Pimple/Ingrown hairs in beard donor area-how to treat?

[Criscross]

Hello, I recently had grafts taken out from my beard in the neck area(20 days ago). 
Now I got some ingrown hairs.

It does not look exactly like a pimple but more like tiny balls under my skin. There is no yellow cap, they are more underground.
I already started to inform myself on how to possibly treat them.  
Keeping the area warm and moist using a towel to soften the skin, do regular peelings, and using and antibiotic ointment which softens the skin, pulls the pus to surface and keeps it antibacterial.

Does someone have other more advice on how to treat them? 
Someone went through the same and it resolved by itself? 

 

[Gatsby]

Eventually this will resolve by itself. You might try a course of antibiotics. The best thing to do though is to consult with your surgeon regarding this. Most importantly of all do not squeeze them to prevent scarring. All the best. 

[LeonSlack]

10 hours ago, Criscross said:

Hello, I recently had grafts taken out from my beard in the neck area(20 days ago). 
Now I got some ingrown hairs.

It does not look exactly like a pimple but more like tiny balls under my skin. There is no yellow cap, they are more underground.
I already started to inform myself on how to possibly treat them.  
Keeping the area warm and moist using a towel to soften the skin, do regular peelings, and using and antibiotic ointment which softens the skin, pulls the pus to surface and keeps it antibacterial.

Does someone have other more advice on how to treat them? 
Someone went through the same and it resolved by itself? 

 

How many grafts did you have taken from this area?

As already mentioned, this will resolve on its own, don't touch the area.

[gillenator]

10 hours ago, Gatsby said:

Eventually this will resolve by itself. You might try a course of antibiotics. The best thing to do though is to consult with your surgeon regarding this. Most importantly of all do not squeeze them to prevent scarring. All the best. 

More words of prudent wisdom and good advice from Gats…IMHO, the antibiotics would only be considered if an infection developed and like Gats well stated, discuss with your surgeon.

[Criscross]

4 hours ago, LeonSlack said:

How many grafts did you have taken from this area?

As already mentioned, this will resolve on its own, don't touch the area.

I don’t have the exact numbers right now. 
But around 1000 grafts, 500 on each side. 

[LeonSlack]

6 hours ago, Criscross said:

I don’t have the exact numbers right now. 
But around 1000 grafts, 500 on each side. 

That’s a reasonable amount, not too many. How did it heal initially? How long did it take to develop these bumps?

 

[Criscross]

10 minutes ago, LeonSlack said:

That’s a reasonable amount, not too many. How did it heal initially? How long did it take to develop these bumps?

 

It was healing great, after 3 days it was almost invisible. The punch holes were completely healed, just a slight redness of the skin. 
2 weeks post op they started to develop. It became a little itchi and some redness developed but probably due to me scratching the area sometimes. 
It doesn’t feel infected at all, just itchy and there are some ingrown hairs.

All together It looks very good, it’s just these underground encapsulated little balls that I’m a little concerned of because i don’t want to develop some kind of abscess. 

They are not easy to see, just to feel when you pinch the skin. 

[LeonSlack]

2 hours ago, Criscross said:

It was healing great, after 3 days it was almost invisible. The punch holes were completely healed, just a slight redness of the skin. 
2 weeks post op they started to develop. It became a little itchi and some redness developed but probably due to me scratching the area sometimes. 
It doesn’t feel infected at all, just itchy and there are some ingrown hairs.

All together It looks very good, it’s just these underground encapsulated little balls that I’m a little concerned of because i don’t want to develop some kind of abscess. 

They are not easy to see, just to feel when you pinch the skin. 

That doesn’t look bad at all. The best part is that if anyone saw it, they’d never think you had hair removed from that area. Many men deal with skin issues under the chin because of shaving. Just give it some time. 

[LeonSlack]

On 12/28/2023 at 11:26 AM, Criscross said:

It was healing great, after 3 days it was almost invisible. The punch holes were completely healed, just a slight redness of the skin. 
2 weeks post op they started to develop. It became a little itchi and some redness developed but probably due to me scratching the area sometimes. 
It doesn’t feel infected at all, just itchy and there are some ingrown hairs.

