Is it okay to extract blackheads in recipient area 8 Weeks Post-Op?

[ManeMan]

I'm hoping some of you out there can advise me on what to do here. About 8 weeks after my procedure I used the magnifying skin camera (which is on a blackhead remover I've used on my nose before) to look at how the healing was going up close in my recipient area. I started to notice that there seemed to be a lot of blackheads and clogged pores everywhere. Some with hairs growing out of them but many without hairs. I tried some light pressure on a couple of them after steaming my scalp in a hot shower and the gunky stuff just kinda slid right out of a lot of them.

I want to be careful about causing any damage to the grafts, but I would think that if 2 weeks post-op they are pretty well anchored, that 8 weeks out they should be solidly in there. I've read that having clogged pores can prevent the hair from growing through, so I wasn't sure if it was best to try to free the pores of the blockages to encourage hair growth, or if by doing so I would be damaging the follicles. A few of the blackheads that popped out were quite long, so I started to get afraid that maybe the full graft was coming out, though it seems unlikely at this point. I've emailed the clinic with a lot of detail and photos and got a standard response that pimples are normal and they can be gently pierced and drained, but not much else.

I haven't seen much conversation on the forums about this so wondering if anyone's experienced anything similar or any of the experts can weigh in on what the best course of action would be here. I've always had oily skin, which had calmed down a lot after my teens, but it kinda feels like I'm reliving puberty all over again with the amount of pimples and blackheads I'm getting. Any advice on creams or topicals that will help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[gillenator]

I agree that your grafts are well anchored at this point in time however the recipient area is still under some level of trauma...how much is unknown...so if it were me, I would give it another 3-4 weeks to heal and if theses blackheads come out fairly easy, no reason why you cannot remove them as long as you are careful.

I was also going to suggest that you ask your doctor about removing them but I see that you already did that.

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

At eight weeks postop, the hair follicle are deeply rooted and could only be extracted through surgery. That said, I typically think it’s a good idea to let pimples dissipate and heal on their own rather than popping or harvesting blackheads.  You could also try applying something like tend skin to see if that doesn’t help to clear the area without having to remove them yourself.

All the best,

Rahal Hair Transplant. 

[gillenator]

Is tend skin a product?