Dealing with dried blood on scalp after FUE

[kdlmaj]

So my FUE procedure was done 4 days ago, and I went home with A LOT of dried blood on my scalp.  It looks like someone took an axe to my head.  

The bad news is I have to get on a plane for a business trip in 3 days (the timing of all of this just didn't work out my way).  And I'm trying to figure out if there's anything I can do to get rid of this blood without ruining the grafts.  In the COVID era, I'm actually kind of worried they'll see my head and refuse to let me on the plane.

 

Any advice would be very welcome

[ciaus]

Pulled this from the ht doc site I used, since you are coming up on 5 days you can resume more normal shampoo-ing, though I'd still be very careful of course, run slightly warm water over your head/put a wet towel on your head for hours while you are around the house, to help soften and dissolve the blood patches, hopefully they will then rinse off.

 

• Do not wash or disrupt the grafts for 48 hours after surgery. After this time shower and wash your hair by lathering the shampoo in your hand and lightly applying to the grafted area as well as the donor site. Rinse with cool water and light water pressure. These precautions should be taken for 5 days after your surgical procedure. Thereafter, normal shampooing may be resumed. It is advisable to use a thick moisturizing conditioner daily on the grafted sites as well as in the donor area. Apply carefully, and let the conditioner remain on the area for 5 minutes, then rinse gently. This will significantly decrease scab formation.
• Apply light pressure on the grafts with a towel or gauze pad after exiting the shower. This will absorb any blood that has formed on or around the graft sites.

https://www.wolfhair.com/hair-regrowth/hair-transplants/procedure/post-op/

 

For not getting hassled with getting on the plane, if your head still looks like this you may want to look into getting a 'skull cap' type hat, search on amazon, where it doesn't look so unusual for you to wear it indoors and no reason for them to ask you to take it off, not like you could be hiding something under there.

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by ciaus

[kdlmaj]

I should also add- should I be worried about the "corn row" method the doc used on my transplant?  I'm afraid that's going to end up looking really obvious

[kdlmaj]

3 minutes ago, ciaus said:

Pulled this from the ht doc site I used, since you are coming up on 5 days you can resume more normal shampoo-ing, though I'd still be very careful of course, run slightly warm water over your head/put a wet towel on your head to help soften and dissolve the blood patches, hopefully they will then rinse off.

 

• Do not wash or disrupt the grafts for 48 hours after surgery. After this time shower and wash your hair by lathering the shampoo in your hand and lightly applying to the grafted area as well as the donor site. Rinse with cool water and light water pressure. These precautions should be taken for 5 days after your surgical procedure. Thereafter, normal shampooing may be resumed. It is advisable to use a thick moisturizing conditioner daily on the grafted sites as well as in the donor area. Apply carefully, and let the conditioner remain on the area for 5 minutes, then rinse gently. This will significantly decrease scab formation.
• Apply light pressure on the grafts with a towel or gauze pad after exiting the shower. This will absorb any blood that has formed on or around the graft sites.

https://www.wolfhair.com/hair-regrowth/hair-transplants/procedure/post-op/

 

For not getting hassled with getting on the plane, if your head still looks like this you may want to look into getting a 'skull cap' type hat, search on amazon, where it doesn't look so unusual for you to wear it indoors and no reason for them to ask you to take it off, not like you could be hiding something under there.

 

Bless you!  The wet towel idea is brilliant.  I'll start that tomorrow and hope that throughout the day I can get most of that blood off.  The skull cap is a great idea, but I doubt I can get it here on time.  My flight is Monday at 1pm sigh.

 

The instructions my doctor gave me told me that from day 4-7 all I could do is squeeze a sponge of the medicated shampoo over the transplant site and then softly rinse it out by slowly pouring water over it.  They made it seem like I couldn't have anything touching my my scalp until day 8.

[ciaus]

glad to help, and keep that towel as soaked as much as you can

-while up walking around maybe put a sweat headband or any strip of absorbent-like cloth you can tie around the bottom of your forehead to keep the water from streaming down and getting into your eyes

-and for times when you are sitting/laying down, make a recliner position to tilt your head over/back so the water would drain off down behind you into a catch bowl while you watch tv or listen to an audiobook

 

And don't give up on a skull cap hat, said you have a few days, esp if you have amazon prime, just took a screenshot of this could be delivered tomorrow.

