Different looking donor and recipient area than what I see posted here

[brownsugar]

Hello everyone. I got my FUE transplant done with around 3000 hairs 5 days ago. I must admit that I went with a recommended doctor from a contact but didn't fully research as much as I should have. It is only after the surgery that I came to this forum and I'm facepalming hard because a highly recommended clinic on this forum was accessible to me and I ended up not going for that.

What is done is done, I guess. The reason why I am here now is the post operative stress about did they do it right.

Attached are photos from day 4. 

My recipient area looks like the attached image from the first day itself. There's no blood clots or white tissue I see on photos here and elsewhere.

My donor I don't see the red dots that I see on everyone's photos here. It has been like this from Day3 when I removed the bandage. I'm wondering if this is normal? And does the donor look overharvested? Note that hair was trimmed unevenly in that area so it may appear patchy, at different lengths. (edit: added a photo from Day 5) 

I'm constantly worried if it's been done right and finally decided to post here to either ease the constant tension or resign to the fate. 

This is a wonderful community and I wish I had found it sooner. Might have saved myself a lot of time and stress. 

Edited October 13, 2021 by brownsugar

[digi23]

15 minutes ago, brownsugar said:

Hello everyone. I got my FUE transplant done with around 3000 hairs 5 days ago. I must admit that I went with a recommended doctor from a contact but didn't fully research as much as I should have. It is only after the surgery that I came to this forum and I'm facepalming hard because a highly recommended clinic on this forum was accessible to me and I ended up not going for that.

What is done is done, I guess. The reason why I am here now is the post operative stress about did they do it right.

Attached are photos from day 4. 

My recipient area looks like the attached image from the first day itself. There's no blood clots or white tissue I see on photos here and elsewhere.

My donor I don't see the red dots that I see on everyone's photos here. It has been like this from Day3 when I removed the bandage. I'm wondering if this is normal? And does the donor look overharvested? Note that hair was trimmed unevenly in that area so it may appear patchy, at different lengths. 

I'm constantly worried if it's been done right and finally decided to post here to either ease the constant tension or resign to the fate. 

This is a wonderful community and I wish I had found it sooner. Might have saved myself a lot of time and stress. 

Who was the Dr/clinic?

Its difficult to say about the donor because its uneven shaved as you said. You need to let it grow out abit more to see.

You dont have any photo of the donor area post surgery? Like just after.

[brownsugar]

Just now, digi23 said:

Who was the Dr/clinic?

Its difficult to say about the donor because its uneven shaved as you said. You need to let it grow out abit more to see.

You dont have any photo of the donor area post surgery? Like just after.

Don't have it just after surgery unfortunately. The clinic did take those and I'll ask for it. 

[digi23]

Just now, brownsugar said:

Don't have it just after surgery unfortunately. The clinic did take those and I'll ask for it. 

Yes would be good. I can say that it looks potentially like a pretty small area to extract 3000 grafts from. I had 2550 grafts and mine was spread out alot.

 

[brownsugar]

6 minutes ago, digi23 said:

Yes would be good. I can say that it looks potentially like a pretty small area to extract 3000 grafts from. I had 2550 grafts and mine was spread out alot.

 

The area looks sparse as compared to the area around it, at least 1/3 the density roughly.

The surgeon mentioned they'll be taking the grafts from the safe area only that is prone to lesser shedding later. I wish at this stage it was more spread out like yours and unsafe area to not have this weird crescent if I wanted to keep my hair short, which I did.  Oh well.

Any thoughts on recipient area? 

Edited October 13, 2021 by brownsugar

[Berba11]

I won't lie to you - my initial reaction to seeing that donor area was not a good one. It's early in the day and the hair is very short so will always look worse, but to my eye that donor area looks way too small so such a large amount of extractions.

Also, 3,000 grafts over your hairline, midscalp and start of the crown is a small amount for such a large area. Most people will require double that number plus some beard grafts to pad out the whole area to a good degree. You've possibly got multi hair grafts in the hairline as well, but it's hard to say from that angle of photo.

I'd honestly be a little worried by the donor area at the moment if it were me. That might not be what you want to hear, but there's no way to sugar coat it.

Could you tell us which clinic & which Dr did this work?

[Britanium]

Which clinic was this ? Was it 3k of hairs or grafts ? The donor area has not been well managed in this instance. Sorry to say but they just took from too small a area. From what I can see it’s possible that it’s over harvested and maybe we can see some shock loss. 

[digi23]

2 minutes ago, brownsugar said:

The area looks sparse as compared to the area around it, at least 1/3 the density roughly.

The surgeon mentioned they'll be taking the grafts from the safe area only that is prone to lesser shedding later. I wish at this stage it was more spread out like yours and unsafe area to not have this weird crescent if I wanted to keep my hair short, which I did.  Oh well.

Any thoughts on recipient area? 

Recipient area looks pretty clean, I would have preferred that they should have done it in two steps and only this time focus on this.

Could you tell us what Dr you choose or what clinic? It helps everyone here on the forum to see.

[Britanium]

I don’t actually think that’s 3k worth of grafts that’s been extracted or implanted.

[brownsugar]

Just now, JC71 said:

I don’t actually think that’s 3k worth of grafts that’s been extracted or implanted.

This is what I'm hoping. At this point I'm unable to gauge what the count was. 

