Physical Activity Limitations After Hair Transplant
Question:
I am a 40 year old man. I had a hair transplant 15 days ago and have my sutured removed 5 days ago. I am generally very active, but my doctor said that I can not exercise intensively for first 3 months after surgery. When do you usually say is safe to resume heavy exercise.
Thanks A lot!!
Answer:
Dealing with daily activity and sports after hair transplant surgery is a concern for many patients who are physically active and want to get back to their normal routine as soon as possible. There are two areas of concern after a hair transplant surgery. First, you may lose newly implanted grafts when doing contact exercise like wrestling. This can only be problematic within the first 4 days after surgery. Research has shown that after this period the hair graft is completely healed and infused in surrounding skin. Usually even pulling the hair after this period of time doesn’t have an adverse effect. The follicle stays in place and is capable of making a new mature hair.
The second concern is with the donor area, which is primarily closed by sutures or staples. Using Laxometer can help up to close donor wound with not much tension on the wound edges. The healing of the donor incision follows the general wound healing rules. The process of healing starts from the moment the wound is closed. The wound heals primarily within a few days from the time of hair transplant and any vigorous activity should be avoided within the first two weeks. After two weeks, the wound is practically healed, but the strength of this newly healed wound is nowhere close to normal skin. The wound needs a few months to get back to its final strength. However, regular aerobic exercise is not contraindicated even the day after surgery.The activities that you should be avoiding are: Anything that increases the tension between the edges of the healingwound in the donor area, such as weight lifting and other exercises which involve intense bending of the neck. You should wait at least 6 months for this type of exercise in order to prevent opening of the wound or widening of the final scar.
Tags: hair transplant surgery, hair transplnat surgery, laxometer, physical activity after hair transplant
May 11th, 2008 at 12:46 am
[...] are some limitations in patient’s physical activities after hair transplants. Some clinics recommend very strict rules for physical activities. It is preferred that patient [...]
May 14th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Hello my friends
November 19th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
i went through surgery more than a month ago. right after one month i started gym on permission of my doctor. it depends what does ur doctor say. in most of the cases i know, this is ok to go for exercise/work out after 1 month.
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Hi,
I just had my 2nd hair procedure just 18 days ago. Right now, whenever I bend my neck, i feel this tension and tightness on my donor area. Does anyone know if this will eventually go away and be back to normal? I hope to be lifting weights again soon.
November 24th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Why don’t you give it a few more weeks and start with more gentle activities at least 4-6 weeks after hair transplant.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Thanks Dr. Mohebi. Once the wound is done healing, will it be back to exactly the way it was before (but w/ a scar)? I’m concern that I might feel vastly different than what I felt before this 2nd operation.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:22 am
People has different healing potentials and even one person’s skin may react differently from one procedure to the others. It is difficult to predict the size of the donor scar even in the patient with previous hair transplants of the same size.
However, the tightness that you mentioned should go away after a while. Eight to ten months after a hair transplant should be a good time to go back for evaluation of your donor scar by your hair transplant surgeon.
December 13th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Thanks again. it’s now been a few weeks after the procedure and the tightness has loosened a bit, but i still feel it and seems somewhat limited when i move my head. my doctor told me it will be back to normal, and that it could take time to let it heal.
just curious, first of all, my scalp seems tight as well (particularly on the front). ever since the procedure, whenever i compress the scalp together, i feel this tight discomfort. it’s kind of like i’m feeling the sharpness of the grafts that have been placed. An example of me going through this on a regular basis is when i yawn or move my eyes to look up. when doing this, i would provide a force to the front scalp and thus would feel that occasional discomfort or tightness.
Is this something you hear from your patients? I’m hoping this is only a temporary thing.