 

[Sam818]

I wouldn’t do anything aggressive at all that would potentially dislodge the grafts for the first 10 days. You should follow your doc’s instructions so that way down the line there are no questions asked that maybe you did something to hinder your results. One thing I can recommend to you is to use to gently apply some organic jojoba oil on the dried blood and leave it on for a couple hours before the indirect sponge washing your doing. That can help loosen them up. Jojoba oil is the least irritating oil and shouldn’t cause any irritation and won’t clog your pores.

[kdlmaj]

31 minutes ago, ciaus said:

glad to help, and keep that towel as soaked as much as you can

-while up walking around maybe put a sweat headband or any strip of absorbent-like cloth you can tie around the bottom of your forehead to keep the water from streaming down and getting into your eyes

-and for times when you are sitting/laying down, make a recliner position to tilt your head over/back so the water would drain off down behind you into a catch bowl while you watch tv or listen to an audiobook

 

And don't give up on a skull cap hat, said you have a few days, esp if you have amazon prime, just took a screenshot of this could be delivered tomorrow.

 

Ha I just scoured amazon and apparently can't get any next day delivery.  Nothing until Tuesday (my flight is on Monday).  Amazing given I live in the Bay Area!  

Thank you so much for the help though- gonna send my partner out to Target to get me something tomorrow

[kdlmaj]

22 minutes ago, Sam818 said:

I wouldn’t do anything aggressive at all that would potentially dislodge the grafts for the first 10 days. You should follow your doc’s instructions so that way down the line there are no questions asked that maybe you did something to hinder your results. One thing I can recommend to you is to use to gently apply some organic jojoba oil on the dried blood and leave it on for a couple hours before the indirect sponge washing your doing. That can help loosen them up. Jojoba oil is the least irritating oil and shouldn’t cause any irritation and won’t clog your pores.

That's a great suggestion as well.  I have some Jurgen's lotion, but that feels like it'll clog. 

 

Do we think aloe gel will be okay?

[Britanium]

Follow your Drs Instructions. Do not wear a tight hat! You could damage the grafts. 

[Britanium]

How soon after a hair transplant can you wear a hat or cap? To avoid damaging the fragile new hair grafts we recommend that you wait until six days after your hair transplant before wearing a hat. If you need to cover your scalp before the sixth day, it may be possible to wear a very loose-fitting hat or light hood, providing it does not come into contact with the grafts.

[kdlmaj]

Just now, JohnAC71 said:

How soon after a hair transplant can you wear a hat or cap? To avoid damaging the fragile new hair grafts we recommend that you wait until six days after your hair transplant before wearing a hat. If you need to cover your scalp before the sixth day, it may be possible to wear a very loose-fitting hat or light hood, providing it does not come into contact with the grafts.

It would literally be day 6 when I would wear it! 

[Britanium]

Would you be able to give us any more information on which clinic you went too ? How many grafts etc. 
Looking at the pic it would appear a few long trickles of blood, which can be from a dislodged graft.

[Britanium]

It’s not until 10 days that the grafts are well anchored though. I wouldn’t want to risk disturbing them with a tight fitting hat.

I have always used a trilby style hat as it doesn’t come in to contact with the newly placed grafts.

 

[kdlmaj]

5 minutes ago, JohnAC71 said:

Would you be able to give us any more information on which clinic you went too ? How many grafts etc. 
Looking at the pic it would appear a few long trickles of blood, which can be from a dislodged graft.

Yeah it was 2500 grafts from Dr Diep out here in the Bay Area.  

As far as the blood lines go- I was actually sent home like that.  So it happened during the procedure, and they apparently just didn't really think that they needed to clean it up or anything- which is a little disconcerting. 

[kdlmaj]

Just now, JohnAC71 said:

It’s not until 10 days that the grafts are well anchored though. I wouldn’t want to risk disturbing them with a tight fitting hat.

I have always used a trilby style hat as it doesn’t come in to contact with the newly placed grafts.

 

Yeah I get that.  Unfortunately I really am concerned that I won't be allowed on the plane looking like this.  It's an international flight to London where I'll be stuck in quarantine for 14 days.  So they're not letting anyone on the plane who looks like they might be sick in any way.  I'm really annoyed at the doctor for leaving so much blood on me- they knew I had a flight.

[LaserCap]

Get some saline and put it in a spray bottle.  Spray away and pat dry.  That should take care of it. You can also wear a cap for as long as necessary.  You're shaven so the chances of "catching" are minimal.

I'm surprised you did not return to the clinic the next day.  They could have done the first wash for you.  

[ciaus]

25 minutes ago, kdlmaj said:

That's a great suggestion as well.  I have some Jurgen's lotion, but that feels like it'll clog. 

