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Photo of shedded grafts in detail => death follicles?

#1

The following is a digital macro photo of some of my transplanted FUE graft hair. I`ve pulled it carefully out after 14 days post-OP with a tweezer. There was no resistance, it went out easily.

Most grafts are showing the typical J-hook at the top. What makes me worry is the fact that you can often see a somewhat thick black point at the top, which looks like the bulb.

Isnt this bulb the sign for anagen hair? As far as I know, transplanted hair should first go from an anagen phase into a resting phase, before they fall out, so the black point shouldnt be there at all?!
Is this the bulb/follicle which eventually did not heal in and therefore dried up and got rejected?

Also you can see that just above the black dot the hair shaft is unpigmented (white color) over a distance of approx. 0.3 mm. At this area, the shaft is not strong, which means if I pull with my finger nail on a low force, the hair shaft divides at this area into two parts (end with black point plus long rest of the shaft).

Can anyone of the experts explain what all this has to mean? Are the grafts death so the transplanted hair will not grow?

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#2

Great pictures by the way. I think you have some normal shedded hairs and a couple of hairs that might not have taken but it is hard to tell.

#3

Some people say that 10 days post-OP the grafts are 100% healed in.
This means when you aggressively pull the crust or hair of the graft with a tweezer, just the shaft will go out but not the follicle.

Well, this is a photo of a transplanted hair (single graft) whose angle of growth direction I did not like, so I have pulled it out.
As you can see, the hair came out with the entire follicle.
From 10 single grafts I did not like this happened with 6 (!) hair, 1 year post-OP !!!

So the transplanted FUE were not anchored as strong into the skin as “natural” hair.

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#4

That is what a follicle looks like? I thought it would be bigger.

#5

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Here`s another example, you can see some blood at the top.

#6

» Great pictures by the way. I think you have some normal shedded hairs and
» a couple of hairs that might not have taken but it is hard to tell.

Thanks. So it seems that I was right :-(, and my yield will be at maximum 50%.
Could you please explain some details how to realize if a graft will grow or not from the shape of its shedded hair?

#7

I think I read somewhere that plucking transplanted hair may cause damage to the follicle but plucking a natural hair does not cause damage.

Why are you plucking hairs, I am getting pain in my follicles.:frowning:

#8

» I think I read somewhere that plucking transplanted hair may cause damage
» to the follicle but plucking a natural hair does not cause damage.
»
» Why are you plucking hairs, I am getting pain in my follicles.:frowning:

Approx. 10 single grafts at my hairline were placed into an unnatural looking direction. So they had to get plucked.

#9

I plucked my newly transplanted recip hairs out after a couple weeks. They just slid out. Some looked like the ones in these pictures. I just dont understand which plucked hairs are bad and which are good. I cant make sense of peoples’ explanations…

#10

Typically, the ones that looked like the J-hook AND slide out easily with no resistance was fine. Those are ok. The other types… like the one he has shown here with the bulb at the end and the one that was obviously plucked because of the "clear borders around the hair, in my opinion is finished and/or destroyed. You guys need to stop doing the plucking. If it plucks and it is a newly transplanted graft, it is finished.

#11

» Typically, the ones that looked like the J-hook AND slide out easily with
» no resistance was fine. Those are ok. The other types… like the one he
» has shown here with the bulb at the end and the one that was obviously
» plucked because of the "clear borders around the hair, in my opinion is
» finished and/or destroyed. You guys need to stop doing the plucking. If
» it plucks and it is a newly transplanted graft, it is finished.

The problem is that all the transplanted hair slided out easily (like out of butter), too, but approx. 50% if it have this dry black dot at the end.
10 days post-FUE.

I have not even touched the recipient area for the first couple of days. What else can I do?

#12

Ok explain to me again why you are plucking your 14 day post-op transplanted grafts? This does not make sense. You should only be washing and scrubbing your scalp. Not plucking anything. IMO every hair you pluck out that comes easily AND has the black bulb at the end is a killed graft.

