Anyone know the best way to undo an FUE?

[biolizard]

I'm 5 weeks postop. 43 years old. NW 3 with a 2000 graft FUE.

My recipient area is very pink/red discolored, and has a noticeable 'cobblestone' bumpy scar texture that I hate. It doesn't look like smooth normal skin. The density is not good and hairs are very thin. This whole thing just screams unnatural. Perhaps I'm a slow healer, but this doesn't look like it will ever return to normal IMO.

 

In all honesty rushed into this HT too hastily. I'm chalking it up to a impetuous mid life crisis decision. I'm already having significant buyers remorse only 5 weeks in. But I'm not really wanting to turn this into a 'regretting my HT' thread.

 

Just simply would like to know my options to undo this FUE ......IF within 12-18 months I'm still not happy with it. Right now it's honestly hard to envision my ever becoming satisfied with this.

 

Laser removal?

Electrolysis?

fraxel

Vbeam

Laser therapy scalp treatments

Other things to smooth out the bumpy scarred recipient area.

Another FUE extraction of recipient hairs.

 

TLDR: Regretting my HT only 5 weeks in, what are my options to undo this mistake I made if I continue to remain dissatisfied with the HT?

Edited September 23, 2015 by biolizard
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[Spidey]

you're 5 weeks out.. take a deep breath and relax! I am 6 weeks out and still have pinkness, and some dimpling (which looks more like larger pores), and the skin isn't the same texture as the rest of my scalp/face. You seem to have forgotten that approx a month ago, you went through SURGERY. Even road rash scrapes to our skin won't heal back to 100% in a month.

[Melvin- Admin]

5 weeks is waayyyyyy to early to make judgements, no body with any ethics would agree to remove the grafts or perform laser removal, if after 12 months you're not happy, you can always have the grafts removed. I recommend not going to this site for at least 6 months and refraining from looking up HT horror stories, it's got you freaking out, it's quite common with any form of cosmetic surgery.

[harin]

Patience is a virtue to have. Wait at least 1 year, no instant results here. What ur describing appears to me as a natural healing process.

[biolizard]

5 weeks is waayyyyyy to early to make judgements, no body with any ethics would agree to remove the grafts or perform laser removal, if after 12 months you're not happy, you can always have the grafts removed. I recommend not going to this site for at least 6 months and refraining from looking up HT horror stories, it's got you freaking out, it's quite common with any form of cosmetic surgery.

 

This is so true and likely very good advice for me at the moment. I find myself constantly checking the mirror over and over throughout the day. This really has been more mentally taxing than I ever would've thought. The emotional toll and body image issues are really disconcerting to put it mildly.

 

My plan is to give this thing 12-18 months and then decide what to do about it. I hope I can manage 12-18 months? I may need freaking antidepressants before its all over with.

Luckily in my line of work wearing a hat is an option. So that at least makes work less awkward. However, now a days I pretty much just work and then hermit myself away from society avoiding as many social encounters as I can.

On the plus side I've gotten improved at video games, piano, and guitar,now that I'm officially a pariah and a recluse.

Lol.

[Sethticles]

I'm 5 weeks postop. 43 years old. NW 3 with a 2000 graft FUE.

My recipient area is very pink/red discolored, and has a noticeable 'cobblestone' bumpy scar texture that I hate. It doesn't look like smooth normal skin. The density is not good and hairs are very thin.

 

Pinkness lasted over 6 weeks for me, and my skin wasn't smooth, this just is all part of the healing process, Honestly I had no idea you were only 5weeks post op, from reading alot of your posts I thought you were 2 years at least, your symptoms you've written about all seem pretty normal, on the positive side, you mention that your density is not good, you may be one of the lucky ones who dont shed and have implanted hair grow sooner, I am guessing you were just unaware of some of the basic chain of events post op to look forward to. You have mentioned before that you rushed into it, that saying, I don't think you've made a mistake, just need to realise that HT is major cosmetic surgery and with all elective surgery the best results are often a year or more away, 5 weeks in, you need to calm down and enjoy your life.

[Tav1]

biolizard - is this picture you have in your album (which I posted here) current? I see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. I can post a pic of my procedure at five weeks if it gives you a comparison- man, looking back, I was UGLY at five weeks. Trust me, unless I'm missing something here, you look 100% normal at this stage.

[biolizard]

biolizard - is this picture you have in your album (which I posted here) current? I see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. I can post a pic of my procedure at five weeks if it gives you a comparison- man, looking back, I was UGLY at five weeks. Trust me, unless I'm missing something here, you look 100% normal at this stage.

 

 

That is indeed a most recent pic. It is comforting to hear that nothing seems awry with it in your opinion. I'm just kind of in a somewhat depressive, slight obsessive, very reclusive, borderline freak out mode over this HT. I tell myself to chill and relax, but with my type A personality that's not easy to do.

Thank you for your reply.

[win200]

Your pic is 100% normal. Trust those of us that have gone through this before, you're going to look torn up for awhile. It's the unfortunate reality of transplants--the recovery process just sucks. I managed to grow my hair long and cover it up, but I was just about histrionic with panic over the way I looked. But my procedure yielded a great result when all was said and done. Most people don't develop something cosmetically acceptable until 4 to 7 months, loosely. So until then, don't expect to like what you see in the mirror. Like others have said, your scalp looks exactly as it should right now.

[Tav1]

win200 - I'm glad you added a bit of sanity to the timelines often spouted on here about timelines. Certainly there are those that have amazingly fast recoveries from recipient site redness, early growers and all the rest, but what you state is correct: the reality for many regular folks who undergo HT is that a cosmetically acceptable result can take anywhere from 4-7 months. Not 2 months, not 3 months, and not even 4 or 5 or 6 months for some people that perhaps fall in the middle of the curve so to speak. And of course, a full result absolutely is 12-18 months away depending.

 

People can re-read far too many exceptional early cases and look at far too many exceptional early results, when the truth is those are not the norm from a timeline perspective.

 

OP - trust me you look perfectly fine here, and if I go back to your other posts I see you went to a very qualified Doc. So nothing to do now but wait...you'll get there.

[win200]

"win200 - I'm glad you added a bit of sanity to the timelines often spouted on here about timelines. Certainly there are those that have amazingly fast recoveries from recipient site redness, early growers and all the rest, but what you state is correct: the reality for many regular folks who undergo HT is that a cosmetically acceptable result can take anywhere from 4-7 months. Not 2 months, not 3 months, and not even 4 or 5 or 6 months for some people that perhaps fall in the middle of the curve so to speak. And of course, a full result absolutely is 12-18 months away depending. "

 

Yup. At 7 months, I had a result that looked 85% as good as the final. But my months 2-5 were unusually bad--so awful that I thought I had a botched result. I know it's awfully tempting to think that you are somehow the exception and everything has gone wrong, but just know that the odds are, overwhelmingly, that things are fine and will turn out well. Not all doctors like to adequately prep their patients for the recovery, but having undergone several cosmetic surgeries, I can say without exaggeration that hair transplantation recovery is undoubtedly the most unnerving and emotionally draining.