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Post Operative Hair Care After Hair Transplant Surgery

Caring For Your New Hair

This area will be discussed at your consultation, on the day of hair transplant surgery and also provided on comprehensive information sheets.

Hair Styling:

Style your hair as desired after shampooing but remember:

  1. Using a blow dryer is not harmful to the hair, but it should be on a cool setting.
  2. Comb hair with light to moderate strokes (without touching scalp). Never use force.
  3. Only use styling products that do NOT contain alcohol.
  4. Wait 5-6 weeks after surgery before colouring or cutting hair.

Direct any scalp problems to our Medical Staff (i.e. itching, in-growing, and flaking) so that proper treatment can be provided.

Crusts:

Crusts or scabs will naturally begin to fall off within the first week following your procedure. DO NOT SCRATCH OR PICK at these crusts because you may accidentally remove a graft or cause an infection. If all the crusts have not fallen off after 2 weeks, call our office. After the fifth day, conditioner may be applied to the transplanted area for 15 minutes before shampooing. This will cause the crusts to soften and then fall off.

Healing:

Allow the grafted area to be exposed to as much air as possible. Hats and hairpieces should only be worn if necessary. Hats, if worn, should not be so tight or constricting that they rub on the transplanted grafts. If you will be in the sunlight for more than 10 minutes, you should protect the grafts by wearing a non-constricting hat for three months. Five days after surgery, you may use sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher. Avoid tanning for 3 months after the surgery.

If a graft is accidentally knocked or combed out, immediately place the graft in a solution of salt and water and refrigerate, then call our office.

Numbness:

Fine nerve endings may be cut during each procedure. This will result in decreased sensitivity or numbness to both the donor and recipient areas. This usually subsides over a period of 6 to 8 months, but can persist for greater than 12 months.

Vitamins:

You may start taking Vitamin C 24 hours after your surgery. Avoid vitamin E or multivitamins for 1 week.

Sutures:

You should make arrangements to have your sutures removed between 10 and 14 days after your surgery. For optimal healing please return to one of our clinics.  Alternatively see your GP.  We enclose a suture removal form.

Alcohol:

Alcohol is not to be taken at all during the first week following your procedure.  Alcohol can cause bleeding due to the thinning effect it has on you blood as well as elevate blood pressure.

Shedding:

Sometimes there is shedding of existing hair 2-4 weeks after the transplant.  It will re-grow.

Growth:

Please remember that it is normal not to see any growth at all before three months and it takes 12 months before most growth comes through.