PRE-OP INSTRUCTIONS

Pre-Op Instructions

There are just a few minor preparations that you will need to do before your Hair Transplant procedure at Lindsey Medical.

The following instructions are organized as far out as 10 days before your procedure. You can also download and print a copy for hair transplant pre-op procedures yourself.

10 Day Pre-OP

No aspirin, advil, motrin, alcohol, vitamins, vitamin E in particular, steroids, cortisone creams, green tea, or smoking!!! All of these can make you bleed more and make the surgery much harder and possibly less successful. Pick up your prescriptions and bring them to the office with you the day of surgery. If you don’t have them, call the office and give us a pharmacy phone number to call them in to. You will get a pain medicine, antibiotic, and a couple of Valium pills to relax you the morning of surgery.

1 Day Pre-Op

Relax. Don’t drink alcohol. You would be surprised the number of folks who toast their upcoming procedure. Get a good night sleep.

Day of Surgery

Wear an old t-shirt that we will cut off at the end of the day. Bring a button up shirt to wear home. Eat a light breakfast, but don’t drink much coffee. You’ll just have to go to the bathroom too much. Bring your pills with you. If you already signed the consent form and don’t have any more questions, take a valium when you are 10 minutes from the office. Otherwise, just take them after talking to Dr. Lindsey. Bring something to read. There may be some downtime. Bring anything you want to eat. We usually get you something for lunch, but if you want something special, just bring it and use our refrigerator. Be on time!!! 7:30 means 7:30. If we get going late, it throws the whole schedule off. Have a ride home. No driving under the influence of valium or pain pills please.

Post-Op Procedures

POST-OP INSTRUCTIONS

Download the pdf

After surgery go home and rest. Keep your head up about 45 degrees, a recliner is great. When in bed, prop your head up with several pillows for the first several nights, and swelling will be less—although not eliminated.

Don’t exert yourself until your sutures are out! This means, even though you’ll feel pretty good on day 3-7, don’t do things that will raise your blood pressure, or stretch your scar line.

A small amount of bleeding the first night or 2 is normal.

Headwrap

We place a headwrap around many patients for the first night. The next morning, take scissors and just cut the headwrap and remove it. Don’t pull it off, or you might pull out some grafts. Don’t leave it on more than the first night either, you’ll swell more later on if you do.

Showering

The first day out from surgery, take a shower. Wash your body as you usually do. Then shampoo the donor area with your usual shampoo. Be gentle, it may hurt some and just use your fingers, not combs, or you might catch a stitch with the comb. It’s ok if water washes over the recipient area the first postop morning, but don’t shampoo it until day 2.

On day 2, take a plastic cup in the shower with you, fill it with water, and pour it over your recipient area a bunch of times—maybe 10-12.

On day 3, do this but let some shampoo get on the grafts too.

On day 4-7, do this, PLUS gently use your fingers to loosen any dried blood around the grafts. As long as you are gentle you won’t pull out grafts. Some loose hairs may come out, and dead skin may shed, but only with any bleeding present will grafts have actually been dislodged. You can probably be a LITTLE bit more vigorous than you think you can. Taking 2 showers a day on day 4-7 makes the recipient site look a lot better at day 7; but even if you don’t do this or aren’t aggressive enough, Dr. Lindsey will give you instructions again on day 7 when you get your sutures out.

It is fine to clean the sutures with peroxide and maybe apply a little bit of Vaseline. Do NOT use Neosporin.

Hats

You can wear a loose fitting baseball cap out of the office. Don’t pull it down tight or lots of grafts may pop out! Don’t wear any other hat on your head until your sutures are out!

What To Worry About?

A lot of bleeding. Almost never happens but if it does, call Dr. Lindsey.
Pain. Most guys take 2 pain pills the night of the procedure, and 2 the next night. Rarely are refills needed. AFTER the surgery, motrin/advil/Tylenol are all ok to use as directed on the box.
Infection. Almost never happens. But, if you get a high fever, or start having more pain after day 2, call.
Just worrying. Don’t worry too much. But, Dr. Lindsey would rather hear from you than have you stress all week. Call the office during office hours or his cell phone if you think you have a problem.

Sutures

Get your stitches out between day 6 and 8. If you don’t remember your appointment time, call the office. Suture removal should not be painful, so don’t worry.

Remember, there are dissolvable sutures below the skin to help the scar stay thin. As you were told preop, 1 person in 20 has one of these sutures work their way out in the first 2 or 3 months. It will feel like a sore splinter. Come in and we’ll remove it in about a minute. It won’t alter your result.

After Care

Massage your scar 1 minute prior to each meal as described at your suture visit by Dr. Lindsey. You may apply vitamin E oil or mederma. If you tend to have bad scars, MAKE sure Dr. Lindsey reviews scar care with you. And follow-up at 3 weeks for a FREE scar check, mainly to remind you that all scars get worse for 6 weeks, but to make sure everything is proceeding normally.

Remember almost all of the hair we place will shed around 2-3 weeks. Then most people don’t see much happen for 6 months. Dr. Lindsey likes to see you around 6 months and then at a year. These are free visits so please make them and come to the office.

What Not To Do?

Don’t spend a lot of money on supplements or things you might hear to make your hair grow. Be patient.

Don’t bang your head around. Dr. Lindsey is sure that trauma to the recipient area can alter growth.

Don’t panic about the numbness. It is normal for it to take 4 months to start to resolve.

If you have a problem, call, email, or come in for a check. It is our pleasure to help you out after the procedure.