Should I be concerned about the scabs on my donor area?

It is best to contact your doctor about post operative care and instructions since each doctor has a different regimen.

Hello,
The donor area after FUE, whether by hand or ARTAS, takes some time to heal.  Most patients heal atraumatically over a period of weeks.  As your hairs begin to grow, the donor area becomes harder to see.  Daily washes with mild soap can help keep the donor area clean.  If scabs form, mild soap and water can be helpful.  We use PRP in the donor area to facilitate healing as well.  Best Anil Shah

Scabbing after a hair transplant operation is very normal. You say its been a week, a week is enough time to go back to your own showering procedure. You can massage your donor area during shower and remove the scabs gently.

I assume that your procedure was an FUE. It would be a lot easier to comment if you provided us with some pictures of your donor area.  Usually 3500 grafts is not a problem with normal density is not an issue, and it would be difficult to tell after a few days anyway. If you had an experienced doctor doing your procedure, I'm sure he wouldn't have over harvested the area. I would go back to see him and discuss your concerns,
Dr. Robert Jones

An FUE is treated just like a regular hair transplant with regard to the recipient area, but the donor area has open wounds which require daily washing with soap and water. Within 3 days of surgery, I tell my patients that they can resume full activities, heavy exercises if they wish. The recipient area requires daily washes as well to keep the recipient area free of crusts. I generally recommend the use of a sponge and supply my patient with a surgical sponge to fill with soapy water and press on the recipient area daily. By repeating this daily, all crusts can be washed off without any fear of losing grafts and you should be clean of crusts within a day. IF any crust is present, use a Q tip and dip it into soapy water, and roll it on the crusts and that will lift them off without dislodging them, but never rub them, just roll the Q tip on the recipient crust. I like to see no evidence of any crusting in the recipient area and the crusts from the donor area gone in 7-10 days with daily washing