Just something else for you to think about. Your scalp may not have all of the felling back yet post Op so you might not be able to judge if it is “sliding out” properly or not.

My advice is not to be plucking the hairs at all and naturally let these hairs shed out. If you are pucking because you think they are at bad angles… this is still bad. BTW who did your surgery?

#13

» Ok explain to me again why you are plucking your 14 day post-op
» transplanted grafts? This does not make sense. You should only be washing
» and scrubbing your scalp. Not plucking anything. IMO every hair you pluck
» out that comes easily AND has the black bulb at the end is a killed graft.

Cause most of the transplanted hair shafts wont come out by themselves just from washing the head, and stay inside the scalp. As hou have written yourself in another post, you recommend to carefully pull the hair with a tweezer to prevent that the hair shaft prevents the new hair to grow, cause its in the way.
I did not pull hard, I have pulled very soft. There hasn`t been any resistance, nor has there been any fat around the follicle or blood. If any of this would have been the case, of course I would have stopped.

About the 10 plucked single grafts, which is another story: It was my intention to pluck them out, cause of their unnatural direction at the hairline. And I had to pluck pretty strong.

#14

Well it is better to wash and scrub first. Usually, a scrub(after 14 days) and wash daily will get the hairs(ones that are supposed to shed) to come out naturally. Sometimes it takes a while for them to come out naturally.

You scared me for a second.

#15

» I plucked my newly transplanted recip hairs out after a couple weeks. They
» just slid out. Some looked like the ones in these pictures. I just dont
» understand which plucked hairs are bad and which are good. I cant make
» sense of peoples’ explanations…

You shouldnt be pluckin the transplanted hairs out, you paid good money for these and you dont even know how its going to look yet.

#16

I very very very gently pulled out some stubly looking hairs when i was about 1 month (or more) post-op (There is no way in hell i would even think about touching my recip area for the first few weeks other than gentle washing post-op stuff). I did this extremely gentle ‘plucking’ because all the other grafts had shed except for these few remaining hairs that werent shedding (i thought these remaining hairs were quick growers until i took a tweezer to them and VERY VERY GENTLY tugged on them). I was told by a number of big posters on this site to gently pull them out if they gave NO RESISTANCE. I did this ONLY after they said it was ok. Again, for the first few weeks i did nothing to my recip area but follow the Dr’s post-op instructions to the T: used vitamin E oil; washed gently after the first week or so; etc…

Now I’m hearing that I should not have pulled these hairs. Can someone set me and this poster straight, being very specific? Thank you.

#17

Sorry to bump an old thread, but this really gnawed at me.

Hair Exchange said he was plucking a few whole follicles out AT ONE YEAR POST-OP! Shouldn’t this be impossible?!?

Since a grafted hair gets removed from the donor area & implanted into the recipient area along with a small amount of the surrounding skin still around it, then shouldn’t the graft/follicle be embedded just as strongly as the native hairs were once it has healed?

What gives? There has been no answer for this particular part of the issue in the posts above.

If this is all a “normal” result of a HT or FUE job at 1 year post-op, then I don’t think it’s a minor issue at all. This is worthy of discussion.

#18

Washing and scrubbing usually removes the shedding hairs naturally and this begins around 14 days post op(scrubbing). If after let’s say a month of washing and scrubbing post op, there are remaining hairs that are sitting there not growing, it is because they need to be pulled. This is rare though. Washing and scrubbing is the best way to remove shedding hairs.

#19

I appreciate the prompt response, hairtech.

But what’s really got my attention isn’t anything about the post-op shedding. It’s that the poster is talking about having easier-to-pull hair follicles even a full year after the transplant. That doesn’t sound like a temporary condition at all.

I’ve always read/seen/heard a consistent feedback that a HT graft (and/or individual follicle) is essentially just as well-rooted into the scalp skin as a native one within a few weeks after the HT is performed. I’d like to hear more about this issue.

#20

I can see why it disturbed you… and you are correct… It should be as solid IF NOT MORE solid than the surrounding hairs due to the reconstruction during healing