Endotines puncturing skin

[lisa r]

As part of the hairline lowering in the FFS I had done, endotines were implanted to secure the scalp. At first these weren't noticeable, but after 8 weeks now the swelling was dropped and they not only are visible as bumps, but on one side the tines have actually punctured all the way through the skin so that I have a set of three spikes protruding.

I've been trying to get ahold of my surgeon to find out if this is serious and if anything needs to be done, but he is not replying.

Has anyone else had this happen and if so what was done?

I'm a little freaked about this, not so much because of the look, but fear of infection.

Any insight would be appreciated, Thanks.

[Carol2000]

Yes, I am familiar with endotines. They are used in surgery and a bit like very small carpet grippers, except they hold stretched skin in place to allow it to heal. I had my surgery on April 16, 2012 and had two of these inserted in my skull to hold my scalp in place. While, in my case,  the healing process lasted about three months, the endotines were still in there, and, although they were not visible to the casual observer, if I ran my fingers across my hairline I could feel two bumps where they were -- a bit like two little horns. I was OK and the little spikes did not protrude, but I could feel them.

Gradually they dissolve and are absorbed. A year on, mine have now gone. A friend of mine had the same procedure done and hers, like yours, poked through the skin. She told me she trimmed the spikes off with a pair of nail clippers and made sure the skin was kept clean to avoid any sort of infection. So you are not alone, but try not to worry too much about it.

Try again to get hold of your surgeon, it may well be he is on holiday at the moment, I am sure he is not avoiding you.

Regards

Caroline

[Chiara]

I have them too.
I´m now almost 3 months post-op, and on the site of my surgeon it says that according to their experience, it takes 6 months to a full year for them to be completely absorbed. (It´s individual apparently)
They can get a little annoying with washing my hair obviously, but it´s no big deal really. Also i only have them on the sides at the temples.

[lisa r]

I've never heard about anything like this before. Who was your surgeon?

Dr. van de Ven, but I think it's pretty standard to do the procedure.

[lisa r]

Yes, I am familiar with endotines. They are used in surgery and a bit like very small carpet grippers, except they hold stretched skin in place to allow it to heal. I had my surgery on April 16, 2012 and had two of these inserted in my skull to hold my scalp in place. While, in my case,  the healing process lasted about three months, the endotines were still in there, and, although they were not visible to the casual observer, if I ran my fingers across my hairline I could feel two bumps where they were -- a bit like two little horns. I was OK and the little spikes did not protrude, but I could feel them.

Gradually they dissolve and are absorbed. A year on, mine have now gone. A friend of mine had the same procedure done and hers, like yours, poked through the skin. She told me she trimmed the spikes off with a pair of nail clippers and made sure the skin was kept clean to avoid any sort of infection. So you are not alone, but try not to worry too much about it.

Try again to get hold of your surgeon, it may well be he is on holiday at the moment, I am sure he is not avoiding you.

Regards

Caroline

Thanks, for the info on your friend. I hadn't found any cases of it poking through. I'll continue to keep it clean and my GP gave me what to look for in case of an infection. Nothing from the surgeon still.

I'm not going to trim them, they're so far not visible to other, but my hair is falling out so who knows what a few weeks will bring.

I seem to be hitting all the complications.b   If the post surgery hair loss continues much longer, I'm afraid I'm headed toward dusting off my wigs. It's very depressing, but supposed to be temporary.

[lisa r]

I have them too.
I´m now almost 3 months post-op, and on the site of my surgeon it says that according to their experience, it takes 6 months to a full year for them to be completely absorbed. (It´s individual apparently)
They can get a little annoying with washing my hair obviously, but it´s no big deal really. Also i only have them on the sides at the temples.

Did they break through the skin though? I can deal With bumps, my problem is they cut right through the skin and are exposed.

BTW, that's not pleasant feeling as it happens, it's like getting punctured by a plastic spork. Once a tine rips through though the pain stops.

[Carol2000]

Hi Lisa,

You're not alone in feeling everything is going wrong. I can assure you that friends of mine who have been through FFS have had their fair share of problems, too. Hair loss, is probably one of the more common problems. It's mainly due to the stress of the medical procedure you have been through combined with a change of routine. I, too, was suffering a certain amount of shedding to the extent that I was finding my hair everywhere. It was very upsetting. I found that during my recovery I was washing my hair less frequently which actually didn't help the shedding problem. In fact, it probably made it worse.
I realised that due to washing it less frequently, when I did actually wash it I was having to comb through a build up of product, ie hairspray. This meant more hair was coming out. So, somewhat reluctantly, I went back to my once every other day routine and found that my hair was easier to comb through and much less hair was coming out. A year on and my hair is probably back to what it was pre-op, except my hairline is, of course, looking much more feminine than it did and is about a centimetre or so further forward than it was.

