One week before your hair transplant you should adjust your diet and lifestyle to ensure that you are best prepared for your surgery.
This Means cutting down on the following and stopping altogether 48 hours before your procedure:
All these will thin the blood and will be detrimental to your procedure and to your healing time.
You should have already declared any prescription medication to your surgeon and received separate advice on these
FUT PATIENTS SHOULD BEGIN SCALP MASSAGE IN THE MONTHS PRIOR TO THEIR HAIR TRANSPLANT AND RAMP IT UP THIS WEEK
On the day of your procedure you will want to dress comfortable and appropriately. Tracksuit bottoms are ideal. Wear a top that has buttons or a zip at the front so that you can get dressed after your procedure without dislodging the new grafts.
Turn up with clean hair and do not use any product on the day of your procedure. We like to see what you’ve got available, so leave any shaving up to us
Have Breakfast! It’s important that you have something to eat before your hair transplant procedure son have a full English. NO COFFEE!
For FUE you will usually be lying face down for the first few hours whilst the donor hair is harvested from the back of your head, so bring along your tunes, or you will be forced to listen to our music. We usually stop for lunch, and then you’ll be able to sit up and watch TV for a couple of hours while the team are implanting the prepared and counted grafts into the recipient area.
For FUE patients, it is easier for the surgeon and his team to implant the grafts if we shave your head, especially for larger procedures
We will definitely be shaving the area between the ears in order to extract the grafts and the shorter your hair overall, the easier it will be to merge the new grafts with the existing follicles.
For FUT Patients there is no need to shave the donor area
Medication plays an important role in aiding your recovery, managing the pain and also preventing or limiting the side effects. We provide a range of medication to ensure just this.
The medication we provide are:
Flucloxacillin – an antibiotic. Helps prevent any infection post procedure.
Day of Operation – Flucloxacillin 1 tablet 4 times a day
Day 2 – Flucloxacillin 1 tablet 4 times a day. Prednisolone 7 tablets in the morning.
Day 3 – Flucloxacillin 1 tablet 4 times a day. Prednisolone 7 tablets in the morning.
Day 4 – Flucloxacillin 1 tablet 4 times a day. Prednisolone 7 tablets in the morning.
Day 5 – Flucloxacillin 1 tablet 4 times a day. Prednisolone 7 tablets in the morning.
Day 6 – Flucloxacillin 1 tablet 4 times a day.
We advise you to follow the medication regime below. Please take care in ensuring you take the appropriate medication at the correct timings. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us or speak with your GP or seek medical advice/ A&E.
Additionally, you can use the following medication as required:
If you experience itching to the scalp, and it becomes intolerable, An antihistamine can be used. In such case you can take Piriton 4mg three times a day or Cetirizine 10 mg once daily (which can cause drowsiness). Both are readily available over the counter medications.
If you experience pain, you can take paracetamol 500 mg, two tablets every six hours for two days then at the patient’s discretion; if the pain persists then please seek medical advice (GP or A&E).
*PLEASE CONSULT YOUR GP BEFORE TAKING ANY MEDICATION.
In the hours immediately following your procedure the thousands of tiny grafts will be held in place by the coagulation of blood from the tiny incisions. These wounds are so small that the blood begins to clot after a few minutes and begins to heal in a couple of hours. For the first couple of days you should avoid touching your head and keep your head higher than your heart. It’s important to take it easy and to keep your heart rate down so that means Netflix without the chill.
You will be provided with a bottle of saline solution and you should spray a light mist onto the grafts every couple of hours so that they don’t dry out. Continue this throughout the 14 day aftercare period. Saline solution is available from all supermarkets and costs just a couple of pounds.
Lots of patients choose to sleep in a chair for the first couple of nights which minimises the chances of any damage. After that you should aim sleep on your back for a couple of weeks. Try sticking a pillow under each arm to stop you from rolling over in the night.
Once the anaesthetic has worn off you will probably feel some discomfort in the donor area. This will ease off in a couple of days and a most patients do not require any pain medication beyond this period.
You can expect some swelling to develop around the eyes and nose which will only last for a day or so.
The grafts will heal quicker if exposed to the atmosphere so try to avoid wearing a cap
IMPORTANT: No chemical-based products such as hair colour, hair lacquer or sprays etc should be used on the head for 4 weeks following the operation. Shampooing or rinsing the transplanted area must be gentle for the first 14 days.
DO NOT RUB OR SCRATCH, as this may dislodge grafts.
