Side effects of hair transplant

Side effects of the hair transplant aren’t very harmful to your body.  And most of them are temporary. You can expect that no hospital admission or serious condition will occur.

Here’s the list of the side effects:

• • Swelling on the forehead and face
  • Bruises or a bluish hue on the skin
  • Redness in the eye
  • Numbness or sensation changes
  • Shock loss
  • Pimples
  • Small wound formation
  • Scabs
  • Infection
  • Anesthesia Side Effects – Dizziness, Nausea, Syncope

Details of the Side effects of the hair transplant

1. Scabs:

When we do a hair transplant, part of the skin around the hair also comes with the hair. This skin becomes dry and appears like blackheads on the transplanted area. The appearance of the transplanted area looks like it is covered by black or brown dots for 10 – 14 days.

Incidence – This refers to the Side effects of the hair transplant – Occurs in 100 % hair transplant patients.

Duration – After day 7, scabs will start to reduce. Usually takes two weeks to shed completely. If they don’t shed in 2 weeks, then you can use a forceful massage to remove them. Forceful massage cannot be done in the early phase as it may dislodge hair roots.

Management – You can wear a normal Cap after 4 -5 days of hair transplant to hide hair transplant scabs. You can also join the office early, but in the early phase, a very loose cap is required as grafts are quite sensitive to pressure in the early phase of hair transplant. You can shampoo your transplanted hair twice per day to help the scabs shed faster.

2. Swelling on forehead and face:

The swelling over the face and forehead is one of the most common side effects of hair transplant.

Why swelling occurs

• It occurs due to the saline water injected during the hair surgery to lift your skin up. Lifting the skin minimizes trauma to underlying blood vessels and nerves.
• Due to trauma and inflammation, Scalp skin also produces a lot of fluid.
• This saline water and inflammatory fluid come toward your forehead and face due to the effect of gravity. Effect of gravity is more in sitting and standing position.

Incidence – 90 % patients will face this Side effect of the hair transplant after hair transplant, and it’s essential to follow our instructions to control this

Duration of swelling – It should bother you for a minimum for 24 – 36 hours.  Normally takes 3 – 5 days, but may stay up to 7 days. Depends on your care and follow the post op instructions.

Treatment –

• A physical barrier over the forehead to prevent swelling over the eyes and face
• Application of ice
• Massage over eyebrows, upper eyelid, and lower eyelid in the direction of nose to ear
• Pressure over areas with more swelling, especially if they are around your eye
• Steroid tablets for 3 – 4 days if swelling is severe

3. Bluish hue on skin / Dark circle around the eye : 

The inflammatory fluid in the swelling contains a few blood drops, which are produced due to needle injury during hair transplant. These blood cells can be absorbed by the thin skin around your eye. If the patient doesn’t control the swelling from the start, then it can lead to a bluish hue on the skin around the eye. This is because skin is very thin over your eyelids and below your eye, and even a few drops of blood cells may give pigmentation to this skin if it absorbs them. If this happens, then there may be a dark circle type of appearance.

Incidence – 5 % ( 5 out of 100 ) patients may face this problem

Duration of side effect – This side effect of hair transplant is temporary as well. 95 % of pigmentation is corrected within  7 – 10 days. The last 5 % may take even months, so skin may remain dark for some time if it occurs

Management and treatment

• It’s best to massage around your eye after surgery as instructed by the doctor. If swelling does not come around eye, then this will not happen in 95 % patients
• If this happens then you can massage the area regularly to help it resolve faster
• If you want to join the office, then you can buy a foundation powder (or a makeup kit ) matching your skin tone from the market. You can apply that powder over the pigmentation to hide it and join the office. It will subside in 7 – 10 days.

4. Redness in the eye:

The redness in the eye happens in some patients when a mild swelling of fluid comes around the eyes. It is due to the absorption of blood cells by your eye tissue. It’s not harmful for your eyes, but redness may look odd and can prevent you from joining the office.

Incidence – 2 – 3 patients out of 100

Duration – It subsides in 7 – 10 days.  It is never permanent and does not affect your vision.

Treatment – A Few Eye drops may reduce redness, but it will take 7 – 10 days to subside

5. Sensation changes – Heaviness, Numbness, Pain, or sensation loss:

Hair transplant procedure involves small holes and trauma in the transplanted area, which can damage the superficial nerves. This may cause multiple sensation changes.

Pain – Pain after hair transplant is usually controlled by normal pain killer tablets, but you can use strong pain killers if it does not get relief from normal pain killers. Normally, pain killers are required for 7 days, but if there is pain even after that, then you can use them for 12 – 14 days. After this patient does not need pain killers in 99 % cases.

Heaviness of the head – it is a more serious problem in the initial 2 – 3 days. Becomes better with time within the first 7 days. But in some patients, it may take 2 – 3 weeks or longer to subside completely.

Numbness or sensation loss – When you touch an area, you may not feel it. This side effect is called numbness. Numbness starts recovering within the first month. But major recovery starts after 3 – 4 months when new hair starts to grow. But this problem may take 6 – 9 months to recover up to 90 %. There is a small risk of permanent numbness in small spots of the scalp.

6. Shock Loss: 

Shock loss is a process in which the patient loses their transplanted hair or hair around the transplant area or donor area hair after 2 weeks of hair transplant surgery. In hair transplant surgery, the trauma can lead to a decrease in the blood supply of scalp skin. Hair may shed or stop growing due to a decrease in blood supply to the area.

Duration – normally, shock loss starts recovering after 3 -4 months of hair transplant. You can expect 50 % hair in 6 – 7 months and a complete result in 9 – 12 months. If any area in the donor site becomes a bald spot due to shock loss, then generally it also recovers in 6 months’ time.

7. Pimples:

Pimples are also a common side effect of hair transplant. They can happen any time in the next 2 years after the hair transplant. They are due to folliculitis when new hair attempts to grow out. They can be managed by applying antibiotic ointment for 5 days.

8. Small wound formation: 

Small wound formation is rare but can happen in some cases if the blood supply becomes so low that even skin tissue does not receive blood supply. Normally, these wounds heal themselves well within 2 – 3 weeks.

9. Infection: 

Infections in the hair transplant are rare. But pimples may occur. Rarely, a skin infection or the enlargement of a pimple may occur. Pimple has to be punctured to drain pus, and oral antibiotics are given.

10. Anesthesia Side Effects:

The surgery gets done under local anesthesia, which isn’t harmful. And the patient stays awake for the whole time during the surgery. But due to it, the patient can feel dizziness, Nausea, Weakness, and syncope. Patient is advised not to sit or stand for longer durations in the initial 7 – 8 hours after surgery to reduce the risk of these side effects. In 7 – 8 hours, your body metabolizes the drugs used in anesthesia. After that, you can work normally without bothering about side effects.

11. Scars

FUT – In FUT technique – a linear scar comes on your head . The mark of cuts and stitches is permanent. The scar may remain thin in the initial years, but it may increase in width in subsequent years.

In FUE, Scarring is present in the donor area in the form of very small dots. But usually, dots are visible after shaving the head. They are not visible after trimming of the head, so you can have short hair styles after FUE or Advanced FUE techniques.

Click here to learn more about FUT.

And for the pain, the doctor suggests the painkiller dynapar.