All together It looks very good, it’s just these underground encapsulated little balls that I’m a little concerned of because i don’t want to develop some kind of abscess. 

They are not easy to see, just to feel when you pinch the skin. 

Out of curiosity, was a manual or motorized punch used? Punch size? It really does look like there are no signs of extraction. 

[Criscross]

11 minutes ago, LeonSlack said:

Out of curiosity, was a manual or motorized punch used? Punch size? It really does look like there are no signs of extraction. 

Motorized punch, I think punch size was 0,9.  I will add 2 more pics, after one day, and on the second day post op.

 

like i mentioned before, healing was great. 

[LeonSlack]

2 minutes ago, Criscross said:

Motorized punch, I think punch size was 0,9.  I will add 2 more pics, after one day, and on the second day post op.

 

like i mentioned before, healing was great. 

Thank you for this info! Beard donor is getting very popular and the more info we have on it, the more it settles people’s nerves. Please also keep us updated on how your skin irritation does over the next few weeks. As already stated, it should heal on its own. Best of luck in your growth! 

Edited December 29, 2023 by LeonSlack

[Criscross]

1 hour ago, LeonSlack said:

Thank you for this info! Beard donor is getting very popular and the more info we have on it, the more it settles people’s nerves. Please also keep us updated on how your skin irritation does over the next few weeks. As already stated, it should heal on its own. Best of luck in your growth! 

I will keep posting! And i will post a detailed case report when I find the time and when growth is starting. 
 

Btw, the doctor said there are easily 2k grafts left he could extract just from that area if needed. So that’s a nice reserve there since I don’t need the hair on my neck anyways😁

But of course most of them are singles…

[LeonSlack]

4 minutes ago, Criscross said:

I will keep posting! And i will post a detailed case report when I find the time and when growth is starting. 
 

Btw, the doctor said there are easily 2k grafts left he could extract just from that area if needed. So that’s a nice reserve there since I don’t need the hair on my neck anyways😁

But of course most of them are singles…

They are mostly singles but the thickness of the beard hair is sometimes double the thickness of scalp hair… so it definitely can add density. Did you have your beard hair put into your crown? 

Edited December 29, 2023 by LeonSlack

[Criscross]

31 minutes ago, LeonSlack said:

They are mostly singles but the thickness of the beard hair is sometimes double the thickness of scalp hair… so it definitely can add density. Did you have your beard hair put into your crown? 

They were planted throughout the midscalp and crown and were mixed with grafts taken from my scalp donor. 

[Al - Moderator]

On 12/28/2023 at 12:26 PM, Criscross said:

It was healing great, after 3 days it was almost invisible. The punch holes were completely healed, just a slight redness of the skin. 
2 weeks post op they started to develop. It became a little itchi and some redness developed but probably due to me scratching the area sometimes. 
It doesn’t feel infected at all, just itchy and there are some ingrown hairs.

 

I've had several sessions of taking grafts from my beard area and this is pretty much the same thing that happens to me. It looks great after maybe 5 days, but at 2 or 3 weeks I start getting pimples. It will heal itself. @mustang had this problem pretty bad recently when using nape hair. It heals after while.

 

EDIT: Just to add, I think what made mine worse was that I was shaving the area daily and that may be the same issue you are having.

Edited December 30, 2023 by BeHappy

[Criscross]

22 hours ago, BeHappy said:

 

I've had several sessions of taking grafts from my beard area and this is pretty much the same thing that happens to me. It looks great after maybe 5 days, but at 2 or 3 weeks I start getting pimples. It will heal itself. @mustang had this problem pretty bad recently when using nape hair. It heals after while.

 

EDIT: Just to add, I think what made mine worse was that I was shaving the area daily and that may be the same issue you are having.

Ok, that’s good to know! 
I did shave the area 2/3 times starting 10 days post op. But only with a clipper, never wet shaved. But I stopped doing that when the ingrowns/irritation started. 
At least it didn’t get worse the last few days so I think it’s under control. 👍

Thanks you guys for your help so far. 
I will keep you updated on how it’s progressing.