Guys, day eight post-op here. I seriously look rough. I am trying to think long-term here, but it is tough. I have shed a lot the past two days, but still have a lot of scabs. Also, I have suffered from some shock loss. But, anyway, my hair on the sides and back is longer to cover the donor area and it basically makes me look completely bald now. I hope this all pans out after several months.
UGH!
- Thread starter dd11856
- Start date
hang in there man. things will get better. my Doctor told me that i could start wearing a baseball cap (not even a loose fitting one...any one) after 2 weeks so you only have a few more days before you can cover up. the scabbing period is tough to get past and i'm gonna be honest, the whole "redness will go away after 3 weeks" theory seems like a flat-out lie to me. i'm at 73 days post-op right now and i STILL have redness and this is VERY common from pictures i've seen on various boards/blogs. i guess some people with dark skin get past the redness pretty quick, but it seems like well over 50% of patients can expect lingering redness for MONTHS.
anyway, things do get better dude. you'll get past the scab/graft shedding period in the next couple of days/weeks and then you've got a couple of more months to wait before the re-growth starts but i'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end. i know EXACTLY how you feel. i think almost everyone that gets a hair transplant goes through a "what the hell did i just do?!" period in the first few weeks. but the thing is, you've got the rest of your life to enjoy the results. i don't know where you live but here in the Northeast US, it's the dead of winter. cold, short days...this is the best time to be holed up in your house getting thru the "doldrums". just think, by the time June rolls around with the nice weather, you'll have a ton of new hair and you can enjoy your summer and the rest of your life feeling much better about how you look.
anyway, things do get better dude. you'll get past the scab/graft shedding period in the next couple of days/weeks and then you've got a couple of more months to wait before the re-growth starts but i'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end. i know EXACTLY how you feel. i think almost everyone that gets a hair transplant goes through a "what the hell did i just do?!" period in the first few weeks. but the thing is, you've got the rest of your life to enjoy the results. i don't know where you live but here in the Northeast US, it's the dead of winter. cold, short days...this is the best time to be holed up in your house getting thru the "doldrums". just think, by the time June rolls around with the nice weather, you'll have a ton of new hair and you can enjoy your summer and the rest of your life feeling much better about how you look.
Actually, I have been wearing a VERY loose-fitting baseball cap since Monday, and my doctor had no trouble with that.
Today, day eight, 99% of my scabs shed when I did my evening hair wash. Now that the scabs are gone, my recipient area does feel slightly sore, and I noticed where some of the scabs were more deeply embedded, there are tiny "darker" red spots. Not blood, but obviously scabs that hung on a lot tighter.
Yeah, I have hair on top, but it is shorter than on the sides/back and I just look like a circus-freak or something at this point. When my sutures come out I going to joyfully trim my hair on sides and back down some so I don't look quite as bad. And, boy I'll be glad for those sutures to be gone.
Today, day eight, 99% of my scabs shed when I did my evening hair wash. Now that the scabs are gone, my recipient area does feel slightly sore, and I noticed where some of the scabs were more deeply embedded, there are tiny "darker" red spots. Not blood, but obviously scabs that hung on a lot tighter.
Yeah, I have hair on top, but it is shorter than on the sides/back and I just look like a circus-freak or something at this point. When my sutures come out I going to joyfully trim my hair on sides and back down some so I don't look quite as bad. And, boy I'll be glad for those sutures to be gone.
You've got my sympathy too buddy. The first couple weeks were definitely not fun for me either. I just really didn't leave the house much and when I did, I sported a rocker bandana (a competely different persona for me for sure). But once the sutures come out, you can trim your hair all down short so it matches and then a few more weeks after that the redness won't be as prevalent.
I have very fair skin and I was considerably worried about the redness. Now, 12 weeks after my surgery, the redness is mostly gone. I just wish those hairs would hurry up an come in, because the top of my head is so much more thinned out than it was before I had the hair transplant. My greatest worry is that the hair won't come in as thick as I had hoped and I now I can't trim my hair all short due to the strip scar.
That's the fun worry of "Did something wrong and and the hair won't come in at all?" This is a definite test of a man's positive attitude.
It helped me a lot to look at blogs of people who have gone through the procedure. You can compare your progress to theirs. I found one with someone who had coloring like me and a similar procedure, also with Hasson and Wong. Though I know results vary. But it's been helpful for me to compare.
Hang in there!
I have very fair skin and I was considerably worried about the redness. Now, 12 weeks after my surgery, the redness is mostly gone. I just wish those hairs would hurry up an come in, because the top of my head is so much more thinned out than it was before I had the hair transplant. My greatest worry is that the hair won't come in as thick as I had hoped and I now I can't trim my hair all short due to the strip scar.
That's the fun worry of "Did something wrong and and the hair won't come in at all?" This is a definite test of a man's positive attitude.
It helped me a lot to look at blogs of people who have gone through the procedure. You can compare your progress to theirs. I found one with someone who had coloring like me and a similar procedure, also with Hasson and Wong. Though I know results vary. But it's been helpful for me to compare.
Hang in there!
My suture line is actually more obvious now than it was right after the surgery. I guess I suffered some shock loss around the strip area. After the sutures come out I am trimming my hair short! I have been wearing a hat to work anyway.
Seriously, I hate these sutures! I feel like Frankensteins monster! I am supposed to return to the Doctors office to have them check my donor area/suture line on Wednesday, but the sutures are the dissolvable type and are not supposed to come out until days 14-21.
When they do I am going to start using some type of scar treatment on the donor strip.
Seriously, I hate these sutures! I feel like Frankensteins monster! I am supposed to return to the Doctors office to have them check my donor area/suture line on Wednesday, but the sutures are the dissolvable type and are not supposed to come out until days 14-21.
When they do I am going to start using some type of scar treatment on the donor strip.