Complication after Hair transplant surgery

[Alexx]

  Hello guys

 Two months -one week after my hair transplant and I am in a terrible state physically and phchologically and I really need some professional advices. 

  The issue : The problem I have is that since the surgery (2 month ago) I continously have some "bumps" or "lumps" on large postions under the skin in recipient area. Those areas seems to have minor inflammation and swelling. I have partial numbness on those areas. I experience some tingling and burning sensation on those areas aswell. "On the outside" the skin looks very good and nothing special is visible according to dermatologist that saw me. I lost all my transplanted hair after 1 month (probably due to shock loss) and since than I've got nothing yet visible coming out of those areas except my original hair that i partially lost too, in the same time frame.

 

   Short story about how I got here: My surgeon is in another city very far away and coudn't help that much. Speaking on the phone I had the impression she doesn't know what is happening and after a while I start loosing trust and patience due to high distance between us and poor communication. 

   For a while I thought it is still part of the healing process. I start looking for answers on other doctors dermatologists ( and even neurologist) in my town and this delayed severly the diagnostic, as most of them even if they are experienced on other scalp issues they have poor understanding of hair transplant procedures.  

 Current tratment:  after 3 weeks of Fucidin cream and Clobetasol solution I have some improvements as the bumbs (lumps) under the skin got recuced in size but the simptoms overall still persist. The numbness and inflammation improved a bit aswell.

 

Current diagnostic : None clear yet unfortunately, Recently I am in panic and I will do back very soon to dermatologist(s) for new investigations or procedures.

 

Questions:   

     1. Simply reading some documents about hair transplant complications I suspect I have some cysts under the skin ( I know the diagnostic shoud be done by a proper medic !) . I remember the surgeon complaining about "small" grafts from donor area. Do you think this can be the case, and those are too dip under the skin due to faulty procedures or (and) other causes ?

   2.  Providing I have cysts can those be treated without surgery ? If surgery is needed are there any resulting scars ? At least the original hair still grow in those "newly" operated areas ? What kind of doctor can do this surgery ? ( OMG I hope is not the case for this !)

   3.  Do you think my transplant is compromised or are there any chances for the transplanted hair to still grow in recipient area  despite those big issues ?

   4. If those bumps are not cysts and "my believe" (wich is not qualified) is wrong what else can be ?

 

  Please help me with some advices and steps to move forward because I am in big trouble. I am at your disposal for any questions or scalp pictures if you think those might help with anything.

Edited September 13, 2022 by Alexx

[LookMaxx]

Pictures would help. I hope it’s not too gross

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

Alexx,

To be honest, without pictures, it’s really going to be difficult to provide any real and genuine opinions about what could possibly be going on here. I suspect that you may be experiencing folliculitis because this is typically the time where the new hair underneath the surface of the scalp could be attempting to break through and getting stuck. Now, folliculitis can be small bumps but they could be larger depending on what’s going on underneath 

Now keep in mind that I am not a doctor. I do work for Dr. Rahal and I am a very experienced hair transplant patient and have been working in the profession for approximately 15 years now. In my years of experiencebased strictly on your description and no photos, I would suggest that you potentially have a bad case of folliculitis.   I know that some alcohol based treatment such as tendskin and others have been successful in treating this but alcohol based treatments can also irritate the skin.

Now, the only thing that makes me think it might not be folliculitis is you made it sound like the skin itself isn’t showing any signs of a problem. So you’re saying there’s no inflammation, no redness, etc.? Or am I reading that wrong?

I strongly encourage you to post some photos of the problematic area and if your surgeon isn’t being helpful, you might want to see a local hair transplant surgeon and have him or her look at your scalp and provide some kind of assessment.

Now, you did say that the cream you are using seems to be helping to reduce the lumps is that correct? If it is helping, I suggest that you continue using it because if it is folliculitis or some thing related to the stirring of transplanted hair underneath the surface of the scalp, this will eventually go away as your new hair breaks through the skin.

If for some reason you’re not comfortable posting photos publicly, feel free to send me a private message and I will do my best to provide you with my opinion privately.

Best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Rahal Hair Transplant

[Alexx]

Here are some pictures, yes there is minor inflammation "on the surface" in all affected areas and some lumps ( bumps) that looks underneath.

Edited September 7, 2022 by Alexx

[Melvin- Admin]

I’m bot seeing anything concerning. Let me tag @DrTBarghouthi

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

Alexx,

i’m not sure if the photos aren’t showing the whole picture because obviously they’re not three-dimensional and you can’t see any lumps.  But from what I can tell by the photos, it doesn’t look that bad and you may just be experiencing a mild case of folliculitis, not even a bad one.  What do the lumps feel like and how big are they? Like if you could give me a projected diameter from one end of the lump to the other, approximately how many millimeters would you say each one is?  Are some bigger than the others or are they all pretty much the same? And if you had to guess approximately how many lumps you are feeling or seeing, how many would you say there are?