 

Do we think aloe gel will be okay?

I would be careful with aloe gel -like the 'pure 100%' aloe gel kind, I have some of that for like sunburns, etc, and it hardens a little into a clear shell as it dries, you need to wet and rub it a bit to get it off. I would stick with keeping the scalp wet, the jojoba oil is an interesting idea, may work better than the water towel, maybe alternate with the water and oil.

Edited August 1, 2020 by ciaus

[Britanium]

If you can get a trilby style hat you will be fine. I have flown many times wearing one.Everyone is so used to seeing people come through having had a Hair Transplant. 

Occasionally I have just been asked to take the hat off briefly during security and that’s it, back on again.

Please do ask Dr Diep though if he can recommend anything else, I’m suprised they didn’t give you some headwear or at least advice after the surgery.

I thought i recognised the corn row type of implants, don’t worry though In his hands it always gives excellent results!

I would be interested though why he thought it ok to leave you with the blood trickles. That could have been attended too. 

Edited August 1, 2020 by JohnAC71

[kdlmaj]

3 minutes ago, LaserCap said:

Get some saline and put it in a spray bottle.  Spray away and pat dry.  That should take care of it. You can also wear a cap for as long as necessary.  You're shaven so the chances of "catching" are minimal.

I'm surprised you did not return to the clinic the next day.  They could have done the first wash for you.  

I did!  The "wash" lasted like 90 seconds.  A few parts of the process overall definitely felt sloppy.

[LaserCap]

Sounds about right.  How long does it take you to wash yours typically?

What part of the process felt sloppy?

[kdlmaj]

3 minutes ago, ciaus said:

I would be careful with aloe gel -like the 'pure 100%' aloe gel kind, I have some of that for like sunburns, etc, and it hardens a little into a clear shell as it dries, you need to wet and rub it a bit to get it off. I would stick with keeping the scalp wet, the jojoba oil is an interesting idea, may work better than the water towel, maybe alternate with those.

Good call on the aloe.  I've been doing the wash cloth for an hour or so.  It's not really have any effect yet- the alternating is a good call.  Don't think I can get my partner to go back out and get me some oil until tomorrow though- he's already been doing so much for me the last few days and is starting to be a bit over it haha.

I also did buy some conditioner- wondering how long I can reasonably get away with having that on my head before rinsing.  

 

Unrelated note- how do we feel about the hair transplant pattern?  Should it look that row-like?

 

[kdlmaj]

Just now, LaserCap said:

Sounds about right.  How long does it take you to wash yours typically?

What part of the process felt sloppy?

Some of their paperwork was a bit outdated, and they had me signing that certain things had been said or done before anyone had said or done them.  

They let me go home with giant streaks of blood on my scalp knowing full well I had a flight to catch a week later.

They told me to come back from 8-10am the next morning, but I got there and they were like- you're here too early.  It should have been 10-2.  

And the "wash" was super fast, and they didn't even bother addressing the dried blood.  (No one even asked if it had happened overnight, for example, which would have been a potential problem)

It was stuff like that.  Also I was originally told I needed 3,000 grafts but got a message a few months ago saying they were only doing 2250 now.  And that was okay, but it's a bit unnerving to hear that from the same person who told you that you needed at least 3,000.  They did end up doing 2500 for me though and would have done more if I had agreed to a mini-FUT, but I wasn't prepared for that.  I want to keep my hair short.

 

That and my hairline really looks like corn rows, and I'm not sure that's going to look okay.  Wish they had made it look more like real hair pattern.  But maybe I'm just wrong on how this is supposed to look?

[kdlmaj]

Just now, transplantedphil said:

that's Diep's style

Is it going to look okay down the line?  

[Britanium]

Yes as I mentioned too, it’s his style and he still puts out excellent results! 

[kdlmaj]

Thanks so much for the help everyone- really needed it!

 

Yeah I read through that thread, and it seems more or less accurate to my experience.  My overall impression was it was an office of talented people who have turned into a hair transplant assembly line that's resulting in some balls being dropped here and there.  Ultimately what really matters are the end results, and I think when you've just walked out of a $20k procedure that requires you to wait a year to really see the effects, it's easy to be nitpicky.  

 

Honestly my only real complaint is that they let me go home with this much blood on me.  I haven't seen a single other picture of anyone else who had giant streaks of dried blood running down their scalps from the operation, days later.  But maybe it's more common than I realize, and I just haven't run into those pics yet.