Hair Restoration Blog

Q:

I have had a hair transplant surgery of 1500 grafts 2 weeks ago. I have been told that scabs should be gone in 5 to 6 days, but I still have scabs. I am very careful with washing my hair once a day since the day of surgery. I don’t scrub my scalp. Yesterday I tried to be a bit more aggressive and I picked and pulled a scab and it came off with a hair. Did I lose a hair graft? When should one start scrubbing scalp and at what point can I go back to my regular washing and cleansing of my hair?

A:

Scabs are almost always seen after hair transplant surgeries. You may continue to see scabs for a variable amount of time. One of the common causes of losing a graft is pulling scabs during washing and combing hair within the first few days after hair transplant surgery. Fortunately, we have researched evidence that shows pulling scabs with hair can dislodge hair grafts if done in the first five days after hair transplantation.

At US Hair Restoration, we recommend washing transplanted areas twice a day to prevent formation of scabs within the first four days after hair transplant surgery. After day five patient can start his regular hair wash, but if scabs continue to be present at transplanted area, more frequent washing is recommended until the scabbing is all gone.

The good news is; if you lose hair after this day, active part of the hair follicle stays in skin and can generate a new hair. When fully healed, the follicle becomes part of the recipient skin and will keep its ability to generate new hair. At this time you are well beyond day five and it is unlikely that what you saw was a lost graft. My recommendation to patients is that they can start their normal hair wash and styling methods and use their usual shampoo or conditioner after first week. At this time you should be able to get back to your normal life and scrub and style your scalp as you wish.

Tags: hair wash after hair transplant, scab, scale, scrub

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 4:45 pm and is filed under hair loss, hair transplant surgery, male patterned hairloss. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.