FUE_DHI_5250

Thanks Doc! Any specific care I can give it (the scar) to heal better? Should I continue using antibiotic cream? Yes, I am aware, but I never asked (agreed) for a procedure this large. The estimate was 3500-4000, during hairline design they didn't communicate something else to me, and only afterwards told me the transplanted number.

To be honest, I think the no-shave really covers quite a lot of it. My donor area looked really heavily harvested, compared to the 3-4k areas I've seen I would argue that they (at least took) quite a bit more. Try comparing the total area covered with my profile pic / second picture in the post:

Yes, I think so as well, but I'm wondering what my best case of action would be, now after 10 days of oral antibiotics and 14 days of antibiotic cream? My clinic simply says "continue to use Fucidin", but these treatments shouldn't be for this long. The next time I'm meeting a (proper) dermatologist is in 11 days from now. Remaining recipient looks fine I would say (although bald, quite a bit of shedding, and red), and the other "black spots" are completely gone after the treatment. Only this "valley" up front left...

Dear all, 4 weeks ago I went on my journey to Istanbul to fight my otherwise unavoidable baldness (the family genes). It turned out... well, it's only a month, but so far I got a big scar right in front of my scalp, and a lot of redness. From my clinic, local Dermatologists, and the Reddit hive mind I got mixed recommendations of what exactly to do about this problem. But some basics first. Some context about me: 26y old, family history of male-pattern hair loss Had non-existing temples since ever, got worse over time, hairline receding since I'm 16 2y on Fin and Minox, minimum regrowth, but stabilized the loss Here comes the transplant details: Decided for IdealOfMed in Istanbul after positive experience with their "consultant" Got quoted 3k€ for 3500-4000 grafts in a combined FUE (to fill temples & lower hairline) + DHI (to increase density in front) procedure with PRP I went for a no-shave procedure, hoping to cover some of the ugly ducking phase with existing hair. No sure about this decision now. Price included housing, transport in Istanbul, a pre- and post-care kit. Added 2x hyperbaric chamber treatments for 300€. On transplant day, they ended up transplanting 4250 grafts via FUE + 1000 via DHI, so much bigger than expected Overall procedure took 6-7 hours, and was quite hectic with many people involved, entering/leaving the operation room. Hotel-to-hotel I was gone 11 hours in total. The aftermath: Initially all looked fine, the scabbing looked fine although very dense & black in some areas (see left) A few days after the transplant, I fell sick (bacterial infect acc. to blood test); but I'm unsure if this was due to food poisoning, or related to the transplant Those areas in particular were very stubborn while scab removal post 10 days The clinic recommended me to "just apply more pressure while massaging the scabs off" The final "scab" on the front where my scar is now was there until day 15 (see below) When it started getting very red & maybe even bleeding (not sure about this), I got concerned and asked for 2nd opinions The 2nd opinions // what is this? While IdealOfMed refused to claim any problem, Reddit (/r/HT) were the first to guide me towards one of two potential side effect routes: Infection is what some claimed Necrosis was the (horror) result others gave (thanks Melvin!) The first (online) Dermatologist who only saw pictures of my scalp prescribed me a topical antibiotic cream (FuciCort), saying it is an eczema The general practitioner I saw afterwards didn't have any experience with HT, and went with the view of the Dermatologist. He did however point me to other spots on my scalp that also looked infected. So i applied antibiotic cream 2x a day to all these places The second Dermatologist I saw wasn't really fond of HT in general and claimed that "this happens when you do this kind of thing", but he also prescribed me oral antibiotics to take (which I already did for 10 days post transplant) Finally, the clinic adjusted their assessment and now claims I have an "necrotic ulcer" which can spread So, at this point it's day 17 post transplant and I started taking oral antibiotics for 10 days. Today marks my 1-month (29 days) post transplant, and am left with a somewhat deep, clearly visible hole on my scalp - not sure if it's a scar yet, but it's clearly from the rest: Some more detail: via Reddit I found another user who was also at IdealForMed a few months earlier for a similar 5k graft transplant and had the same problem: for him he simply kept washing until it feel off and didn't use any treatment. Now, 4 month afterwards he had no growth in this particular area (but weak growth overall). Now I come to you, collected wisdom of the Hair Restoration Network: What is/was this thing? Did I beat it, or does the fight start only now? Who's likely at fault here? Thank you in advance. - J