Instructions
Day 3 – First wash to be performed on the third day following the operation. Wash the scalp with the baby shampoo; dabbing gently over the transplanted area. Leave on your head like a facepack for 10 minutes and rinse off very gently using a jug or by dipping a sponge.
Day 4 to 13 – Wash the scalp with the baby shampoo tapping gently over the transplanted area. Use your fingertips over the donor areas and rinse off. Rinse off with warm water. NO shower jet stream over the transplanted area.
To avoid any harm to the transplanted area, we advise you let the scalp air dry or the use of a hair dryer on a low setting. If needed, dry the transplanted area with a paper towel. Gentle dabbing is advised and avoid rubbing. Towels can be used in other areas of the scalp.
Day 14 – Apply the shampoo on the transplanted area using circular massage movements and keep it on the scalp for 1 hour. Rinse off. Dry skin crusts should fall off
Day 15 onwards – At this point you can go back to your usual shampoo if you wish. For follow up purposes we provide aftercare consultation review after 4,6 and 12 months.
– If the scalp becomes too dry, you should switch to moisturising conditioner on the sixth day and continue showering using the baby shampoo only and conditioner moving forward. Resume your normal shampoo after 10 days (try to use natural type shampoo).
– If the grafts are soaked too long, they may swell and rise above the skin surface and appear as little white bumps immediately after showering and for the first few days after the operation. It is not harmful to grafts, but indicates that you are soaking too much. As soon as you allow your scalp to dry, they will disappear.
– Transplanted Hair shedding is expected for the first 4 weeks after the operation. It is a normal process and should not be a concern. The healthy hair follicles are firmly in place at 10 days after the operation and cannot be dislodged.
– Please note that when hairs are shed, there may be a crust at the top and a bulb at the bottom. Remember the bulb is not the root (the growth part of the hair follicle). It is normal for the hair, bulb and associated crust to be shed and this does not represent a lost graft. If a graft is lost (something that may occur the first few days following the operation) there will be bleeding at the site of the lost graft. Therefore, if you don’t see any bleeding, don’t be concerned.
Do not use tar shampoo (a dark-colored, medicated shampoo used for psoriasis) on the transplanted area for 10 days following your operation, as this may interfere with the growth of the grafts.
Day 1 is the day of your hair transplant.
The surgeon will provide detailed information about how to care for your grafts during your post-op aftercare discussion
Day 2 You can remove the dressing from your donor area.
Spray the new grafts with saline solution every couple of hours. Do not touch your head.
Day 3 Time for your first gentle hair wash as instructed by your surgeon
Continue to spray with saline every couple of hours
Repeat this every day until day 14.
Day 14 Have a bath, have a shower, go to the gym, wear a hat, climb a mountain, ford a stream, run a marathon or party like it’s 1999. The transplanted grafts are safe
Your crusty scalp will be pretty much cleared up after 2-3 weeks and you can adopt your normal hair care routine.
The donor region should be left to heal naturally. You can use aloe Vera gel on this area to ease any discomfort. Dab don’t rub! If you rub this area you risk elongating the holes making them more likely to become visible.
Use Baby Shampoo throughout this 14 day period and nothing else!
DO NOT USE SUN BEDS FOR 6 MONTHS – IN FACT DO NOT USE SUN BEDS AT ALL
NHS Guidelines – It’s common after a hair transplant to have:
1. Swelling: this is quite rare but could occur usually 24 to 48 hours after the surgery. You may notice some swelling in the forehead, which may travel down towards the eyebrows. This will resolve itself, without intervention, usually 48 to 72 hours after it begins. Raising the top of the bed will help.
2. Bleeding: there may be some bleeding directly after the surgery from the donor area, if any bleeding occurs, it is important to apply pressure with some gauze for as long as it takes to settle.
3. Pain: sometimes pain can occur in the donor, the transplanted area or your neck area due to the procedure/ the position, then Paracetamol is recommended for this.
4. Numbness/Tingling: these sensations in the recipient area sometimes occur. It can last from few weeks to a few months and will fade without intervention.
5. Infection: there is a very low risk of infection as with any surgery. You should return to the clinic if you feel there is any signs of infection such as localised redness, pain…etc.
Beard transplants are pretty straightforward when it comes to aftercare. Don’t touch your face for 10 days and keep the area clean at all times.
Gently wash your hair with baby shampoo and it will trickle down and magically cleanse your new facial grafts.
Redness should subside after about a week and you can shave again after a fortnight.
Don’t be alarmed when most of the new hairs fall out after a couple of weeks. This is entirely normal and new hairs will grow from the transplanted grafts in 3 or 4 months. You will need to be patient and allow at least 12 months for your new beard to thicken up.
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