Wanted: Post HT recovery and care techniques

[Son of a Plug]

I know that I will receive instructions from the Dr after my HT next week, but I am looking for advice from veterans here that can provide advice on what DID or did NOT work post HT for them.

 

I would also like any advice regarding what some veterans are maybe planning different next time based on past experience.

 

Any and all advice regarding Donor Area Care, Recipient Area Care, Shampooing, What Length Hair Best Conceals the Scar, Removing Scabs, Using Minoxidil Afterward, Sleeping, Hats, How Long Before Exercise, Vitamins for Healing/Growth ....

 

Pretty broad question but I appreciate brainstorming

[Son of a Plug]

I know that I will receive instructions from the Dr after my HT next week, but I am looking for advice from veterans here that can provide advice on what DID or did NOT work post HT for them.

 

I would also like any advice regarding what some veterans are maybe planning different next time based on past experience.

 

Any and all advice regarding Donor Area Care, Recipient Area Care, Shampooing, What Length Hair Best Conceals the Scar, Removing Scabs, Using Minoxidil Afterward, Sleeping, Hats, How Long Before Exercise, Vitamins for Healing/Growth ....

 

Pretty broad question but I appreciate brainstorming

[NW]

S.o.a.p.,

 

Which Doc are you going to ?

 

After care, I did use Grafcyte spray, it did help heal the scabs without letting them dry-out.

 

Sleep in an upright position as much as possible for swelling, however I had swelling on both HT's, tried everything etc... but days 3-5 expect it, you should take pictures of the "Alien" sleeping in your bed !. In fact I kinda looked like my avatar picture.

 

< ------ the guy up here to the left was days 3-5....a real head swelling bonanza...lol, but it passes.

 

Good Luck

NW

[Guest]

I'm a month post op. Wait a month before serious exercise. Try not to disturb the grafts during the first few days. In my case the scabs fell off after three weeks. Don't count on getting rid of the hat too early. I was able to stop wearing it after 3 weeks, but only because I can cover the recipient area with my current hair. I didn't do anything about swelling, other than sleeping at 45 degrees, and taking some pills from the doc. It was gone after a couple of days. People on this board advise using ice though - so maybe you should try it. Also - if you live on your own - do a lot of shopping right before, so that you don't have to buy anything during the first week (it's bad enough I had to go to work). In the end - everything just takes care of itself. That's the beauty of cosmetic surgery - no pain, no gain doesn't apply here - (unless we're talking about your wallet). I don't know about others, but my doc recommended using dilluted J&J baby shampoo to clean the hair after the first few days. I've been using it ever since, I figured they wouldn't be putting anything bad for hair in baby's shampoo - so you may want to get some of that too.

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke

[Son of a Plug]

I'm going to Dr Jones in Toronto for approx 2,500 grats via strip.

 

I already received my Graftcyte single patient pack for $135.00 U.S. with free shipping from George Tiemann & Co internet site (great deal!)

I'm not sure about how great thier wound care product is though.

 

I guess I'll ask for extra pillows at the hotel for the night after HT so I can prop myself up well.

 

How long before you can lay flat in bed again???

 

I'm a little afraid of the 1st three days as I've heard of some guys finding grafts in the sink during their 1st wash/rinse.

 

How do you ice the recipient area without knockin those babies loose?

 

Also, if you do use a wound care product on the sutures do you have to wash off the prior application or do you just keep gooping it on over and over?

 

My wife will be able to help once I get back from Toronto so I guess I'll wear a loose hat until I get back to the desert. I've got a nice loose military desert hat (kinda like Gilligan wore but tan in color) which should help from freakin anybody out at the airport

[tkotko]

Son of a Plug - You don't ice the recipient area. You should ice the lower forehead area, around eye lids and the sinus area. I'd wait until after 5 days to lie flat in bed. Personally I didn't do anything for the suture area except make sure I washed thoroughly in the shower, rubbing horizontally. Keeping it clean will make the suture removal much easier and less irritating. As far as washing the recipient area, the clinic did it for me the first 2 days to show me now, and from there I would take a cup in the shower to wet me head, lather soap in my hands, and apply to the recipient area by gentle patting, and let sit for a minute or so. Then rinse with the cup, keeping the warm fairly cool, lukewarm at best. I did that until 11 days post op.

 

Good luck to ya!

[NC30]

sonofaplug...

 

how long will you be staying out of work?

i had a 1500 graft strip HT at the end of march. i stayed out of work, and pretty much didnt do anything for a week ( other than just reorganize stuff at home, play online, relax, etc).

