How obvious is it after the transplant?

[twinspark]

Hi everyone...I just need to ask some questions regarding the appearance after the transplant.

How obvious is the transplant post the operation, so that I can take a few days off from work.

And will it ever look 100% normal if someone takes a close look? knowing that my condition is not severe

 

Thank you

[England]

Hi twinspark,

 

Are you getting FUE or FUT?

 

With FUT you will need longer off, in my opinion, but even with FUE you will likely still have some redness even 2-3 weeks later, for some people it goes on for even longer.

 

I guess it partially depends on which surgery you get, how big the op is, are you shaving your head, etc - if you can cover the area up with existing hair (assuming you don't get your head shaved) - you could probably go back sooner with FUE. That being said, some surgeons would say you get better results when you shave your head.

 

Cheers

[Spanker]

It depends on how long your hair is and the size of the operation. Also, I feel the naturalness also depends on how bald you "were" or get in my opionion. I feel I have a pretty trained eye and on close inspection I feel I could spot a NW6 transplant on most people, but not all.

 

Smaller proceedures on less bald peopel are harder to pic out. I saw a NW3 transpland the other day and had absolutely no idea, even beeing very close and even able to touch it. The hairline is another give away. I juvenile hairline on a balding person, to me is noticable.

 

The chances of anyone knowing, who didn't know you before is very very slim, if you pick the right doc.

[Icecreamman]

I'm 16 days post op and I look as weird as I have ever looked lol! I think the problem I have is that I had a decent amount of hair before surgery. I knew I was gonna wear a hat or bandana to work everyday and didn't cut or shave head before surgery. I guess if I cut/shave all my hair people would notice and wanna see what I look like as I've always had it long-ish. I wanted to keep it long because I did not want the strip scar to show at all. So now it's a waiting game for the front to grow and scar to heal so I can finally buzz down with no evidence of surgery...tick tock....

[Icecreamman]

Also to answer the other part of question, in regards to my recipient area, there is nothing that looks un-natural about the work dr feller did. I showed my parents and 2 friends, all of them said they could not tell I had any work done. I do believe skin tone is somewhat of a factor when it comes to the redness

[England]

I completely agree with Icecreamman, skin tone is a big factor. I have light hair and so sensitive skin so I should expect redness to last a bit longer (or be more noticable) then say Ben who has dark hair and so looked better sooner.

 

To address the other side of your question, I had a pretty poor transplant 7 years ago, which now that I've shaved my hair short for my 2nd operation has become even more obvious, but no-one has ever guessed that I've had a hair transplant. Even my hairdresser who I've been going to for 2 years had no idea until I told her recently. The hair colour helps with that too, though, perhaps if I had darker hair it would have looked more obvious. With a top doctor like those who regularly have patients posting on here, more often than not the transplant is undetectable after. I agree with Spanker that the balder you are the higher the chance that it's noticeable.

[Jazzy]

I was back at work 10 days post op. No one could tell.

[southbeacharchi]

Don't forget the possibility of swelling. Again that depends on FUE vs. FUT, depends on the amount of anesthesia used, the individual, how well you follow post-op instructions. Swelling can vary from barely noticeable, to 5 days post-op barely being able to see because your eyes are almost swollen shut. This is just from what i researched and saw pictures of.

Just don't forget to factor in possibility of that....as I never even thought about it, even after all the research I did.

[Bucksred]

I'm approaching 6 weeks post FUT to my front hairline and would say it's noticeable, unless you have hair to cover the recepient area. There are a lot of posts on this web site about the doldrums which I believe can last for three months, maybe read a few to give uou an idea, its obvious everyone is different. I feel self conscious but was aware of this before I had surgery, but was prepared to allow/ expect to keep a low profile for three months. In my opinion time off from work is critical, we are talking about surgery.

The opinions are my own.

Regards Bucks

[southbeacharchi]

There are also things to you can do to hide the fact that you have had an HT . There are several products out there - dermmatch, toppik, and I believe the latest is caboki. I know several people that have used both dermmatch and toppik. All of these are are for hair line and back, so should match hair color. These can help camouflage things you want to hide, donor area of FUE or FUT or bald areas in recipient area until hair grows in.

 

To cover pinkness around the hairline most people just used a foundation make-up that you can buy anywhere like walgreens, grocery store, or department store. I had no idea how to buy "make-up" and found out later, and a little tip, you are supposed to buy foundation that is a little darker than your natural skin color.

 

That being said, of course consult your doctor to see when he feels it is ok to apply these, how to apply them, and how to wash/rinse them away especially early on so as not to damage newly grafted hairs.

Edited April 17, 2012 by southbeacharchi

[ILikeMyHair]

I'm 5 weeks post op. My hair loss is NW2-3. I had my hair a bit long before the HT. Doc did shave the recipient area so it looked pretty unnatural. Basically I had to wear a cap for the first week to hide that I had hair transplant. For the next 4 weeks I had to wear a cap to hide a bad looking haircut. After 2 weeks, people can't tell that you had a transplant unless your scar is visible which shouldn't be if your hair is 1 inch or longer. But again I chose Dr. Wong who is a great surgeon so...

[Jotronic]

Don't forget the possibility of swelling. Again that depends on FUE vs. FUT, depends on the amount of anesthesia used, the individual, how well you follow post-op instructions.

 

Actually, FUE can cause swelling just as much as FUT. The two typical reasons for swelling include the amount of tumescence that was used (if any) during the incision making process and your body's own natural reaction to trauma and the amount of edema that builds up. The extraction process makes no difference.

 

Twinspark,

 

A friend of mine that came to have a procedure with Dr. Wong back in 2006 took a bunch of awesome video shots to document his journey. I chopped it up and edited it into a series that you can watch at your leisure. It shows not only his thoughts and experiences leading up to surgery but also the complete recovery and eventual final results. It will show you a lot of what to expect.

 

New Video Series, “Dave” The Repair Patient | Hair Transplant Blog - HairTransplantMentor.com

 

http://youtu.be/4tKB5IHyfoQ

[southbeacharchi]

Jotronic. I wasn't saying that FUE did not cause swelling, I was just saying it can vary depending on the two.

I did forget to mention the tumescence factor, but I also read and found that anesthesia can also be a factor.....nerve block vs. localized numbing. I know it made a different on me.

 

ILikeMyHair, just curious, why was your recipient region shaved? Mine wasn't which helped a lot with covering.