Category: Post-Operative

Dear Dr Rassman,

I am having my second HT transplant soon to refine my frontal line and to provide more density at the sides. I am worried sick about shock loss. Is there a possibility of this happening with new grafts that will be placed between the newly transplanted grafts that are growing well?

Thank you.

You should not have shock loss with transplanted hair — that is, hair that has been moved from your permanent area to new recipient sites. If you’ve had a previous transplant in the past 3 years or so and are taking finasteride, the risk of shock hair loss is very low.

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Dr. Rassman,

My doctor recommends that I use vitamin E on the recipient area. The use of vitamin E results in a sticky forehead. Will the use of an alcohol swab to clean my forehead damage any of the frontal grafts in the early days post-surgery? I am worried the alcohol will migrate to the grafts through diffusion.

Thanks.

In our practice, we do not recommend using alcohol swabs in the first days post-op, because of the potential harm this could cause to the grafts. Your question is appropriate. After a few days have passed, the alcohol should not be a problem. I don’t recommend vitamin E for the very reason that it results in a sticky forehead.

It is highly recommended that you speak with your hair transplant surgeon about this.

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Hi! Thank you for taking the time for answering my question. I had a Hair transplant 10 days ago. My doctor did not really brief me about the swelling and shampooing my hair post op. I was scared to shampoo my hair. I shampooed it on the 3rd day, on sixth day the scabs became really hard i couldnt resist to to rub hard but i didnt pull, some came out though no blood just scab attached with hair. I went to see him on my 8th day he said everything looks fine and that the grafts are secure. He started breaking up the scabs on my head i was not comfortable at all i told him that i read on the internet that pulling dry scabs moves the graft. He’s like this is not the first time i do it i’ve been through thousands of heads. I’m on my 10th day now the scabs are all gone. My new hair is there i still have the strong urge to rub my skull.

Did he ruin my grafts by pulling the crushing and pulling dry scabs? does rubbing the new hair effect the growth?

Let me get this straight — you trusted your doctor for his expertise and judgments to have him perform a hair transplant surgery, but now you don’t trust these very same things because you read things on the Internet about post-operative care and scabs?

I highly doubt your doctor ruined your grafts. We did do a hair pull study and published the results of it with The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery in 2006 (see Graft Anchoring in Hair Transplantation PDF) and we found that the grafts were not totally secure if there was scabbing present. Each graft was pulled out day by day to get the results that we published. With that said, I would assume that your doctor knew this and was very careful in cleaning you up. What we generally recommend is washing your hair daily to keep the scabs down. Most of our patients are scab free within a day or two.

Hello,
what is the maximum time that it takes for hair to grow after a hair transplant surgery? 6-14 months? please give me a range.

do all the transplanted hair grow the same time?

It generally take 6-8 months for 80-90% of the hair to grow. About 95% of the growth should be seen in 12 (rarely 18) months.

The transplanted hair do not grow at the same time. They grow out in waves. I have personally seen complete hair growth as early as 2 months (in less than 5% of patients) and as late as 18 months for complete growth. Most fall within the 6 to 12 month range. This variability has to do with the individual and not the surgeon or technique itself.

Hi there,

This will be my 8th day of post-op HT and I have read several blogs regarding what kind of physical activity is ‘allowed’ and which ones are not recommended.

Any movement involving the trapazieus muscle was not recommended, anything with weights heavier than 25lbs was not recommended either. Can I assume that doing something along the lines of push-ups, dips, and squats with no weights other than your own body weight and perhaps yoga is fine?

How about something like Kung-Fu with no contact to either the graft or donor area?

Thank-you v. much

For recovery from a follicular unit extraction (FUE) procedure, everything can be done. For recovery from a strip harvesting procedure, always test your trapezius muscle for contraction. The more the tightness created at the neck, the more of a problem that could be created from such activities as sit-ups and push ups. Squats are probably alright.

i had a hair transplant about 5 months ago and everything seems to be fine and the hairs are growing fine, however recently i have had a tiny small raised lump on the transplanted area which looks slighlty red and hurts to touch. It doesnt look at all infected. What might this be and will it go its self.

It is probably an inclusion cyst (ingrown hair or a pimple). Warm compresses or a simple incision and drainage (squeeze out the cyst) should do the trick. This should have been a part of your normal post-operative care instructions. You should speak with your surgeon.