What you're going through at the moment is likely to be the worst part. You're bound to question whether you did the right thing, if you chose the right surgeon and are you going to look better and more feminine. The answer to all of those is yes. Dr Bart is a very good surgeon and the reason you cannot get hold of him could be that he is abroad doing charity work in Africa. I know he does it around this time of the year.

I can remember looking in the mirror about three weeks after my surgery and looking at my bruised face (some of them were still visible more than two months later), my swollen chin and scabby hairline and wondering if I had done the right thing. I looked at my swollen top lip and thought "What the hell was he (Dr Bart) thinking when he did this?"

Needless to say, I am very pleased with it all now. I remember thinking about 6 months into recovery "I hope my lip doesn't go down too much more. It's looking real nice."

All is well now, and if I ever have any more doubts, I just pull up the pre-op photos Dr Bart took of me about an hour before my op. There is no question I look so much better. And so will you.

Hugs
Caroline

[Chiara]

Did they break through the skin though? I can deal With bumps, my problem is they cut right through the skin and are exposed.

BTW, that's not pleasant feeling as it happens, it's like getting punctured by a plastic spork. Once a tine rips through though the pain stops.

No, they are under the skin, the skin is just elevated at their location. It´s not an unpleasant feeling to me, only touching them produces a little pain, but still nothing that bothers me really.
I can´t really help you if they broke through your skin, you should wait for the reply of your surgeon. But i think you would have to wait until they´re gone before your skin would heal and recreate at the exposed location, i´m not sure if your skin would do that with your enditones protruding.

[lisa r]

Hi Lisa,

You're not alone in feeling everything is going wrong. I can assure you that friends of mine who have been through FFS have had their fair share of problems, too. Hair loss, is probably one of the more common problems. It's mainly due to the stress of the medical procedure you have been through combined with a change of routine. I, too, was suffering a certain amount of shedding to the extent that I was finding my hair everywhere. It was very upsetting. I found that during my recovery I was washing my hair less frequently which actually didn't help the shedding problem. In fact, it probably made it worse.
I realised that due to washing it less frequently, when I did actually wash it I was having to comb through a build up of product, ie hairspray. This meant more hair was coming out. So, somewhat reluctantly, I went back to my once every other day routine and found that my hair was easier to comb through and much less hair was coming out. A year on and my hair is probably back to what it was pre-op, except my hairline is, of course, looking much more feminine than it did and is about a centimetre or so further forward than it was.

What you're going through at the moment is likely to be the worst part. You're bound to question whether you did the right thing, if you chose the right surgeon and are you going to look better and more feminine. The answer to all of those is yes. Dr Bart is a very good surgeon and the reason you cannot get hold of him could be that he is abroad doing charity work in Africa. I know he does it around this time of the year.

I can remember looking in the mirror about three weeks after my surgery and looking at my bruised face (some of them were still visible more than two months later), my swollen chin and scabby hairline and wondering if I had done the right thing. I looked at my swollen top lip and thought "What the hell was he (Dr Bart) thinking when he did this?"

Needless to say, I am very pleased with it all now. I remember thinking about 6 months into recovery "I hope my lip doesn't go down too much more. It's looking real nice."

All is well now, and if I ever have any more doubts, I just pull up the pre-op photos Dr Bart took of me about an hour before my op. There is no question I look so much better. And so will you.

Hugs
Caroline

Thanks Caorline,

Actually the hair loss started before the Endotine issue and I was happily able to say oh well, it will be better later. The puncture thing waited me down, but hear that I can leave them, has made it a lot better.

It's been two months since the surgery so all the black and blue is down to a level that I can hide it with makeup, and the improvement vs pre-op is kinda crazy good. I was actually able to pass while getting a makeover at nordstom :-) I ended up telling the girl because she wanted to remove makeup where my electrolysis is still working and she was floored. That kind of thing gets me over the inconvenience of losing hair short term.

Thanks

Lisa

[lisa r]

A quick follow up:

The area of the endotine on one side was definitely infected and the infection grew massively as time went by. It spread along the brow incision and started oozing large amounts of puss in various places. I got the little red lines that are supposed to be a danger warning sign coming out from the area and got treatment here in the States. Oddly Dr. Bart's advice was to just keep it washed and wait. It turned out to be a staff infection and fortunately one that responses well to Sulfa.

I have a really good local doctor watching it now and I can see improvement even though I haven't been on the Sulfa for very long. I'm really glad I didn't wait longer though.

Lisa