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I may be getting a biopsy this week. Can you all share some of your experiences? What is the receovery like? I know with FFA they like to do a dual biopsy...one on front of the scalp and one in back... How large is the place they take from your scalp?
What is recovery like? Will I have stitches and need to wear a bandage for several days, a week etc? Ive read some horror stories on other sites about biopsy and I am getting nervous...
Thank you!
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It isn't that bad. They take a small sample, I just had 2 or 3 stitches. I hd a band aid on for a day or two and that was it. Hurt a little , but not enough to distract me from everyday life. Take a couple of Aleve or Tylenol and that should do it.
Hi, I only had 1 little biopsy in the front on my hairline. No stitches at all they glued it together or something like that. Had a band aid for a couple of days and that was it. It is very handy nowadays because the little round spot from the biopsy stays very white and I can measure very well if my hairline recedes any further. It has been 14 months ago and my hairline hasn't receded since then. My biopsy showed very little activity at the time, but indeed some scarring, so it was FFA. so I think my FFA is dorment or hopefully has burned out now!
So I had my biopsy this morning with a new dermatologist. He was great! He was familiar with the doctor I went to previously...the one I had to wait a year to see and who is supposed to be a hair specialist...lol..He said he had heard about similar negative experiences with her.
He took a lot of time to look at my scalp with the magnifying glasses and light. No one has ever done that before! His bedside manner was great. He took a lot of time talking with me and was more knowledgeable about hair loss than other derms I've been to in the past. He was the first doctor I've been to before that admitted and confirmed that birth control pills can cause hair loss or trigger it..Wow!
Anyway...he was super careful with the biopsy. He picked an area that he said he could see slight scaling and inflammation. And it looks like he did a good job hiding where he took the biopsy, too. I go back in about two weeks to get the stitches out and get the results.
It's weird to say this but I feel so content today. I've been wanting a biopsy for so long and some derms even refused to do one on me. I'm prepared for the worst. I just want to start treating it according to the diagnosis. I just want to know what it is!
momto1, I'm glad you had a pleasant experience. A pleasant doctor makes all the difference, even if he isn't a hair loss specialist. My doctor also looks over my entire head with magnifying glasses & light at every visit. Unfortunately, he is retiring, and I have one final visit with him at the end of this month.
It's been a few years but I don't recall needing stitches. The doc took a tiny section from just inside my front hairline. It's very difficult to find the scar, which is still hidden by hair. I think they need only a few follicles. My results were positive for LLP, but given the pattern of loss the diagnosis was FFA.
Worst decision of my life. The nurses were surprised at the blood loss with the scalp that kept splitting on its own. I told them I had a connective tissue disorder that could make problems during a biopsy, but was disregarded and bullied into the procedure *that day*. "It's IMPERATIVE!!" the doctor said. Unrelenting burning pain for 11months followed, during which dandruff, scale, receding frontal hair line, diffuse hair loss, months of losing 400 hair a day for months. 95% of my hair loss happened in the 2 years since that biopsy, the majority in the first year. She also charged insurance over $3000 for the procedure.
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