Did I Lose a Graft 7 Days after Hair Transplant Surgery?

This question, from a member of our hair loss social community and discussion forums, was answered by a staff physician from Coalition hair transplant clinic Shapiro Medical:

It’s been 7 days since I had my hair transplant surgery. I just rubbed my scab with my fingernail and I can see the scab in my nail. Since it is 7 days post-op, would I still bleed if I dislodge my hair. How much blood should I have? Also, should there be any pain? If yes, how much pain?

Seven days post-op is a fairly safe time for the follicular unit grafts. At Shapiro Medical this is when we actually encourage patients to begin to use their fingertips to gently massage away any of the remaining scabs.

At this point, any scabs that fall are perfectly normal. Also, some hair may fall along with the scabs. This too is to be expected. The follicle remains in the scalp but the external hair typically does break off. At about a month’s time, most patients should see the vast majority of the transplanted hair has fallen off.

Usually the only window of time that a graft can fall out and cause bleeding is in the first 1-3 days. During this time, the graft can be bumped out or fall out if there is any rough handling of the scalp. There is not typically any pain associated with this.

~Shapiro Medical
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David
Editorial Assistant and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog.

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