Hair Restoration Blog

Q:

When can I go back to work after my hair transplant surgery?

A:

This is one of the first questions that come to mind when people are preparing themselves for a hair transplant surgery.  The down time after a hair transplant has a lot to do with the type of work that you do, whether or not you can use a hat, how sensitive the issue of your hair transplant is and whether or not you want to keep it a secret.

Generally, we at our Los Angeles center of US Hair Restoration would like to bring patients back for a hair wash after the first day of their hair transplantation.  I like to make sure that they are given a professional hair wash with our special technique and teach the patient how to wash his or her hair for the first few days after hair transplantation.

Patients may have some swelling and redness on the transplanted and forehead area for a few days after their hair transplant surgery and the swelling after hair transplant may last up to 4 to 5 days.  Patients can use a hat for the first few days to cover the red and swollen area on forehead.

The redness and swelling may spread down to the level of the eyebrows or even eyelids in more extensive hair transplantations.  The swelling is generally completely gone by day 5 or 6 after hair restoration surgery.  The degree of swelling has to do with the size of the hair transplant surgery and the number of grafts.  Larger surgeries (over 2500 grafts) generally create more swelling, but small surgeries may not have any detectable swelling.

The other issue is the presence of hair after hair transplant.  Patients will have short hair (0.5 to 2cm) on transplanted areas for two to three weeks after their hair transplant.  They fall out in about 90% of the patients after their hair transplantation within 3 weeks after hair implantation.  Patients should be back to where they were before their hair transplant in about 3 to 4 weeks.  At that point, there should not be any swelling or redness, staples or sutures must be removed and the transplanted hair follicles will have gone into their resting phase.

Good Evening Dr. Mohebi,

A week ago I visited to your office. Remember?  I just received your letter.   I still have a few questions from you to ask.

Q: When I read your website, I found out that some women scalp is not suited to have this surgery? So is it possible that I could be one of them?
A: You are not one of them.  Women who are not candidates for hair transplant surgery are the ones with female pattern baldness with significant miniaturization or thinning of hair shafts on a large area of their head.  We do perform hair transplantation to lower the original hairline for men and women at US Hair Restoration.  In your case, you are doing hair transplant only to bring your high forehead lower and create a more feminine pattern for your face.  Your microscopic evaluation of your hair did not show any evidence of female pattern hair loss.

Q: Once I get the surgery. The hairs that transferred will stay permanently?  Is there any possibility that hair will fall off or transplant hair effect my regular hair to fall off?
A: You do not lose transplanted hair as long as the rest of your scalp hair stays in place.  Occasionally patients may experience some degree of shock loss after a hair transplant procedure or they may lose their native hair after a hair transplant surgery.  Those are generally people with a high level of miniaturization as is always seen in typical male or female pattern baldness.  Your situation is different and you do not have many miniaturized hairs (fine hairs) that would fall out after a hair transplant.

Q:  do I have to stay at home after the surgery? How long? I don’t want to go out in public with red forehead. But I have to go to school.  How can I hide my transplanted spot?
A: Hair transplant may cause redness and swelling at the recipient area. This usually gets resolved after day 3 or 4 from the hair restoration surgery.  We will give you medications to minimize those complications caused by hair restoration surgery.  Many people are able to go back to work or school the day after surgery.  You can simply change your hair style for the first few days and bring your front hair forward to cover the transplanted area.

Q: Is there any bad effect of this kind of surgery on any area of my body or health?
A: As long as you don’t have any adverse effects to the medications that are used during the procedure, there is no known major systemic side effect from hair restoration surgery or hair transplant on any other part of the body. The procedure is considered a minimally invasive outpatient surgery.