How Long Before Donor Area Hair Catches up?

[vek2010]

Hi,

 

I had a 1,000 graft FUE procedure about a week and 1/2 ago and the donor area seems to be healing up nicely. The remaining scabs are falling off and I was wondering how long does it take for the donor area to completely heal and for the hair to look nearly as dense as the surrounding hair? And how long before I can get my first hair cut to even everything out? I'm a little nervous the donor area may look a little thin when all said and done?

 

Thanks in advance for replies!

[Sparky]

Who was your doctor?, would help to know so we can tell what size punch was used.

[gillenator]

Hi,

 

I had a 1,000 graft FUE procedure about a week and 1/2 ago and the donor area seems to be healing up nicely. The remaining scabs are falling off and I was wondering how long does it take for the donor area to completely heal and for the hair to look nearly as dense as the surrounding hair? And how long before I can get my first hair cut to even everything out? I'm a little nervous the donor area may look a little thin when all said and done?

 

Thanks in advance for replies!

 

Did you experience some shockloss or thinning in the area where the strip was taken? That area can take up to six to eight weeks to heal to the point where the scabbing is gone. If you do have some thinning on either side of the linear scar, it can take three to six months for that area to thicken up completely.

[Levrais]

I was told its ok to get a hair cut about one week post op. the donor site will probably look more or less normal in a couple weeks depending on how many grafts were taken, punch size and what your density was before the ht. It also depends on what length you keep it. If you were to buzz it all down to one length, it would probably look normal at the first hair cut.

[mattj]

Are you talking about evening up the length between the shaved donor region and the rest of your hair? The donor won't actually gain anything back in density and so in that regard you're already seeing the permanent state of density in the area now. However, once the extractions are fully healed the area will be in better overall condition and will look improved.

 

It could be possible that the extractions have caused hairs immediately surrounding each punch hole to be shed due to shockloss. As you probably know, this can happen to hairs bordering a strip scar as well as to hairs in the recipient zone, and is usually temporary.

 

If your entire head wasn't shaved for the procedure (please tell us whether it was or not) then the contrast between the buzzed donor and the surrounding hair could cause the stubble to look less dense to you. 1000 grafts shouldn't result in a very noticeable reduction in density unless your donor hair lacked density to begin with or the grafts were extracted too close together.

 

Ultimately, once your hair is all cut to an even length, you'll be less worried about how it looks.

Edited March 7, 2011 by mattj

[vek2010]

Thanks for your replies!

My Doc was Dr. Dorin at True & Dorin. Gillenator it was an FUE not strip. I had my hair short going in around a 1 1/2 buzz but he did have to shave down the donor area even shorter to do the extracting. I just can't tell yet if its just the difference between the length of donor area and the surronding area or it looks noticeably thinner? I might just be a panicky pete right now but I guess I won't know until I get my first hair cut to even everything out. How would I know if I experienced any shock loss? I didn't see any dead hairs or anything that would suggest that? Everything looked good when compared to other after FUE photos I've seen on here.

[mattj]

If hairs were shocked then they'd simply shed and you probably wouldn't notice. You say that your donor looks good compared to other cases you've seen so I wouldn't worry about it. You're possibly just unused to seeing your hair that short.