Looking good young man...I guess we will be both going through the dolddrums together...the race is on...happy growing...and good luck...


Just a thought from the peanut gallery...

Wow congrats Falc, hope you get a fantastic result, rest up and heal well.

Hi Falc, I hope everything is fine with your last HT,

Was just wondering how long you ended keeping the staples, and how does the scar look like?

I'm curious to know what your thoughts are about it... since it's rare to keep the staples that long, and it seems a good idea indeed (when there's a lot of tension due to multiple past strip surgeries).

But from your experience, do you think it could contribute to more shockloss in the donor area? Or prevent hair to grow properly around the scar?

Were the staples more difficult/painful to extract because the skin grew around them?

Did it create obvious train marks?

Finally, would you recommend it (in cases with a lot of tension in the donor zone, or in cases with a history of enlarged scar)?

And do you think keeping the staples even "longer" than a month would be beneficial?

Thanks in advance!

All the best Falceros! I'm sure you are thrilled that you got 9600 grafts in total!

Thanks everyone for your support.

I'm a bit past 5 weeks post-op and healing very well. Shock loss in the donor and recipient area are minimal and I'm glad my hair is starting to grow back enough to consider going out without a hat again.

I ended up keeping the staples in about 3.5 weeks, just shy of a month. I'm happy with the way the scar is healing and I believe it's going to be thinner than it was last time. In order to attend to the scar, I've shaved down to a 1 clip on the sides and back again, though it's grown in a bit since then. I've also been applying Vitamin E lotion a few times daily. I'm still applying Aloe to the recipient area as needed to help alleviate itch.

Serious,

Keeping staples or sutures in longer can help minimize stretching since it supports the area longer. Even though most are fine to have them removed sooner, the tissue is still relatively fragile which is why doctors tell you to minimize certain activities for awhile after surgery, especially intense weight training or anything that might put extra tension on the healing tissue.

The staples weren't any more painful to remove than the previous time - in fact, they were a bit less painful. To this date, some of the staple marks remain, but are healing with time. I've been using Vitamin E lotion on the scar to facilitate healing.

Ultimately, I do believe that there are cases where keeping staples or suture in longer can be helpful, especially in scar repair cases.

I've heard of a case where a patient basicaly kept staples in (though I believe they were removed and new ones put in) for about 6 months. I believe if I recall, the scar turned out to be very thin.

Best wishes,

Bill (Falc)

Yo moderator,

We need some more pics!! By the way, have you seen the blogs? They've been attacked by the online pharamacys....starting to like my spam email

alwayswaiting,

I'll be taking some pictures soon. I am trying to find what you're talking about regarding the blogs being attacked by online pharmacies. Do you have an example of a blog? I'm not finding any.

Edit: Nevermind, I see it. I'm contacting our webmaster now. Apparently our blogs have been compromised. We'll get it fixed ASAP.

Thanks,

Bill (Falc)

Hi Falc - hope you're healing well. I'm looking forward to seeing the next set of pics.

Best wishes
Acrobaz