off or just let it come off naturally? Whenever I apply the zinc, I see a bit of brown crust. 

Also, I still haven’t used a shower directly on my my head. I’ve been using the cup method. The grafts are still sitting on my head lol...

I’m kinda nervous to just get in the shower and shower normally and scrub my head...

@Steeeve Man. It’s been an experience. Still having pain in the donor but just taking regular Tylenol to keep that at bay. The swelling was bad even with the tape. 

It was the 5th night last night and I was tired of sleeping upright. I decided to sleep nearly flat, sideways. On the left side of my head. I got a lot of rest and it felt great. I hope that was ok. 

When did you start sleeping on the side or directly on the back of your head? I can’t imagine you slept directly on the back of your head until the sutures were out...

Thanks again for the help...

9 hours ago, Steeeve said:

Congratulations @LeonSlack!! That’s awesome man! 

For me the pain subsided around day 2 or day 3 but I was taking ibuprofen or Tylenol to combat it and drinking a ton of water. Dr Arocha and the techs were telling me during the procedure that I have a high pain tolerance and if you were to ask me I would say I was a big ol’ baby when it came to the pain. After the 2nd or 3rd day there really wasn’t any pain necessarily but the sutures were a little irritated. It didn’t hurt but my scalp felt tight and my brain was definitely processing that something was different back there.

Yes, I, or my wife, applied the bacitracin to the scar after every wash and on day three I started applying to the recipient area. I would just lightly dab it on there. I had some spare triple antibiotic ointment laying around and once I ran out of the packets I asked if that was okay to apply since it had bacitracin in it. Dr Arocha said that works just as well.

I didn’t throw a cap on until the week after. I didn’t go out of the house until the next week. I had two 6 month olds at the time and I pretty much spent my time taking care of them while also following the Dr’s post op instructions. It, uh... really kept me busy. Lol

When it came to the cap I really didn’t want to chance anything dislodging those grafts so I waited until 8 or 9 days for them to really settle in to my scalp. I believe the post op instructions say when you’re safe but I remember that I still waited a few days extra.

Congrats again, man! I’m really happy for you! I hope you post your results. Anything else just ask. Good luck and Happy Growing!!🙂👍🏻

@Steeeve thanks for the info man. Today is day 2 and I woke up with swelling even though I wore the strips on my head! It looks like I was in a boxing match. Haha. I’ll use some ice on the forehead. I tried my best to sleep at 45 degrees. I don’t know how anyone could sleep on their head yet because the sutures would hurt!

Speaking of them, they hurt a bit. I’m just going to take Tylenol today and see what happens. I can feel them more from the ends instead of the middle. If I sit down, it isn’t as bad. A little sharp pain. Honestly, the headache induced from the PRP was the absolute worst. But PRP is helpful... 

I did have a question. How often did you wash your hair with baby shampoo every day? Just once or twice?

@Steeeve I did it! Just got back home from Houston. The first night's pain was awful. I got the PRP done, and even all the meds weren't doing anything for me... I felt a lot better in the morning. Now, only the donor is hurting a bit. I am guessing this is normal for a few days?

The question I had is that I have a lot of packets of bacitracin. Each time you washed and dried, did you use 1 whole packet on the scar? Trying my best to avoid any loss. I only did 2000 grafts, so my scar is a bit shorter. 

Also, the instructions said that after 3 days, apply (don't rub) the bacitracin to the grafts, as well?

When did you start wearing a baseball hat?

Thanks for your help...

@Steeeve Even when wet, your scar is barely visible and it is far from being fully healed. You are doing great, man. My procedure is next week and I am getting so nervous, I can barely eat. Lol. 

And @Steeeve, trust me, if you are wearing a hat to hide your donor, you DO NOT need it! It looks great!

@Steeeve Thanks for the shout out. You are looking great. Your donor looks awesome. I don't think anyone would be able to notice, period. Ever since I learned about this industry, I often stare at the back of people's heads. Even people that I know for a fact have never had any work done, some seem to have a part of line back there, probably with how their hair is cut or from lying down, etc. 

I booked my appointment for the first week of August with Dr. Arocha. I am nervous as you can be, but I know I will be in good hands. My hair is a couple of inches long back there, but I have a thin crown, so I use some of the hair back there to comb forward/to the side. I am just hoping the incision is low enough that the line will be covered until it heals. It really doesn't seem like it takes more than an inch of hair to cover it. 

I suppose 'short' hair is relative. Some guys want a #1 guard and if it grows to a #4, it's way 'too long'. Some guys like it 2-3 inches long and and that isn't very long to them.

You're doing great, man. I may have to message you more as I get closer to the date and afterward, too!

@made2care You have gone a whole year since your procedure. How does your scar look? Do you feel a ridge back there when you put your fingers through your hair? Thanks for your feedback!

@Steeeve Thanks for the reply man! Another question I had was when you got your sutures out after 2 weeks, did it still hurt to comb your hair around the suture line? 

Also, it doesn’t seem like you need a lot of hair to cover the red area you have at your donor, huh? Maybe an inch or so would be enough? 

@made2care Any idea how long it took for the shock loss to grow back?