10 weeks post FUT - How worried should I be about post op?

[HarryBaldinger]

Has anyone out there gone through a hair transplant and just botched the post operative care but still had good results?

For my first week after the procedure I was perfect with the post op care and they said everything looked good at 7 days. But since then I have had some slip ups and I’m wondering how easy it is to ruin the results or if the transplanted hairs are generally pretty hardy.

I have been very good about washing and I’ve cut back on alcohol but here are my slip ups:

On day 8 I drank a lot of alcohol and gently rubbed a lot of the crusts off all over my head in the recipient area (only bits that felt ready to come off, no scratching).

Around 3 weeks after, I stopped taking the vitamins or drinking the shake they gave me

For the most part I have left the crusts alone but there have been a couple more times where I lost patience and rubbed off a bunch of the crusts all over my head. I have kind of a compulsion to pick at things like that and it has been really hard to abstain from this at times. Is it possible that I could have completely ruined large portions of the transplant with gentle picking at the scabs/crusts? Or should the hairs generally withstand this?

At about 8 weeks I had a relatively mild infection, I had to take antibiotics for a week and during that time I had some mild prickly pain all over my head and sharper pain in the donor area. There was a lot of foliculitis and redness. It was strange because it was never painful to the touch, it was just this general sort of prickly feeling. Even weirder is that when I’d wake up in the morning it would feel fine. My Dr said it was a mild infection, I have some kind of bacteria in my nose that certain people have and it can cause issues. They said they have seen patients have this issue and still have good results.

Since that scare, things have been fine and I have really been careful not to touch it or drink alcohol. But I am really worried and discouraged that I failed with the post op. Is there hope?

it would be great to hear from someone who could say “I didn’t do a good job on the post op care and it turned out fine”.

Thanks for any advice!
Todd

 

[Bigmac]

On day 8 I drank a lot of alcohol and gently rubbed a lot of the crusts off all over my head in the recipient area (only bits that felt ready to come off, no scratching).

I doubt drinking the alcohol will have an effect on your result. Your grafts are secure at day 4-5. If the scabs were ready to drop off I can’t see any harm happening to them.

I take it there was no bleeding or fresh tissue attaching to any of the scabs.

Around 3 weeks after, I stopped taking the vitamins or drinking the shake they gave me

Stopping the shake should have no bearing on your result unless you were deficient in something these shakes were providing.

For the most part I have left the crusts alone but there have been a couple more times where I lost patience and rubbed off a bunch of the crusts all over my head. I have kind of a compulsion to pick at things like that and it has been really hard to abstain from this at times. Is it possible that I could have completely ruined large portions of the transplant with gentle picking at the scabs/crusts? Or should the hairs generally withstand this?

The grafts should be ok.

At about 8 weeks I had a relatively mild infection, I had to take antibiotics for a week and during that time I had some mild prickly pain all over my head and sharper pain in the donor area. There was a lot of foliculitis and redness. It was strange because it was never painful to the touch, it was just this general sort of prickly feeling. Even weirder is that when I’d wake up in the morning it would feel fine. My Dr said it was a mild infection, I have some kind of bacteria in my nose that certain people have and it can cause issues. They said they have seen patients have this issue and still have good results.

I would tend to agree with the doctor. Unless a condition that has a negative effect on the grafts I think you’ll be fine.

Since that scare, things have been fine and I have really been careful not to touch it or drink alcohol. But I am really worried and discouraged that I failed with the post op. Is there hope?

I think you’ll be fine. Only issue is the infection but your doctor sounds as though he thinks it won’t be an issue

It would be great if you could document your HT in the patient section with some pictures.

 

[Techno1]

Were you provided with a treatment medication for your symptoms? Are you still experiencing these issues?

 

[Kevboy]

I drank a lot of alcohol. Did you get wiped out? it would be helpful to add your pictures. When I pick scabs from cuts or other wounds the skin seems to be discoloured for longer periods. Is your scalp like this where you picked the scabs off?