Shock loss in Donor

[Abby]

I feel I have suffered shock loss from the actual area where the strip was taken despite it being stitched up after the op. I am not talking about the top part of the recipient area or frontal area. Has anybody heard of this before,??????

[PLEASE GROW PLEASE]

Yep , happens all the time . Should grow back

[aska]

2 months post op??? NORMAL!

[Bill - Seemiller]

Abby,

 

Since you are only 2 months post-op from your second procedure, it is very possible that you have some temporarly donor area shock loss. I have a little bit myself and am also at about 2.5 months now.

 

Hang in there bro,

 

Bill

[Abby]

I must admit I thought it was only where the grafts are actually planted this happened. After having my 1st H/T I didnt recall having shock loss in this particular area so it was a bit of a surprise for me.

 

Thanks guys

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Shock loss in the donor area definitely can occur. We don't see it too often mainly because of hair covering the scar. But I have a marine we worked with about 2 months ago who, like all marines, didn't take his valium as he is tough. This guy was a character, when I started giving him a hard time about 90% of my military patients not taking valium and then I gave him the first shot, he said "thank you sir may I have another!". Indeed he was tough.

 

But I think he was nervous too. As he was fairly oozy on the first half of his strip (left side) but had calmed down and wasn't oozy at all on the right. I recall using a bit of cautery only on 2 spots on the left. Well when he came back at 2 months, he had shaved down to almost no hair anywhere and it was clear that on the left side of his strip he had 2 areas of shockloss and on the right he had stubble growing through his scar. Unless you were looking specifically, it actually looked like he had a really wide scar on the left in those 2 areas, and you really couldn't see but a fine line on the right. But with 2 mirrors and some pics, I could show him that it was a nice fine line scar on the left with 2 areas of shock loss....almost certainly in my mind from that cautery. Alas if only he'd have taken a valium I think he would not have had any notable loss in the donor area.

 

But, he is one tough guy. Definitely tougher than me, and I sure would not want to be a bad guy in some cave with him on my trail.

 

I am proud to have him serving our country and happy to have him as a patient.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[DDD03]

How about shock loss as soon as 2 weeks? Just took out my staples and it wasn't a pretty sight. Alot of redness and what seems to be like a large loss of hair under the scar.

[DDD03]

I'm really freaking out. I don't know whether my scar has streched a bunch or there is just alot of shock loss. There is one area that is pretty much completely bald and looks red and pink like a scar. Its below where I took the staples out yesterday. My whole left side looks ok but the right side is miserable.

[Guest comb]

I remember seeing some shockloss underneath the scar when my staples were removed at two weeks. I was worried it would worsen over the following weeks but it stayed the same.

 

I think when the scar is fresh and pink it can look wider as the edges of the closure take that color as well and make it look wider.

 

I would advise you to send some pictures to Dr Feller to see what he thinks.

[DDD03]

Sen't Dr. F the pics and he said that what I am seeing is my previous scar. I do remember him saying that he was able to get "most" of it out during the procedure. I'm hoping that some of what I am seeing is also due to shockloss. Unfortunate, but it is what it is.

 

He also said that it was too early to see any streching. Wondering anyone's thoughts on this.

 

I could live with the previous scar I had but by no means would I be "happy" with it. I was able to get down to a #6 at best. If it ends up worse than it was I'm going to extremely unhappy.

 

Wishing for the best. Such an extremely difficult and emotionally draining process.

[Dr. Alan Feller]

DDD,

Not to worry.

 

I looked at the photos I took of your donor area before your procedure with us and there is no doubt that you are mistaking your old scar for shockloss. I did remove a good amount of your scar from the middle and left side, but the right side was too tight to take a significant amount of scar safely.

 

As for scar stretch, it is impossible to have this happen within 14 days of surgery. Scar stretch isn't really the skin stretching, but rather the laying down of thin scar tissue to alleviate the tension sometimes created after staples have been removed. This process usually takes months, not days. Because this new tissue appears thinner and of a different texture than surrounding skin it is mistakenly referred to as "stretched skin".

 

Understand that when you have had a few surgeries (elsewhere), as you have, the possibility of re-scarring is higher. We always try to reduce your previous scarring as best we can, but there is always the trade off between getting the most donor hair possible or removing scar. In your particular case it was best to focus on getting as much hair as possible as your old scars were easily concealed by your hair.

 

I will send you the photos I took before your surgery to show what you think is shockloss is actually your old scar.

 

Dr. F