Hair Restoration Blog

After hair transplant care: This is something that I have to go over for my patients who undergo a hair transplant procedure almost every day. So let’s go over it once and for all.

Here, I will go over the post-op instruction of our patients at US Hair Restoration. Different hair restoration clinics may have different post-op care and instructions because of their different surgical methods.

Our patients who have a hair transplant surgery using a strip technique usually leave our hair transplant center with a bandage around their head. The bandage is used only to support the newly closed donor wound on the back of scalp. Patients are given prescription for pain and anti-inflammatory medications for first few days after surgery. The first night after hair transplant surgery, patient needs to be cautious not to rub or scratch the transplanted area. We recommend that all patients take it easy for the first days and avoid heavy physical exercises.

We would like to bring all patients back for physician evaluation and hair wash the day after surgery. During this first visit, we remove the bandage and assess the transplanted follicular unit grafts and the donor wound. We wash the donor and recipient areas with our meticulous methods while teaching the patient how to wash it at home during day two to four after hair transplantation. Hair wash after hair transplant surgery needs to be performed twice a day with a special method to minimize the probability of dislodging the grafts. Patients ask if they can skip washing hair within the first few days to avoid damaging the grafts. The answer is “No”. Hair wash is a key step in hair transplant care that guaranties the normal growth of the transplanted hair follicular grafts.

I don’t believe in strict limitations in patient’s physical activities after hair transplants as I hear is recommended by some hair transplant clinics. I generally prefer that patient keeps his normal daily activities with some minor limitations. I discourage any activities that may add to the tension of the wound edges at donor area for the first four weeks after surgery. Those activities are: extreme bending of neck and heavy weight lifting. I also ask patients to avoid immersing their head into water and avoid any exercises that cause excessive sweating for the first four days as part of their after hair transplant care.

We would like to bring patients back at day ten after hair transplant surgery to remove the staples (for patients who had strip surgery and donor is closed with metal staples) and to reevaluate the donor and recipient area. For the patients who have their donor closed with absorbable sutures, we would still like to see then in ten days to assess the healthiness of recipient and donor area, which includes patient’s who had FUE (follicular unit extraction) surgery.

Patients need to avoid direct sun exposure to the recipient area for about six months after hair transplant surgery. Direct sun exposure may harm the growing grafts. Sun exposure can also cause skin hyper- or hypo-pigmentation (changing the skin color).

The last follow up appointment for their after hair transplant care is between months nine to twelve after their hair transplant surgery, when transplanted hair grows to its final thickness and length. At this session we can evaluate the transplanted hair grafts and assess the finial size and condition of donor scar. This visit is a good time for patients who want to consider a repeat surgery to increase the density of hair or cover the areas that has not been completely covered with first hair transplant surgery due to the limited scalp laxity or extended balding area. Having said that, patients who are planning for a repeat surgery do not have to wait that long and a repeat surgery could be done any time after month 5 after the initial hair transplant procedure.

What I explained above what a general rule for the follow up visits and after hair transplant care in most hair transplant surgeries. We may add or remove some instructions for some patients who have complex procedures or special conditions.