What to expect after a hair restoration procedure

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Posted on : May 17, 2016 | Category : All | Author: John Kahen

So you did it ? you made the decision to have the hair transplant procedure and now you are one your way home to grow some hair. Many patients want to know what to expect after the procedure. Is it painful? When can I go back to work? When will my hair actually start to grow?

When you go home from your hair restoration surgery, the first five nights we recommend you sleep with your head elevated to avoid swelling of the scalp and rubbing the head on the pillow and potentially dislodging one of the grafts. Put three pillows behind your head and sleep in an upward elevated position to avoid any problems with healing or the grafts.

Washing your hair after the procedure is crucial to proper healing and it is important to follow the instructions in the post-operative care. Wait a day before washing your scalp. On the second day after the procedure and the seven to ten days following, we recommend washing your hair with a cup. Mix water and shampoo in a cup and pour over your head. Then fill a cup of just water and pour over again to make sure all the shampoo is washed out (we recommend for faster healing and to help with growth). Keeping the recipient sites moist actually promotes healing. GraftCyte, or even saline solution, sprayed on the grafts a number of times throughout the day will help this process.

As far as pain after a hair transplant procedure, many patients report that the pain is minimal to very low, depending on the patient. And discomfort typically only lasts a day or two followed by 7 to 10 days of tenderness to the touch. Pain can usually be managed with Extra-Strength Tylenol, for example. The doctor may also recommend sleeping medication for the first night or two.

First, the sites will form small scabs as they heal ? its important not to pick or touch the scabs as it heals so as not to dislodge the grafts, as they are sensitive and most susceptible to trauma in the first three days after the procedure.

Transplanted hair generally sheds in 90% of people and you do not see anything until about 3 months after the hair transplant procedure, the beginning of the hair growth starts about one month after the hair transplant procedure. After the third month, you may start seeing growth of most transplanted hair. That is more obvious for the patients who do not have any hair at all.

People who already have some hair will not be able to see much before 6-8 months from the time of their surgery when transplanted hair is long and thick enough to be distinguished.

Whether the procedure or the technique, when performed by a skilled surgeon the scarring is minimal and should be undetectable. The FUE procedure leaves small, circular scars, and the strip harvesting leaves a very thin linear scar on the back of the scalp. Hair growth covers this scar and makes it undetectable.