Cutting hair short post transplant

[Synonymoused]

Hi, i am 2 months post FUE (5000 grafts) transplant and i am thinking why people worry about FUEs being better than FUTs in terms of scaring because as i see my head right now, its not about what kind of scars my FUE made on the back of my head. Even if those small FUE holes are not visible, im still not able to short cut my hair because the contrast in density between my donor and the area around it is very clear. Anyone can figure out by just looking from a few meters away that something unusual has happened there. And my point is this is not even about the holes. The fact that hair is plucked out of my donor only and not the surroundings, makes is clearly look patchy (in a short haircut) compared to the parts around it defined by a very clear outline. So in this way FUE is no better than a FUT is it? Or is there something wrong with my donor site?

[samwassermin]

Forgive me if I am a little off topic. I just can't seem to find this information in any threads. I am 3.5 weeks FUT post-op (3,000 grafts) and I understand I can get a haircut but can I cut the actual new hair? The hair in the recipient area that is supposed to fall out on its own? Is this safe? Just trying to be very careful but I think if I cut those it will be much less obvious that I just got a transplant. My concern right now is how obvious it looks.

[Driver]

You had a pretty big session. It is not surprising that you may have a visible difference in your donor area. None of these surgeries are perfect. My suspicion is that the difference in your donor area is most visible to you and others are much less likely to see It.

[samwassermin]

Donor area is the strip in the back of the head, right? I am talking about the recipient area. At the hairline. Where the hairs were implanted. People have already noticed it.

[pkipling]

5,000 FUE is quite a large session, and it's not been that long since your HT. Keep in mind that the density in the donor area can take a while to increase as well. For the first 6 months or so after my FUE, if I cut the donor below a 3 Guard, I felt the lower density was somewhat noticeable - like a shadow box effect or something. But at this point almost 2 years after my HT, that's no longer an issue. A lot of times the donor area goes into a bit of shock after a HT, so it takes a while for the density to increase again.

Granted, you still have 5,000 less hairs in the back of your head than you did before, so the density is in fact going to be lower. There's no way around that, but the illusion of density should get better with time.

*Edit - Realizing that this post was made back in March. I'd be interested to see if you've seen an improvement in the donor density since then. Hope things are looking up!

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My views/opinions are my own and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

[kd300]

Hi, i am 2 months post FUE (5000 grafts) transplant and i am thinking why people worry about FUEs being better than FUTs in terms of scaring because as i see my head right now, its not about what kind of scars my FUE made on the back of my head. Even if those small FUE holes are not visible, im still not able to short cut my hair because the contrast in density between my donor and the area around it is very clear. Anyone can figure out by just looking from a few meters away that something unusual has happened there. And my point is this is not even about the holes. The fact that hair is plucked out of my donor only and not the surroundings, makes is clearly look patchy (in a short haircut) compared to the parts around it defined by a very clear outline. So in this way FUE is no better than a FUT is it? Or is there something wrong with my donor site?

Hi. Thank you for sharing. I had a much smaller procedure. Only 1200 grafts and I can notice the box like outline in my donor site when I shave my head to a 1 or a 1.5 guard. Maybe other people don't notice it as much, but I sure do. It is very frustrating. The clinic never mentioned this to me at all as a potential side effect. I wonder if there is any way to fix this problem in my future?