A Guide To Hair Transplants And The Donor Area

Your donor area is the region at the back and sides of your head that are used to "donate" hair to your recipient area in a hair transplant.

Your surgeon will make small incisions around each follicle and take them out one by one. These incisions heal quickly. On average, it takes 5-7 days for your donor area to heal after your FUE hair transplant as you will see in the pictures below:

The above picture shows a gentleman after he has had 2200 grafts extracted on the day of his surgery (D1), the day after his surgery (D2) and on day 7 following his surgery (D7). His donor area has healed fully and his remaining hair has grown to conceal the area that has been operated on.

In this guide, we will give you some examples of how our patient's donor area heals after hair transplant surgery and what you need to be aware of.

What Is The Donor Area?

The donor area is typically the area on the back and sides of the head where a hair transplant surgeon harvests follicles from. This involves taking hairs from one by one (FUE hair transplant surgery) or as a strip (FUT hair transplant surgery) from the donor area and relocating these hairs to an area of balding or thinning (recipient area).

The donor region is outlined in purple in the diagram below. It is an area of hair at the back and sides not affected by the balding process.

The hairs taken from a donor area are normally hairs resistant to the balding process. When they are relocated to an area of balding or thinning, they retain this resistance and grow normally.

Hair follicles extracted from the donor area

Donor Area Healing After A Hair Transplant

Before-and-After Hair Transplant recovery — 1 week after hair transplant surgery- you can see the small dot scars are no longer visible as hairs have grown to conceal them

Waiting For Your Donor Area To Heal Before Going Back To Work

You can see in the picture above by 7 days following surgery the donor area has completely healed and you can return to work should you wish to do so.

Cutting Your Hair After Your Donor Area Has Healed

You can cut your hair as normal after you have passed day 14 following your hair transplant. Your donor area should have healed fully following surgery by this point, provided you have followed our FUE aftercare and recovery guidelines.

Redness In Your Donor Area After A Hair Transplant

After your hair transplant your donor area may look a little red. This is in keeping with the normal healing process and becomes unnoticeable once your hair grows to a certain length.

If this redness persists for more than 4 weeks then you should contact your Surgeon to have the area evaluated.

Can You Transplant From Another Donor Area For A Hair Transplant?

You can't transplant hair from another person or donor as the transplanted hair will be rejected by your immune system.

You can transplant hair from another area of your face or body like your beard, armpit, chest or limb into your scalp. This is particularly beneficial in patients who have a limited amount of hair in the traditional donor area located across the back and sides of the scalp.

Donor Area Scars After A Hair Transplant

After your donor area has recovered and healed following surgery, you'll be left with small "dot-like" scars spread across the back and sides of your scalp where hairs have been taken out. These are concealed when your hair grows. By keeping your hair a minimum length of 1-2 these scars should not be visible. Take a look at the video below which takes you through a some examples of our patients after surgery.

Are you looking to have a hair transplant?

To gain a better understanding of the amazing results our hair surgeons have provided over the years, visit our FUE hair transplant before and after page. Alternatively, if you're interested in understanding how much a hair transplant will cost, take a look at our hair transplant cost page for more information. Our hair graft calculator will also give you an indication as to how many grafts you will need.

Get in touch if you are looking to have a hair transplant and you are still wondering about when you can go back to work. Our Surgeons would be happy to go through your treatment options and explain when would be the best time for you to go back to work. Enquire today to find out more.

Authored by

Dr Roshan Vara

Hair Transplant Surgeon & Co-Founder

Full Medical Member of the British Association of Hair Restoration Surgery (BAHRS) Associate Member of International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS)

GMC Registered - 7458409

Reviewed by

Dr Dilan Fernando

Hair Transplant Surgeon & Co-Founder

Royal College of Surgeons

Full Medical Member of the British Association of Hair Restoration Surgery (BAHRS) Associate Member of International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS)

GMC Registered - 7458157

FUE HAIR TRANSPLANT REVIEWS

★★★★★

"After extensive research and many consultations around London, I am so glad I chose The Treatment Rooms for my surgery. Dr Fernando and the whole team were excellent from the very beginning and really understood the natural result I was hoping to achieve. The actual day of the surgery was a breeze and I was made comfortable throughout. The recovery couldn't have gone any smoother and I am so happy with the final result. I cannot recommend The Treatment Rooms enough.”

★★★★★

"Two procedures and couldn’t be happier with the results. True professionals with great pre and after care. Initial transplant supposed to fall out before then regrowing which I’d expected and seen with friends but very little almost none after treatment room procedure. From zero hair on crown and little on top to full age appropriate head of hair 1 year later.”