 

i let my hair grow out a little more than normal ( my HT doc didnt require me to shave it for surgery). a week post-op, he removed the sutures and cleaned me up. with sufficient length in the back, not a single person in the world knew i'd had an HT. i never wore a hat after the first week and no one's the wiser.

 

if you can, do some tanning prior to your surgery. some guys have mentioned that having a little color to your scalp helps mask the redness if you have any.

 

make sure you have a little spray bottle for water to keep your scalp moist. you can buy one at walmart for like $1. since i was at home, i just sprayed it down every 30 minutes or so. in fact, it helped a lot with the itching that you're going to experience. you dont want a strong shower stream of water hitting your head.

 

i wish i could give more tips, but i really didnt have any post-op problems....virtually no swelling or redness, etc. the doctor prescribed some meds to help me sleep, but i didnt need them either.

[Son of a Plug]

I'm glad I'm not reading any horror stories about post op problems, not that I expected any but just thought I'd poll the readers for any problems that could have been avoided.

 

I'll be off work at least 15 days and that would be if I go back on thursday (if I need more time I can take thurs & fri off and return the next monday).

 

Thanks for the icing tip, I didn't think it sounded correct to be icing recipient sites.

 

I will be leaving Toronto on a very early flight the next day, so I won't be able to get help with my first wash or be examined before I leave. This is really my biggest post op concern, but the airfare was much more if I flew out later or stayed an extra day.

 

I also didn't realize you had to be so careful washing out to 11 days, so thanks for that tip as well.

 

I guess laying flat in bed finally will be one of the most rewarding benefits of healing.

[NC30]

sorry...just a few afterthoughts I had, some of these are pre-op tips instead of post-op.

 

These are just preferences, not necessarily best practice. I went to bed later than normal the night before my HT, and got up much earlier than normal. I wanted to be sleepy during my HT so I could be more relaxed and "out of it".

 

Also, my surgeon had a selection of movies for me to watch during my HT. Although I could have definitely watched a movie during my HT, I didnt want to risk anyone being distracted during my HT or start laughing at a movie. I'm not at all implying that the doctor/nurses wouldn't give their full attention, but human nature being what it is, I opted to not have that distraction around.

 

I didnt let a shower stream hit my head until at least a week after when the sutures were finally taken out. I constantly sprayed my hair with my water spray bottle for the first couple days post-op. I think the 2nd day post-op was my first attempt to wash my hair. I didnt do the patting technique when washing my hair. I filled my bathtub partly with water and added some baby shampoo. I just slowly immersed my head and did kind of a slow swishing motion. I know it sounds stupid, but with the amount of money I spent, I just didnt want to risk touching any of the grafts post-op.

[Guest]

NC30:

I don't think you have to worry about anyone even paying attention to the movies. With the number of patients, they've heard them hundreds of times, and know them by heart by now. My doc said he had to sit through Gladiator at least 10 times in just one month. I picked Gattaca, but must have slept through most of it (great movie by the way).

As far as washing the hair, on my third day following my docs instructions, I mixed a little baby shampoo with water in a cup and slowly rinsed my hair with it, following with just water. I avoided any touching of the area, until 3 weeks post op. Especially during the first few days. With $10 grafts I wanted to make sure EVERY SINLE ONE of them grows.

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke

[NC30]

Micro

 

Lol...yeah..I know they have to watch them over and over again, but I was still a little paranoid. I wasnt saying my washing method was better, it's just what I did personally.

 

I think we both had the same mindset (as many do), that we're not going to risk doing anything to harm the new grafts. I believe my doc said to wait at least 2 weeks to do any working out/strenous physical activity, but I think a month is best as well. Just based on past reading, I can't believe when I see guys post about how they want to know the exact day they can start working out again or go swimming,etc. I think in that initial post-op phase, it's best to err well on the safe side instead of risking a lifetime HT investment by touching, physical activity, sex, etc too soon.

[Son of a Plug]

If you guys are so worried about touching grafts for up to 3 weeks, how do you manage to wear a hat or sleep on a pillow?

 

Is it because you're afraid that the combination of water and touching/patting may damage the grafts?

 

I thought after 8 days the grafts are so well healed you would need a surgeon to remove them.

[Guest]

I had very small area in the temples covered so wearing a baseball hat wasn't a problem, because the material didn't come in contact with the grafts. Just in case though, I padded the hat with bandage on the inside.

 

I was also sleeping on my back, to prevent the grafts from coming into contact with pillow.

