Hair Restoration Blog

Q:

I recently had a FUE hair transplant in the front and my temples (2500 grafts) and everything was ok until 5 months after the procedure. I had to be out in the sun for a little longer and the temprature that day recorded more than a 100 degrees. Once I got back home I looked at my scalp and the skin in grafted area had turned white. I guess I got a sun burn. I did not take it seriously and I continued to use the Minoxidil with Betaderm spray that my doctor prescribed.

Over the last 1 month the top layer of the grafted area dried up and pealed off (like scabs). I also saw a few strands of the new hair come off with the dried skin but not much. Now after 2 months after that incident my scalp is clear and there are a few rashes here and there. But mostly it is clean. I am concerned if I have sabotaged the grafts by exposing it to the sun. Obviously I got a sun burn at the sixth month but is it going to be bad for the grafts if not already? I read some articles about sun burn but I am confused if this sun burn will be bad only for the skin or the grafts itself? If it is only the skin and it darkens the pigments that is ok. I am worried if I had killed my grafts. Could you please help me understand?
Thanks in advance for your response.

Regards,

A:

Sun exposure can be harmful for the native and transplanted hair.  Especially when you do not have full coverage and sun rays can reach to the scalp skin and cause sun burn. I generally advise against exposure to sun for anything more than a few minutes.  Patients can use sun block or a hat for the first 6 months after hair transplant to avoid hair loss or irreversible damage to the hair follicles.

The patients who do not have good hair coverage on their scalp should protect their scalp religiously forever, until your hair density increases to the level that your scalp is covered completely by the hair and protected from the sun.

It is hard to say if you damaged your transplanted hair or not.  You only need to be more careful from now on and wait and see what is going to happen in the future.

Hello,

I underwent surgery in mid-October and remember well the directive to keep the sun off my head. My question is whether I can use a tanning bed without damage or threat of damage to the transplant area if a use a bandana.

You have had your hair transplant for about two weeks now and you were wondering whether or not a tanning bed can damage your newly transplanted hair implants. What we generally recommend to our patients after hair transplant surgery at US Hair Restoration is to avoid sun exposure to the transplanted areas of the head for at least 6 months after their hair transplants. Sun exposure can slow down or stop the growth of normal, existing hair or even damage the hair follicles. The same issue may be seen with newly transplanted hair after a hair restoration surgery. Sunlight has many different components besides the visible light including ultra violet and infra red lights. We do not know for sure which components are more responsible for hair follicle damage but for this reason I prefer to treat tanning beds the same way. If you can cover your head completely to block the exposure to the light, I do not think that you have to avoid tanning beds.