Overharvested or shock loss?

[OverharvestedAndSad]

I am a little over 2 weeks post op. Extracted 6k+ grafts over 5 days (plus another 1.5k from beard which also looks the same as scalp). 

Am I screwed? Can I transplant beard hairs into my donor in the future to fix this? I still have a lot of beard left (and lots of body hair fwiw) 

 

[A_4_Archan]

There are few doctors who are extracting more than this in 2 days...at this moment can't say anythng ...there will be a huge shock loss as well...you have to wait to see how it would turn out ....who was the surgeon ? Did you check whether he/she has an experience with mega or giga sessions ? 

[OverharvestedAndSad]

This was actually done over 5 days. So about 1.5k ish grafts a day (last day was just beard)

I got it done at the Assure clinic in India, they’re known for high density hair transplants. My surgeon had been working there 6 years I believe and all extraction / implant was done by surgeon not technician. Also supposedly they used a 0.7 mm punch for extraction. 

I also have a low pain tolerance so they may have used more anesthesia (not sure about this). Maybe that contributed to shock loss. 

Still though when taking photos with flash you can clearly see huge patchy areas with absolutely no hair throughout my donor. Ill upload a closer picture to possibly show punch size and the extractions. 

[OverharvestedAndSad]

Photo of beard for reference. I don’t really care if they overharvested beard since I’m usually clean shaven. But it seems there may be shock loss there too? 
 

Second photo is a closer look at my donor scalp I think you can see the punches some of them are still red 2+ weeks after extraction. Am I healing unusually slow? 

[A_4_Archan]

Yeh its seems to be a huge shock loss as well....i know most of the good to average clinics in india though i never heard about the one you mentioned...they have used 0.7 for scalp extraction ? Generally asian hairs are thick and bigger punch is required and most common is 0.9...at the moment we can't judge anything so soon...give it sometime ...what done is done..you cannot undo it...now you can only wait..and i hope it turns out good...and are you on medication? And how about the recipient area ? Can you show some pre op and immediate op pics...?

[OverharvestedAndSad]

They’re in Mumbai. 

Yes they told me 0.7 mm, and on their website it also says they use a 0.7 mm to 0.5 mm conical punch. Not sure what that means exactly. 
Also yes I’m on medication. I’ve been taking finasteride for 2 years hair loss had stabilized before transplant. Still taking it. Will start applying minoxidil too. I’m also getting some PRP which was included with the transplant package. 
 

I don’t have immediate post op photos of the donor unfortunately as those areas were bandaged up. I have some a few days post op. 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Hans - Webmaster
External link removed.

[OverharvestedAndSad]

These are some photos I took within the first week post op, you can sorta see the punches. Do they seem spaced out enough? 

[A_4_Archan]

Punch size seems to be smaller ...see if you compare with the donor which is extracted say around 3500 grafts than ofcourse the spacing would be nearer..so spacing will be dependent on the number of grafts extracted...high the number nearer the spacing..bt there are doctors who even extract 7k grafts but they are doing homogeneous extraction....you can see the recent case from Dr pittela for an example....

[JohnCasper]

Too soon to tell so keep us posted.  I had over 5,000 grafts down over several days in 2012 which turned out excellent.  That was a huge mega-session back then so lets hope for great results for you. 

[OverharvestedAndSad]

4 hours ago, A_4_Archan said:

bt there are doctors who even extract 7k grafts but they are doing homogeneous extraction....you can see the recent case from Dr pittela for an example....

Can you explain what homogenous extraction means in this scenario? By looking at the punches on my donor would you say mine was homogenous as well? 

Thanks

[A_4_Archan]

13 minutes ago, OverharvestedAndSad said:

Can you explain what homogenous extraction means in this scenario? By looking at the punches on my donor would you say mine was homogenous as well? 

Thanks

It means they extract is such a pattern for eg if they extract one graft leaving evry 3 grafts than they do it the same way for whole donor so even if they extract more grafts thn donor will definitely get thinned out but still it doesn't look patchy and the overall appearance looks good..they make the donor thinned out equally so it looks normal with a naked eye....

Cannot make out from the pics abt this...so you have to wait for sometime 

[OverharvestedAndSad]

16 hours ago, JohnCasper said:

Too soon to tell so keep us posted.  I had over 5,000 grafts down over several days in 2012 which turned out excellent.  That was a huge mega-session back then so lets hope for great results for you. 

I will try and upload pics every month or so as long as I remember to. I am in India for 2 more months before I go back to the US so hopefully it looks better by then. 

My case is honestly the worst I’ve seen online with regards to shock loss/ overharvestation. Most people’s donor areas look healed by week 2 and mine still looks like I got 3rd degree burns all over lol
 

[kiwik]

Try not to worry about this for the moment, your donor needs some time to heal. Mine still looked awful 3 weeks in although I had only 3400 grafts taken out. You surely have a huge shock loss, and it's going to take some time (4-9 months) to recover. 

[OverharvestedAndSad]

Thank you, I’ll try my best to be patient. With regards to shock loss, when I zoom into my donor with my phone camera I don’t really even see any dark spots where (im guessing) a hair follicle should be. Is that normal? I don’t even see any velus hairs growing.

[OverharvestedAndSad]

About a month after transplant now (final session was may 5th)

From the earlier pictures it does look better, but just because my hair got longer not necessarily because more hairs grew in. If there is shock loss, how long would it take for even small hairs to start growing in? 
 

The sides are looking really bad still losing hope every day  

[Britanium]

Shock loss can take some time to start growing back in, it’s possible it will tie in with the growth from you’re hair transplant. It’s certainly going to take some months. 

[A_4_Archan]

You have to wait my friend ...nothing can be judged so soon...

[OverharvestedAndSad]

You guys are right. I will just post updates monthly in case anyone is curious or in the same position as me and wants to know how it ends up. Fingers crossed for a happy ending lol

[kiwik]

It's going to take a few months, maybe 3, maybe 6, maybe 9. Try not to worry too much for the moment, it's going to get better than this anyway, whether you have been overharvested or not. 

[JohnCasper]

I'll bet you see good growth by month 4.  Hang in there!

[OverharvestedAndSad]

So I cut my hair short on the sides (by myself) because I couldn’t stand the big patch. 
 

I can sort of see a scarring pattern. Just not sure if its the white part or red parts that are the scars. It seems to me the little hair I have left is growing out of the white parts which I assumed would be the scars but idk. 
 

If all else fails, I guess I’ll just have to rock a skin fade mohawk for the rest of my life lol

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

@OverharvestedAndSad,

In my opinion, it’s very premature to panic and worry since you only just had surgery and shock loss can occur anytime over the first couple of weeks to the first couple of months. It can take up to six months or even longer for any shocked hair to return.

So while I understand a patient’s tendency to panic and worry when something looks worse than it did prior to surgery,I suggest that you don’t draw any conclusions until everything heals and grows in which can take up to 12 months.   

Best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant 

[JohnCasper]

Just try to be patient and post some pictures in a few months.  I know your anxious, but give it a few months.

[Davies]

Shame you're experiencing this. It would be good to keep us updated so we can see how this progresses and helps anyone going through similar. Hope it works out

[Ferb]

is it growing back bro? Im experiencing similar to what you're facing. It's been 40days since my HT and the patchy area still not growing