From what I’m seeing, you’re not experiencing anything overly unusual and this will go away by itself in a short period of time.

best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Rahal Hair Transplant

[Alexx]

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

Alexx,

based on the photos, I really don’t see anything abnormal. I know how it feels to be two months postop with no signs of growth yet, possible signs of shock loss, pimples and other bumps on the scalp, inflammation and redness, itchiness and or numbness, etc.  it can take its toll emotionally and psychologically and we tend to exaggerate the problems because we’re scared. We are nervous and scared and we’re not sure if we are going to get the results that we want and deserve.

Now I don’t know who your surgeon is, but I really don’t see anything to be concerned about and in my opinion, I would just continue using the cream you say is helping and move forward and see how things progress over the next 6 to 12 months.

Best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant 

[Alexx]

Those pictures are a few days ago. The bumps are 2-3 milimeters in height ( inflamation considered) . Probably one bigger central top of the head is 5-6 milimeters in height.

 

In lenght -the affected are ( numbness area) cover an area a tad larger than in the below pictures ( see with green) .

 

Thank tou very much for your reply.

Edited September 7, 2022 by Alexx

[DrTBarghouthi]

Thanks for tagging. I don’t see anything of major concern. It mostly is some case of folliculitis as hairs maybe trying to break through skin. I would continue to use any topical medication that seems to be working. May I also suggest trying some warm towel pads twice a day over the areas affected. Keep us posted. 

[baldbandito]

Hang in there my man! You’re  2 months post surgery- pimples/ shock loss  /discomfort is totally normal. Give your hair time to recover and trust the process. Please don’t obsess- you’ll be looking amazing in 1 year. Trust me. Peace. 

[Alexx]

    Hello Dears,

    I take the opportunity to thank to all the doctors and the people that send me the previous messages on this forum, it really helped.

    I come back with updates. I made a visit to a hair surgeon closer to my residence in my country (Romania - eastern europe) and finally I understand what is the issue.

    I have 10 "buried" grafts in the numb area (with green in above pictures) of my head and this is why I have this persistent inflamation and the lumpy aspect in that area. The doctor told me that there are no cysts yet on any of those buried grafts but it needs to be checkd in the future. I received a treatment with antibiotic and antiinflammation cream (similar with the previous one). Except this issue the said the rest seems to be ok (transplanted hair started to grow !) and he is optimistic on the future as the inflammation shoud subsid. I will go again for a check after 1 month period.

    Unfortunately due to some stress I forgot to ask him some fundamental questions, and I kindly ask the awesome community from here to enlight me in some of those regards:

 

 1.  Do you consider those 10 buried grafts as a possible surgeon mistake ?

 

 2. How offen this is happening in hair transplant and is this normal to happend ?

 

 3. What are the possible future complications due to those 10 buried grafts I have and what other precautions I shoud take ?

  

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Alexx

[Urschwob]

On 14.9.2022 at 09:01, Alexx said:

    Hallo ihr Lieben,

   Ich nutze die Gelegenheit, um allen Ärzten und den Leuten zu danken, die mir die vorherigen Nachrichten in diesem Forum geschickt haben. Es hat wirklich geholfen.

    Ich komme mit Updates zurück. Ich habe einen Haarchirurgen in der Nähe meines Wohnsitzes in meinem Land (Rumänien – Osteuropa) aufgesucht und endlich verstanden, wo das Problem liegt.

    Ich habe 10 „vergrabene“ Transplantate im tauben Bereich (auf den Bildern oben grün) an meinem Kopf und deshalb habe ich diese anhaltende Entzündung und das klumpige Aussehen in diesem Bereich. Der Arzt sagte mir, dass sich auf keinem dieser vergrabenen Transplantate Zysten befänden, dies aber in Zukunft überprüft werden müsse. Ich erhielt eine Behandlung mit Antibiotika und einer entzündungshemmenden Creme (ähnlich wie bei der vorherigen). Abgesehen von diesem Problem scheint der Rest in Ordnung zu sein (die transplantierten Haare begannen zu wachsen!) und er blickt optimistisch in die Zukunft, da die Entzündung nachlassen sollte. Ich werde nach einem Monat noch einmal zur Kontrolle gehen.

    Leider habe ich aufgrund von Stress vergessen, ihm einige grundlegende Fragen zu stellen, und ich bitte die großartige Community von hier, mich in einigen dieser Aspekte aufzuklären:

 

 1. Halten Sie diese 10 vergrabenen Transplantate für einen möglichen Fehler des Chirurgen?

 

 2. Wie oft passiert das bei Haartransplantationen und ist das normal?

 

 3. Was sind die möglichen zukünftigen Komplikationen aufgrund meiner zehn vergrabenen Transplantate und welche anderen Vorsichtsmaßnahmen sollte ich treffen?

  

 

Hello Alex, Is there any news about this? How did that develop?

 How did you solve the problem?

 greeting