Almost 1 month post op after FUE 3500 grafts. Still a lot of redness on the donor area. Any suggestions? (photos)

Dear SamWeed,Thank you for writing in with your question. The short answer is that this is normal. You appear to have fair skin, so the redness is going to persist for a bit of time (up to 2 months in some patients, in my experience).Also consider that you may have had some shedding from the donor area itself. This phenomenon is called “telogen effluvium” and tends to more commonly occur in younger individuals (e.g.: men under 35 or so). From your picture you appear to be 35 or younger. When 3500 follicles are removed from your donor area, the body must then heal all those wounds, all at once (because they were created all at once). Well, with all that healing comes physiologic changes under the skin. These changes, in some people, can cause telogen effluvium, and thin out the hairs around the sites from which the FUE grafts were removed. This has the obvious effect of making the donor sites more visible. When you combine a mild case of telogen effluvium and extended redness of the donor sites in a man with fair skin, you may run into a look such as the one in the picture you submitted. A tincture of time will help; I would re-evaluate at 6 months. The hair that was shocked out of place due to the procedure should be mostly back by that time, and the redness should have faded by that time. I hope this information is helpful to you.

Redness or pinkish color in either the donor or recipient areas is certainly a normal part of the healing process after a hair procedure. In most patients, this is resolved by 3 weeks. In some cases it lasts longer for one of the following reasons:
- Lighter skin color
- Excessive sun exposure
- Chemical irritation (from shampoo, creams, medication or other scalp products)
- Mild dermatitis
- Some other active skin condition
If it has been more than 3-4 weeks, contact your surgeon as some simple things can be done to help get your scalp back to normal. If you are unable to contact your surgeon, reach out for an appointment with another experienced hair surgeon or dermatologist.
Hope this helps!

Redness is common in the FUE donor site as healing takes place. This is more noticeable in lighter skinned patients. It takes time as the small scars go through their normal healing phases. I would see your surgeon to make sure there is no folliculitis or irritation going on that could exacerbate the problem.