FUE donor healing: Am I healing slower?

willifos

It has been 25 days since my procedure. My entire donor area is still bright pink, almost red, looks like a bad sunburn. The sites aren't as bad as they were a week ago but they look still pretty bad. I still have hundreds of noticeable depressions, even with over three weeks of hair growth.

Worst of all, however, is that I have an area about 1/2 in by 1/2 where the hair is not growing in as full as the rest of the donor area and is the most obvious the further away a person stands from me. Freinds, family, co-workers, everyone notices. The hair just isn't getting any thicker in that region. It's as if the technicians just took too much hair out. Very frustrating; I think I may have to actually have hair put back in that area.

I would post where I got my procedure if anyone is interested. I am going to wait yet another month. I just can't believe how noticeable the donor area still looks after all this time.

I can't post a picture because the size requirements are too restrictive on this site. If anyone would like to see a picture, post an email addres and I will send you one.
Will Foster

Steve

Hi willifos,

I hope your healing has improved significantly since your last post. In my experience I found that the rate of healing seemed to increase each week. The first week or so it seemed like little happened, but during the third week things really started to fall into place. My surgery was 6 weeks ago today and the wounds have healed to the point that no one except me can tell there are there, and yes, I continue to see the skin improving.

It's almost like clockwork. Forhair stated earlier that "It takes about 6 weeks for collagen to be laid down in the area." and here I am six weeks later being a little embarrassed for panicing at 9 days. Very Happy

The spots still have a faint purplish tint to them but that's fading. And in a mirror I no longer see pits, but from viewing the light reflecting on my scalp I can see what I can best describe as faint random distortions. It's like the skin isn't perfectly level, but I can't really tell what the imperfections are. I also think that the donor sites along the edge of the donor region have healed the most, and this is probably due to having a better blood supply.

I can clearly see my donor regions because I shave my head smooth with a razor. (The grafts were placed into my beard area.) I started shaving daily about a week ago. Prior to that a couple times a week on nights preceding a day where I wouldn't contact many people. I also wanted to hold off on shaving because I know it's harsh on the skin and didn't want to possibly interfere with the healing.