Days 14–16 (Week 2 post-op)

I haven’t been posting much, but I have been taking progress pictures! I started showering almost normally on day 10. By that, I mean that I was no longer bathing and using my measuring cup but actually showering. I was still being careful with the grafts just in case, so I wasn’t letting the water hit the transplant zone directly. On the 14th day post-op (aka week 2 post-op), I finally started showering normally. Here are the 2-week progress pictures:

Day 15 was when my scabs finally started falling off. This can be pretty scary, since I would say 80% of the scabs have what look like grafts attached to them, so it’s easy to think that you are losing those grafts. Luckily, I have been through this before, so I knew this was perfectly normal. I still did a lot of research and almost emailed the clinic to make sure it was normal. My research showed that when you actually lose a graft, you can expect a stream of blood coming from the place where you lost the graft, and this usually happens within the first 3–5 days. Afterwards, if you don’t see blood, it is unlikely to be a lost graft. Here are a few pictures of what the scabs look like:

With some of the hairs attached to the scabs looking like they have a bulb attached to them, you can see how it can be unnerving to see them fall. Rest assured, this is absolutely normal. The part of the grafts that matters is already in your scalp, and the hair in them will grow within 3–6 months.

By day 16, most of the scabs had fallen off. In my next entry (week 3 post-op), you’ll see what the transplanted area looks like with no scabs!