 

@Berba11 @digi23 the doctor was Arth Shah (Ahmedabad, India)

[Britanium]

1 minute ago, brownsugar said:

This is what I'm hoping. At this point I'm unable to gauge what the count was. 

 

@Berba11 @digi23 the doctor was Arth Shah (Ahmedabad, India)

Oh dear. Not a good place I’m sorry to say. Eugenix or Medispa are far superior in every respect. 😞

Edited October 13, 2021 by JC71

[digi23]

1 minute ago, brownsugar said:

This is what I'm hoping. At this point I'm unable to gauge what the count was. 

 

@Berba11 @digi23 the doctor was Arth Shah (Ahmedabad, India)

Yes the area where the extractions has been made looks to be way to small for 3000 grafts. So either you are extremely overharvested or the Dr did not extract 3000. You need to have some sort of magic skin healing because after 3 days you basically have no dots.

[brownsugar]

6 minutes ago, Berba11 said:

I won't lie to you - my initial reaction to seeing that donor area was not a good one. It's early in the day and the hair is very short so will always look worse, but to my eye that donor area looks way too small so such a large amount of extractions.

Also, 3,000 grafts over your hairline, midscalp and start of the crown is a small amount for such a large area. Most people will require double that number plus some beard grafts to pad out the whole area to a good degree. You've possibly got multi hair grafts in the hairline as well, but it's hard to say from that angle of photo.

I'd honestly be a little worried by the donor area at the moment if it were me. That might not be what you want to hear, but there's no way to sugar coat it.

Could you tell us which clinic & which Dr did this work?

I am worried about my donor area too. I do have some native hair in midscalp and some in crown. Thinning heavily though. So they spread out some hair in the mid-scalp and some in the crown. I am hoping this turns out okay with time but I will definitely go to a better clinic to get this fixed at some point. 

[Britanium]

I know the Dr is a plastic surgeon, how much of the work did he do ? Was the extraction/implementation done by techs ? 

[Berba11]

1 minute ago, brownsugar said:

I am worried about my donor area too. I do have some native hair in midscalp and some in crown. Thinning heavily though. So they spread out some hair in the mid-scalp and some in the crown. I am hoping this turns out okay with time but I will definitely go to a better clinic to get this fixed at some point. 

It would be good to see some pre-op photos so we can see the scope of the work carried in its proper context.

The problem the donor (may) cause is that not only could it be over harvested and cause you problems aesthetically, but it's also going to make things harder for any future repair work.

Let's not jump the gun though. You may be experiencing shock loss which is making things look a bit worse than before, and with the hair grown out longer, we'll get a better idea of the how noticeable the donor extractions are. A bit of time is going to be needed to really see what's going on back there.

[brownsugar]

Just now, JC71 said:

I know the Dr is a plastic surgeon, how much of the work did he do ? Was the extraction/implementation done by techs ? 

He did the holes and oversaw the extraction. Implant was all by the techs. 

[Britanium]

Just now, brownsugar said:

He did the holes and oversaw the extraction. Implant was all by the techs. 

Damn man he thought that extraction pattern was ok 😬

[Britanium]

I agree with @Berba11though, unfortunately your going to have to wait a few months and see how it recovers. 

[brownsugar]

8 minutes ago, digi23 said:

Yes the area where the extractions has been made looks to be way to small for 3000 grafts. So either you are extremely overharvested or the Dr did not extract 3000. You need to have some sort of magic skin healing because after 3 days you basically have no dots.

This is what I don't understand myself. I have extremely sensitive skin and always thought I heal relatively slowly. But end of Day 3 and there was no perceptible holes whatsoever.

[Britanium]

Question is did they say it was 3k of hairs or 3k of grafts ? Big difference 

[brownsugar]

2 minutes ago, JC71 said:

Damn man he thought that extraction pattern was ok 😬

I guess I can only hope 3k weren't extracted and there is shock loss 🥲

[brownsugar]

Just now, JC71 said:

Question is did they say it was 3k of hairs or 3k of grafts ? Big difference 

I will check again. I'm certain they were referring to grafts. 

Would be kind of impossible to tell I agree, but from the recipient picture does it look like 3k grafts compared to the 3k other folks here have posted? I'm looking around the forum to gauge that till I can go to the clinic tomorrow. 

[Britanium]

Just now, brownsugar said:

I will check again. I'm certain they were referring to grafts. 

Would be kind of impossible to tell I agree, but from the recipient picture does it look like 3k grafts compared to the 3k other folks here have posted? I'm looking around the forum to gauge that till I can go to the clinic tomorrow. 

Difficult to be accurate but I would hazard a guess around 2.2k at most.

[Britanium]

Ask the clinic to see if they kept a graft count, don’t be too surprised if they didn’t though. Normally they have it on a white board, broken down in to singles,doubles, triples etc. But with a clinic doing poor work it’s unlikely. 

[brownsugar]

Just now, JC71 said:

Ask the clinic to see if they kept a graft count, don’t be too surprised if they didn’t though. Normally they have it on a white board, broken down in to singles,doubles, triples etc. But with a clinic doing poor work it’s unlikely. 

They were keeping a count and separating it in twos and threes yes. And while I did ask them how many were extracted I didn't push for an accurate number. Clinics here like to quote the 3k number whether or not they extract that number so that's what they said, around 3k. I'm regretting being so dumb and going into something so permanent with only half the confidence in my choice.