Shedding Post-Op

[Rossybop]

Happy Xmas everyone

Ok I'm now 16 days out of surgery. I've only really started taking the scabs off in the last 3 days or so, most of them are gone now. Since removing the scabs I can finally see a lot of the transplanted hair. Upon removing the scabs a lot of shedding has been taking place. Its hard to tell exactly how much but I've probably been shedding in the shower, I've been shedding as I ease the scabs off every day and when I rub my head and what not sometimes I shed. I did notice my first few hairs come out at the hairline around day 11 or 12. I assume this is all normal?

The transplanted hair is a bit weird though. Apart from being a bit less dense (a lot to do with shedding perhaps) I find the texture and look of the hairs a bit different. They kind of spike out of my head whereas the native hair is flat as a pancake. They also look a slightly different colour and they feel very soft or strange. Most of them have grown a bit, some more than others, but a lot of them look and feel a bit fragile. The right side is definitley less dense than the left but I think this is because more shedding has occured on that side. I know that shedding is normal especially at this stage but some bits are shedding more than others so thought I'd post this here to see what people think. Also looking at pics from 5 - 8 days post-op the right side seemed to have less little hairs than the left but I think I read somewhere that this can occur because shedding can start taking place as early as 4-7 days post-op.

I'm just wondering is this pattern of shedding totally normal and do the transplanted hairs usually look and feel a bit odd, and fragile, and do they often appear to have less density and growth than the native hair at this juncture?

Cheers - Ross.

[Captain Haddock]

Damn you shed fast. Or am I gonna shed late? Check out my day 16 pics. Not one bit of shed. 

Also Merry Xmas bro. 

Edited December 26, 2020 by Captain Haddock

[Rossybop]

Yeah I might have shed a bit within a week, I'm not fully sure though. Defo been shedding lots and lots these last few days though, all the hair is coming out with the scabs.

I'll check yours out now bro. Cheers.

[Britanium]

What does look good is that the recipient area isn’t hardly pink let alone red. On some people with fair hair it can be quite noticeable. Your shedding is quite normal for this stage. 

[deitel130]

Shedding of transplanted hair is very normal. Majority of it will shed. The hair you notice lying flat may be hair that is ready to shed. It doesn't have enough to hold it up any longer. You may notice more shedding in the coming days but don't worry this is all part of the process. At 3.5 to 4 months you should start to see some re-growth. 

[Rossybop]

1 hour ago, JohnAC71 said:

What does look good is that the recipient area isn’t hardly pink let alone red. On some people with fair hair it can be quite noticeable. Your shedding is quite normal for this stage. 

That's just the light actually John. When you see it under different lights its very very very obvious - the pinkness. I'm very perceptibly pink all over the transplanted area. I'll upload a pic tomorrow to show you.

[Rossybop]

1 hour ago, deitel130 said:

Shedding of transplanted hair is very normal. Majority of it will shed. The hair you notice lying flat may be hair that is ready to shed. It doesn't have enough to hold it up any longer. You may notice more shedding in the coming days but don't worry this is all part of the process. At 3.5 to 4 months you should start to see some re-growth. 

Cool man, cheers. I know that shedding is normal especially around this juncture but the right seems to have shed a lot more, its not all shedding at the same time, is this fully normal?

As for the flat hair, my native hair is actually very flat although very dense whereas my transplanted hair is spiking out, and it doesn't feel the same as the native hair. It looks spiky yet somewhat fragile and it feels soft. 

Upon examining the pics taken during the operation it looks as if I had quite a lot of hair transplanted yet now it looks very sparse, and looking closely at pics just 7 days out of surgery you don't see as many hairs as you do on surgery day, I wonder would this mean did I start shedding a few hairs within the first 7 days?

The most obvious shedding has occured while easing the scabs off over the last few days, quite a lot tends to fall out with the scabs.

[deitel130]

Are you referring to the transplanted hair or native hair which you see less of. Native hair shock loss can happen. I read that it happens to almost every to a certain degree but some people experience a lot more while others experience minimal. This is not the same as shedding which happens almost always where about 95% of transplanted hairs will shed. They may not shed evenly in both sides as they will mostly shed when you run your head or when washing. But you should expect almost all transplanted hairs to shed. 

[Rossybop]

47 minutes ago, deitel130 said:

Are you referring to the transplanted hair or native hair which you see less of. Native hair shock loss can happen. I read that it happens to almost every to a certain degree but some people experience a lot more while others experience minimal. This is not the same as shedding which happens almost always where about 95% of transplanted hairs will shed. They may not shed evenly in both sides as they will mostly shed when you run your head or when washing. But you should expect almost all transplanted hairs to shed. 

I'm referrring to the transnplanted hair. In the picture I've just attached you can so quite a lot of hairs (or empty slits?) during the procedure. In almost any other picture I've taken there is not as many hairs visible. This may be due to the quality of pictures amongst other things like shedding, scabs, crusting, viewpoint etc etc. It just makes me a bit paranoid but perhaps I'm just getting paranoid over nothing. It makes me wonder too did I start shedding early? The first few days after surgery I couldn't see any grafts at all when I looked in the mirror, it was just raw redness. I can see grafts showing in pictures that I took like 5 days and 7 days post-op but the little dots I see are not as numerous as those that can be seen on pictures from the operating table.

I don't think I'm experiencing shock loss. I've definitely shed a lot more on the right side though.

 

[ciaus]

Shedding can start as early as the first week and just like when the results come in, its not a synchronized process unfortunately, which can cause frustration and anxiety. I remember my left front side after my first procedure came in quicker than the right, wondering if it was something I did in my sleep or the doc or his techs messed up. Turned out that the right side just came in more gradually. All you can do is trust the process and be patient at this point.

https://www.bernsteinmedical.com/hair-transplant/basics/shedding-after-transplant/
 

[Rossybop]

Cool. Interesting stuff man. Perhaps I did start shedding in the first week. The worry is that this could be a sign of bad results but if it is perfectly normal then that's fine. Cheers.

[pkipling]

On 12/27/2020 at 8:24 AM, Rossybop said:

Cool. Interesting stuff man. Perhaps I did start shedding in the first week. The worry is that this could be a sign of bad results but if it is perfectly normal then that's fine. Cheers.

Yep! Not only normal, but expected.  The first few months after the procedure are often the most grueling part as you sit and wait for results to come through - and the more you watch for them, the longer they seem to take. So try not to watch your scalp like a hawk over the next few months and do what you can to put it out of your mind. Happy growing (and Happy New Year!)

[Rossybop]

40 minutes ago, pkipling said:

Yep! Not only normal, but expected.  The first few months after the procedure are often the most grueling part as you sit and wait for results to come through - and the more you watch for them, the longer they seem to take. So try not to watch your scalp like a hawk over the next few months and do what you can to put it out of your mind. Happy growing (and Happy New Year!)

Thank you so much man. Perhaps that's good advice. I shed a bit when I pulled the scabs off at day 13 - 16, but then the shedding seemed to stop. I think I'm slowly shedding again now though at 21 days.

Its soooooooo gruelling as you said. I look at and think there's not much density there and I see the hairs looking different and feeling different and I worry about the angles and so on. Only time will tell how it goes though.

Anyway thanks a lot buddy and happy new year to you too.