Hair Transplantation Procedures

Hair restoration have been a successful treatment for hair loss and thus to operate for the surgery.  There are certain set of instructions that must be followed by the patient. One must always follow the suggested Pre-operative instructions for better results from the surgery. Before explaining the pre-operative instruction, it is better to understand the whole method of hair transplantation.

     In the hair transplant procedures, the doctor extracts hair follicles and each follicular unit contains about 1-4 hairs. The source area is in the back of the head where the hair unit is not affected by hair loss. The FUE method is performed under local anesthesia and the hair follicles are transplanted one at a time to the hairless area. To check whether your bald areas have any capability and the result would be satisfying, our agent\doctor will ask some questions. In addition, each patient will be asked to send some pictures of his\her head then the result will be explained for each patient’s case. Please give a complete information to our doctor about your medical status and history or medication you use. Note that Novin Irana will perform another blood test to check some immunosuppressive disease like HIV-AIDS. Things That Increase Your Risk for hair restoration after your procedure are:

  • long-term cigarette smoking
  • heavy drinking obesity
  • malnutrition, including bulimia and anorexia
  • diabetes
  • chronic disease of the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs or gastrointestinal system

Pre–Operative Instructions (Before the Procedures):

 There are some important pre-operative instructions that are suggested by hair specialist doctor in Novin irana. This must be followed in 2 weeks prior of the hair surgery. These are:

  1. Do not take aspirin, vitamin E, gingko biloba, or any multivitamins (contained vitamin E). Note that many medications could contain aspirin.
  2. Do not take, eat or drink any anti-inflammatory medication (like Ibuprofen), alcohol.
  3. Do not over-expose to the sun.
  4. Do not smoke one week before the surgery, it causes delay in healing.
  5. Take vitamin C 1000\2000mg per a day, for one week before the surgery to help you with the healing.
  6. Take vitamin K, 50 to 80 micrograms a day to reduce or prevent bruising. You can take them five days before the surgery.
  7. Do not color your hair before the surgery or otherwise make sure it gets colored within three days prior to your procedure. You will be able to color your hair two weeks after hair restoration.

The Day of your procedure:

  • You are allowed to bring your own books or music.
  •  you will have a break for lunch, as it scheduled and it’s on us
  • Friends and family are not allowed in the surgery room when the procedure is being done, however they will be allowed to visit and check on your progress. By having others in a surgery suite creates a non-sterile environment.
  • Any medications should be taken in the morning 9our doctor will guide you), and you should not eat coffee or caffeinated drink in the morning.

Post-Operative Instructions (After the Procedure):

As you received your treatment in Novin Irana clinic and your hair successfully transplanted, your hair will be in natural hair growth cycle as it can be seen in the figure. You should expect a period of overall growth for up to 3 years. This is the typical length of the anagen phase, after which the hair will go through the other two stages (catagen and telogen).

Post-op instructions are simply described as:

Avoid Diluent

  • No ibuprofen or aspirin containing products, alcohol, tobacco-products, fish oil, or vitamin E for 1 week following your procedure.

Activity level

  • When bending down, bend at your knees only, keeping your head above your heart.
  • No exercise, sports, or other vigorous activity for 1 week following your procedure.

Sleep

  • Sleep in an upright position at 45 degrees the first 3-5 nights after your procedure.
  • Prop your head up with two pillows or sleep in a recliner; an airplane pillow around your neck can also help to hold your head in place.
  • A surgical hat will be provided to help avoid any inadvertent rubbing of the grafts while you are asleep.

Donor Area

  • Donor area may have minor bleeding and can be controlled by applying gentle but firm pressure with a dampened gauze; do not rub.
  • Contact the agent of the Novin irana office if there is significant bleeding from the implanted area.

Showering

  • Do not wash your head for 24-48 hours after the procedure.
  • Wet your head by pouring a few cups of water from the middle of your forehead back; do not let the shower hit your head for the first 6 days, this can dislodge the grafts.
  • Using a non-medicated shampoo, get a good handful of lather and gently pat the implanted area; do not rub the grafts.
  • Then apply shampoo to the donor area with gentle rubbing; this will break up the scabbing and help the back of your head to heal within 1 week.
  • Rinse the shampoo off, again pouring cups of water from the forehead back.
  • On day 6 of showering, you should begin to use the pads of your 2 index fingers to gently massage away the scabs around your new grafts; you may also begin to allow the shower to hit your head as tolerated.

Scabs

  • You can only massage your scabs while they are wet in the shower; do not scratch at these scabs at any time, this can endanger the healing of your grafts, cause scarring, or promote infection.
  • The scabs in the donor area should be gone in 1 week; the scabs around the grafts will be gone within a few days after you begin to massage them in the shower on day 6.

Hair growth cycle

  • 3-4 weeks after the procedure, all of the hair shafts will fall out.
  • New hair growth will begin between 2 and 6 months, with all of the hairs coming in at different times.
  • Between 6 and 12 months, the hairs will all have time to fully grow and fill in; 12 months after your procedure is considered your result.

Antibiotics

  • Take your antibiotic based on what you will be told by our doctor.
  • No medicated shampoo for 3 weeks after the procedure.
  • No hair products or hair dying for 8 weeks after the procedure.