White Excess Tissue after Hair Transplant
Monday, August 24th, 2009In an email sent by our most recent patient he noted that his brother pointed out the “white stuff” around the transplanted hair follicles. He said that he researched other patients online but was unable to find something similar to his procedure, he stated, ” I wanted to find out what it is.”
The white portion around the follicle is a specific part of the transplanted graft. One thing that should be taken into account is that you’re not only dealing with a hair follicle but with an entire organ. A hair graft consists of the collagen band around the follicle, microscopic muscle, small portion of the epithelium (superficial layer of skin) and small supporting vessels. The white portion is simply the epithelium. The goal in hair transplantation is not to bury the hair grafts. This can help to prevent possible folliculitis, dimpling of the skin or sebaceous cysts from occurring. We make sure to keep the hair graft slightly elevated from the surface of the skin to prevent these complications.
The white portion of the hair graft will eventually dry up and fall off a few days after the surgical procedure. This little technique alone can help prevent many post-op issues and patients have no real need to worry about any further complications.