Removing scabs

[chattabob]

Hi all,

I am just over a week on after my hair transplant and last night I stupidly started to genlty brush my hair with my head (Really lightly) and some scabs have come out which I didnt think much of as I was told it takes two to three days for the grafts to embed and I am over that period now, I have looked at the scabs and some have hairs in them but I cannot see the white root so I hope it has just taken the hair and not the whole thing

I have now made myself paranoid after being so careful for a week not touching my hair or banging or knocking it

Any advice please or some reassurance

My scabs and presume hairs come out in the shower when I shampoo it?

[chrisis]

Grafts are definitely permanent after about 9 days:



I experienced the loss of a graft 2 days after surgery, because a hair got stuck in the fabric of my bandana. You can really tell when you've lost one, first I bled heavily and secondly, the hair itself was long and had a white nub on the end. I'd clearly torn the entire things out including the skin it was affixing itself to.

My guess is you're ok if all you saw was a hair. 7 days is quite a lot of healing time.

Personally I didn't rub the recipient area hard enough for the scabs came off until about day 14/15. Allow the area a little more time to heal.

[chattabob]

Thank you so much for the quick reply, I've been worried all day in work over this, I did not have any bleeding or pain and I have left my head well alone up until yesterday, I've had another look at the scabs and some do look white but I think this is just the colour they go where they are dying or ready to fall off. I was worried and still am a little bit until I get magnify these scabs to see if they do have the root attached. I so tend to take paictures most days of my hair so I know when the scabs have cleared up as I cannot see them at the back of my head, I can see the implated area now has less hairs and hope this is just the hair that has falled out out and not the root.

Would I definatly feel pain and possible blood? Its bank on nine days yesterday and I've let it heal naturally and with foam and not been out the house so hopefully this would have sped up the recovery

[gillenator]

Scabs and crusts are two different things. Scabs are simply dried blood whereby crusts are the upper part (tip) of the graft tissue that has dried out. The tips of the grafts dry out because of their exposure above the scalp line. They typically get hard as they dry out and can be stubborn to remove after the frist week or so post-op. Generally speaking, these crusts can be removed by rubbing them lose with the fingertips. They can be easier to rub off in the shower once they are moistened.

Now when the implanted follicles are about to retreat into the telogen resting phase, the catogen phase kicks in (shedding) and the transplanted follicles disengage the hair shaft(s). When the crust come off, the hair shaft(s) within the graft come out with the crust. This is why the root is not seen or visible because typically the shedding of the hair shafts do not include the root. The root is visible when the hair shaft is removed before it is shed from normal cyclical activity post-op.

So the graft that Chrisis lost was removed entirely from sticking to his bandage and why he experienced that steady stream of blood which subsequently congealed. Chrisis started a seperate thread about it in this forum category with pics.

So unless you are a slow healer or have a current medical condition that would compromise the healing period, the crusts are usually ready to be removed by say 10-12 days post-op. You can always test a few by rubbing them off and if there is some minor surface bleeding, wait another 3-5 days and test again. Always however follow your own doctor's post-op instructions and advice whenever in question. Even something that is very cheap in cost is simply spraying a saline based solution over the recipient area. It can speed up the healing time of the epidermis.

As the crusts come off, there can also be some shockloss to the surrounding exisitng native hair and this is why the recipient area can potentially look thinner or less dense 2-4 weeks post-op. Both, usually the majority of the new grafts along with the native hair, will rest for 3-4 months and re-enter the growth phase and bingo, new growth everywhere starts to manifest. Some of the grafts will resume their growth phase and continue to grow in length before resting so it's important that we understand the behavior of the follicles and their intermittent cycling post-op. This is also why it takes 12 to roughly 15 months for the procedure to fully cycle and mature.

Patients with advanced stages of diffusion can potentially lose some of the native hair that was shocked out permanently. The native hair that still has a fair amount of hair shaft diameter left usually will grow back after resting.

No need to worry. Everything that you are experiencing is very normal during the post-op period.

Best wishes to you and congrats on your recent procedure.

[chattabob]

Thanks, and apologies for the delay in responding. I am fairly confident it was just crusts that came of although still a little worried about the timings as I gently rubbed these off prior to the 10-12 days but U suppose I could have healed within that period already. I am going to try my best to forget about the results for now and just see what happens, my main worry was damaging the implant before it had a chance to begin but now I am passed that phase I will just make sure I protect the scalp as much as I can from sunlight ect...

[gillenator]

The very first thread listed in this topical category is regarding sun exposure if you have not already been reading it.

[marora]

Hi,

I got a hair transplant with 5100 grafts and I had heavy scabbing and didnt have any visible shedding till the first 10 days. From the 11th day I started gently scrubbing the scalp with my finger tips (not under water), and the scabs use to come out and the density started reducing from the 12th day. Also, some hair was also attached to the scabs that came off. By the third week almost all transplanted hair fell off - I am concerned whether I pulled out my grafts or whether this was normal. Just to clarify, I had absolutely no bleeding, not a single drop of blood that i could see from day 4 or day 5 - while referring scabs i mean the white flakes that are sort of attached to the skin. I am very worried about the transplant results. It has been 1 month 13 days post operation and I dont see any hair sprouting.

[gillenator]

marora,

Let me first congratulate you on your large procedure.

Don't worry about the scabs coming off. They are really the crusts which is dead graft tissue above the scalp line. And the hair coming off with the crusts is the graft hair shafts. This is very normal and supposed to happen.

Now, your transplanted follicles are resting for 3-4 months and then you should start seeing some regrowth.

Now is a good time to relax and let time and your body work everything out!

[marora]

hi

thanks a lot for the reply....really comforting....I read that after 2 months of the procedure, hair should start growing which will be colourless initially and the maximum growth will be be between 3-4 months...for some people it may vary by a month here or two ....

[kapild82]

To remove the scabs, soak in warm water to soften, gently peel off, clean the wound, dry completely, then apply ointment.

[Somitsa]

Apply pure Vitamin E oil to the scab area twice a day and do not pick it. The oil is good for your skin and will also soften the scab so that it will eventually fall off.

[s12345]

Similar issue

Hi,

I recently had a FUE transplant of 3000 grafts and was careful in the post op.

However i feel like i made on mistake. Its now been 2 weeks and 2 days after the operation. I still wasn't rubbing my scalp with my hands while taking a bath. I used to pour a mixture of shampoo and water through cups. As a results i still had a lot of scabbing and crusts. Yesterday i touched my head (Scalp was dry, i did not run it under water.) i felt that most of the scabs were coming off with the hair. Since i had read that this usually happens i assumed it was normal and continued to gently massage my dry scalp with my fingers. The scabs were coming off along with the crust and a lot of hair came off along with them. Afterwards i realized that we are supposed to removed scab by using a wet towel and moisturizing the scalp first.
I removed the remainder of the of scabs with a wet towel and realized that they were coming off much more easily than when i working on the dry scalp.The scalp is also slightly pink now. The shedding is also quite uneven. More scabs came off with hair from the region where i massaged when the scalp was dry. However i never forced any of them off and there was no bleeding. I did not use my nails at all.

My concern is that since i massaged the dry scalp i may hair removed the grafts along with the scab and the crust.

You can see in the attached photo that the hair in the front is fine (that is where i used the wet towel) and the hair in top left side of the photo is lesser ( that is where i dry massaged).

[gillenator]

If you read through this thread, you will see that you are fine...