FUE Scabs

[a]

Hi Everyone, 

While I know FUEs offer better long term results in terms of reduced scarring, a major concern of mine is the fact that donor area has to be shaved pretty tight during surgery, so it’s tougher to conceal in the days/weeks after surgery. Does anyone have any experience with positive attempts at concealing these scars (Dermatch, cosmetics, etc.). How long will it be until the donor  area is not noticeable?

[AB2000]

32 minutes ago, a said:

Hi Everyone, 

While I know FUEs offer better long term results in terms of reduced scarring, a major concern of mine is the fact that donor area has to be shaved pretty tight during surgery, so it’s tougher to conceal in the days/weeks after surgery. Does anyone have any experience with positive attempts at concealing these scars (Dermatch, cosmetics, etc.). How long will it be until the donor  area is not noticeable?

In my experience with FUE, and perhaps it varies based on how different clinics do things their own way, I found that donor heals up much faster than recipient.  I'm two months out from my surgery and the recipents areas are still red, which was the same thing in my earlier HT's.  As far as scabbing, instructions on this seems to vary a bit as well, but if you have any left after two weeks it's probably too long and could negatively impact your final result.  Some days after the transplant, gentle showing is allowed, and scabs are teased off with small pressure.

If it's the scabs you're worried about I don't think it's a question of weeks, just days.

[NicoAustralia]

57 minutes ago, a said:

Hi Everyone, 

While I know FUEs offer better long term results in terms of reduced scarring, a major concern of mine is the fact that donor area has to be shaved pretty tight during surgery, so it’s tougher to conceal in the days/weeks after surgery. Does anyone have any experience with positive attempts at concealing these scars (Dermatch, cosmetics, etc.). How long will it be until the donor  area is not noticeable?

It doesn't provide reduced scarring, it is more spread out scarring but in terms of amount of scarring FUE probably is actually higher

[ciaus]

13 minutes ago, NicoAustralia said:

It doesn't provide reduced scarring, it is more spread out scarring but in terms of amount of scarring FUE probably is actually higher

Well now there's a technically true, glass half full take, that doesn't really take into account how the eyes and brain actually work.

Of course while FUE is going to give you more individual scars, due to their very small size its possible with a good donor area and extraction distribution to spread the scarring so that the overall visibility is much less detectable than a FUT scar.

 

The deciding factor is how big your procedure is and how wide of an area the doctor is extracting from in your donor. If the extraction area is small enough -horizontally from top to bottom, you may be able to keep your hair longer above and below the buzzed area so that would give you the concealment. For any larger scar area using concealers, I can speak from some experience with DermMatch and FUT (haven't had FUE). I found it effective concealing my FUT scar down to a 4-guard buzz when I go extra short in the summer - and I have a pretty good FUT scar from what I've seen of others online, a little thicker than a pencil line.

[Melvin- Admin]

There are surgeons who offer no-shave options. That said, I wouldn’t advise it. With the world still in some sort of quarantine. You can probably get away with staying home for the first few months until it grows back. 

[a]

Thanks everyone. This is the shave down option. In my case (its very minimal crown work that would only be about 1000 grafts), they’d shave down a small area - see the pics below. It’s actually very similar to my natural haircut. My concern is when the scabs would fall away

[jimcraig152]

15 minutes ago, a said:

My concern is when the scabs would fall away

In my experience, donor area scabs and much of the resulting spotty red scars were all gone by the end of the 3rd week leaving just redness.

[Gabreille Nelson Mukhia]

On 8/26/2020 at 5:38 AM, a said:

Hi Everyone, 

While I know FUEs offer better long term results in terms of reduced scarring, a major concern of mine is the fact that donor area has to be shaved pretty tight during surgery, so it’s tougher to conceal in the days/weeks after surgery. Does anyone have any experience with positive attempts at concealing these scars (Dermatch, cosmetics, etc.). How long will it be until the donor  area is not noticeable?

The donor will look thin for a month or two until the other hair on the donor grow longer and cover the area. There is nothing you can do about it. When you go for a transplant, you have to accept the casualties that come along with it. There has to be time given for the normalization of the scalp. The hair will take time to grow. And the donor thinning will be visible especially in the initial months. Even later on if you keep a stubble length hair on your donor, the collective thinning will be apparent.

[a]

18 minutes ago, Gabreille Nelson Mukhia said:

The donor will look thin for a month or two until the other hair on the donor grow longer and cover the area. There is nothing you can do about it. When you go for a transplant, you have to accept the casualties that come along with it. There has to be time given for the normalization of the scalp. The hair will take time to grow. And the donor thinning will be visible especially in the initial months. Even later on if you keep a stubble length hair on your donor, the collective thinning will be apparent.

Thanks! I do appreciate the candor! I cut my hair pretty high and tight as is. So I’m more concerned about the scabs being visible, as opposed to the length of hair. The doctors said that they can work to buzz it down so it doesn’t look so pronounced in donor area.

i can live with the thinning, basically, but less with the scabs. How long until you think those traces will remove? I know It sounds like I’m asking the same question, but just seeing what I can do to minimize the disruption

Edited August 28, 2020 by a

[Gabreille Nelson Mukhia]

On 8/29/2020 at 4:51 AM, a said:

Thanks! I do appreciate the candor! I cut my hair pretty high and tight as is. So I’m more concerned about the scabs being visible, as opposed to the length of hair. The doctors said that they can work to buzz it down so it doesn’t look so pronounced in donor area.

i can live with the thinning, basically, but less with the scabs. How long until you think those traces will remove? I know It sounds like I’m asking the same question, but just seeing what I can do to minimize the disruption

The scabs of the wounds will wash off after a couple of initial washes. The redness might remain for a couple of weeks. The collective absence of hair will remain which can be strategically camouflaged with proper styling.

[LonelyGraft]

On 8/28/2020 at 4:21 PM, a said:

Thanks! I do appreciate the candor! I cut my hair pretty high and tight as is. So I’m more concerned about the scabs being visible, as opposed to the length of hair. The doctors said that they can work to buzz it down so it doesn’t look so pronounced in donor area.

i can live with the thinning, basically, but less with the scabs. How long until you think those traces will remove? I know It sounds like I’m asking the same question, but just seeing what I can do to minimize the disruption

In my experience the scabs in the donor are some of the first to fall off, I’d say by around 7-10 days they were mostly gone. However, as most have mentioned, there will still be healing going on and less density evident.