how many days to look normal Post OP

[Not to bald yet]

I have an important event to attend 18 days post up. How bad am I going to look. I plan to lower my hair line so there will not be any existing hair in that area to cover up.

 

Comments appreciated

[Not to bald yet]

I have an important event to attend 18 days post up. How bad am I going to look. I plan to lower my hair line so there will not be any existing hair in that area to cover up.

 

Comments appreciated

[MrJobi]

You may be ok depending on how many grafts are placed. It may be a bit pink still

[Rambler]

Everybody's different. Some have had no detectability as soon as a little over a week but I would say for most the pinkness in the recipient area typically lasts 1-3 months. At 6 weeks post that's the only visible indication I have but enough that I am still wearing a cap.

 

If you are having crown work only you might be able to get away with it a little easier.

[blowdry]

Always plan worse case scenario. See if you can wear a hair style that covers the area of the work being done.......If so, start wearing that stlye weeks before the surgery so everyone gets use to that style...fyi

[vik0809]

Agree with Rambler.

I had work done on my crown, so unless someone is taller than me or looks at my crown directly one cannot tell I had work done.

Am using Toppek to cover up. No one can tell I had a tx , but its obviously noticable that I am balding, as even the toppek needs hair to hold onto. Till i get back to my pre-tx stage its gonna look bad..but there's no way out. Unless of course, you can get away for 2 months..

I am about 2 weeks out, I have no large scabs but more like diffuse white dandruff but very minimal !!

[Hair28]

After 10 ~ 12 days you should be OK to go out without a hat, but it is very likely that the recipient area will still be pink. I've been using my wife's makeup to cover up some of the pinkness. Three months after my HT, I still have a little bit of redness in the area, but it has diminished a lot. Your results will vary depending on your skin type (if you are too white then the redness will likely be more noticeable).

[repo-man]

I'm also waiting for the donor and recipient areas to heal up. I have this buzzed area around the donor which is a dead give away. I'm hoping the hat covers it, but it may be a close call.

 

Best thing to do would be to eat healthy, stick to your regimine and try not to worry too much about it. Just these tips alone can help make a huge difference, in my opinion.

[Not to bald yet]

I am most concerned how it will look on my forehead and temples. I have good hair on the top of my head to cover the grafts, but if I lower the hair line what will the graft hairs look like in 2-3 weeks. Am I going to have short little stubble on my head where the hair line was added. Or will these fall out. It seems to me the contrast between long hair and new grafts will be pretty obvious until they fall out, and then while they grow back in it seem like it will be odd again.

 

Comments?

[Rambler]

More than likely your new hairs will have fallen out, and you will have some pinkness in the area where your new hairline is. You probably won't have many ( if any ) of the new stubbles but like I say, most likely, you will have pinkness.

 

That said, there have been some that have had no pinkness after a couple of weeks. It also depends on the size of the procedure as to how much trauma your recipient area goes through. It also depends on your own unique physiology. Too many individual factors to tell you what "is" going to happen for you with any exact certainty.

 

As blowdry said, plan for the worst. Expect that you will have visible pinkness in that area and plan accordingly. This is something that just can not be absolutely accurately determined beforehand.

[TheEmperor]

Originally posted by Not to bald yet:

I am most concerned how it will look on my forehead and temples. I have good hair on the top of my head to cover the grafts, but if I lower the hair line what will the graft hairs look like in 2-3 weeks. Am I going to have short little stubble on my head where the hair line was added. Or will these fall out. It seems to me the contrast between long hair and new grafts will be pretty obvious until they fall out, and then while they grow back in it seem like it will be odd again.

 

Comments?

 

THIS IS POSSIBLY ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK! You need to be prepared for a possible extended awkward period after your procedure.

 

 

Things can look normal fast for some people, but there are variables beyond your control that you might want to plan for.

 

Shock loss can occur in the donor area and recipient areas. This is the temporary loss of other wise good hair.

 

If they plant into diffuse hair, much of that may be lost, plus most of the best docs require shaving the top. So on top you may go from having diffuse coverage, to a red, bald area with thousands of tiny divots from each graft. These divots make the area appear rough. Most of the redness fades in 1-2 months, but there may be lingering redness that wont be covered until the hair starts to grow somewhere between months 3-5.

 

Also around the donor scar, native hair can fall out from the trauma, leaving a bald area around the scar. You very likely will not be able to buzz it down, but if you keep it cut short it will hide the scar.

 

It really depends on your hairstyle and transplant procedure. In my case, I used to buzz the sides down and had some hair on top. After the procedure, the doc had shaved the top and I had shock loss around the scar so I could not cut it shorter than 2" without the red scar showing through. Now I can cut it to 1.5".

 

On top, diffuse hair was replaced with a bald, red, rough area. I am over 3 months out and I still do not look normal, but I have seen gradaul improvements over time. The donor scar is less red so I can cut the sides a bit shorter. The roughness on top is less noticeable. Some new hair has started to show. The shock loss around the scar is still a concern although I have been reassured it will grow back.

 

Consider all these factors.