Hi guys, Just a couple of questions.
1. The stip harvested from donor area is about 1 cm wide. WHen that opening is stiched off would it cause any tightness feeling immediately following the surgery? Will it go away? Would the scalp adjust back to its original elasticity?
2. Are the scabs on the recipient sites just too aparent for first few days? Do they look so bad that I will have to take a week off from work?

toni, are u saying the tightness lasts your entire life? Yikes! I can live with whatever hell that happens in days following the op but five years down the line, I don't want any reminder of it (except the visible donor scar which I can cover since I will never shave my head off). But please, somebody tell me it all becomes normal after sometime. Is there any recourse to this problem? Pleaseeee help or I may have to rethink my HT decision.

Hairy,
The tightness in my donor area did go away, completely. It took about 10 days. As far as overall scalp elasticity, it is returning. I was advised by Dr.Wong to exercise my scalp, at around the 7 week mark, by simply pushing up and down above the donor area. At this point, during this process, I can see my forehead moving up and down. I doubt that the original elasticity will return, but it seems pretty close. I'm 2 months post op and the healing is proceeding nicely. There have been no problems. GOOD LUCK!
Jim

hairy, I had an HT w/ Shapiro back in Nov '02 (my first one), where he transplanted 2300+ grafts. I felt zero tightness after the operation, but followed their standing advice to NOT bend your head all the way down for at least a month afterwards anyway (for obvious reasons).

If I feel I want, or need to go back for a second one down the road, then I fully expect to probably feel a little tightness afterwards...

Everyone has different levels of skin elasticity, and your doctor will measure that on you before proceeding (assuming you go to a top doc). My understanding is that my case is not unusual at all - many people have my experience - tightness-wise - post op.