 

Also - like NC said, better safe than sorry.

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke

[NC30]

Sonofaplug....

 

Sorry if I alarmed ya in any way, but like Micro said, it's just better safe than sorry.

 

He brought up something that I hadn't taken into consideration. His HT was in the temple area, whereas mine was more of filling in my thinning area. If I had grafts transplanted into bare areas where people could tell the difference, I definitely would have opted for wearing a hat for a few weeks after.

As far as the touching/patting washing(which is fine if done properly), I'm sure you're doctor will recommend the method that he thinks his best. But like you said before, you'd heard of guys finding whole grafts in the sink 3 days later and wanted to avoid that. I'd read those types of posts as well before my HT and was determined not to take any chances.

[Guest]

did you guys treat the donor area with , say, Neosporin or something?

[Guest]

nothing here - I just kept it clean.

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke

[tkotko]

I was like NC30 in waiting a month for anything strenuous, so not to stretch the donor area in any way. The doc said it was ok after 10 days, but I wouldn't even golf for a month (Sex might be the only exception!!!)

 

And as far as washing the recipient area, if patting doesn't sound appealling, which it made me nervous until they did it for me, ducking your head in the tub would work as mentioned above, but just DO NOT do it in the sink. My doc explicitly warned me about that for fear of hitting my head against it.

 

And you mentioned hat wearing - for the first 10 days they told me to put a hat on front first, below the recipient area, then gently bring it down and pull on the back. After 10 days I wore it normally, with no graft damage evident.

[Son of a Plug]

Dr Rob Jones advised that he is directing his patients to dunk their head in the tub also.

 

I think he advises a long soak (maybe 20 min per day) to help with recipient scab removal.

 

I'm getting a list from him in the mail this week of after care directions. I'll be sure to add some more ideas here.

[NC30]

Ok....a couple more things from me...

My doctor gave me neosporin for the donor area, but since I was keeping my HT a secret, I didn't trust anyone to help appy it. I tried once or twice to put it on myself, but it was just too goopy and got caught in the hair (side note-- I had normal sutures which the doctor removed a week after the surgery.) I didn't have any infections or problems with it.

Also, sonofaplug, I re-read one of your posts and something crossed my mind. I read that you were gonna wear the "gilligan" style hat. About 8 days after my HT, I took a flight. I'm not the baseball hat type guy, but I definitely wore one that day. I got to the airport early, and sat around near the gate just reading and watching people. As it got closer and closer to the flight time, I got more and more paranoid about being one of the "random" searches they conduct during boarding. I dont know if they picked up on it or not (I actually think they did since I had been sitting awhile and acting nervous), but sure enough when I was waiting in line to board, they made me one of the "random" searches. I had to take my hat off at that point and go through the entire search. Soo...I hope I don't make you paranoid now, but just be prepared in case this happens. Maybe don't sit at your specific gate until a few minutes before boarding time, look innocent, don't wear a turban, and hopefully you'll be ok.

[Mr T]

SOAP,

 

My opinion is some of these guys are being overly cautious. The grafts won't fall out after the first two or three days unless you really bump your head. If a graft truly falls out, you'll know it as will likely be coming from the area.

 

I followed a similar pattern as noted with wetting my hair with a cup in the shower and the lathering my fingers and patting my scalp for the first 2-3 days. By day four, I was lightly rubbing the scabs with the pads of my fingertips, NOT THE FINGERNAILS, but the water was spraying directly on my scalp. I worked the scabs after I had been in the shower about ten minutes, so everything was softened up. By day five, all my scabs were rubbed off.

 

I had a strip excision and put antibiotic ointment on the incision the first 3-4 days. After that, I just made sure to really wash the incision really well as noted above. One other suggestion is to take a warm shower before you have the sutures/staples removed as it makes it much more comfortable. (Wish I knew that before mine came out!!!)

 

'Hope this helps,

 

Mr. T

[Mr T]

I forgot to include this...

 

I went on a week long golf vacation five days after my surgery. The swelling had already come and gone and I had no problems whatsoever with my HT or my scar. No one noticed and I didn't think much about the HT except for the damned staples. When they came out life was much better!

 

My scalp is still somehwat red after two months, but I also have no hair there to cover it. With 3,700 incisions, some has to come closer to the surface, but that's a small price to pay for the good stuff that will follow.

 

I only wore a hat for golfing, but that was because I didn't give a damn. I told everyone I could that I had a HT. I probably sounded like the guy in the Cheerios commercial who lowered his cholesterol...

 

 

Mr. T

 

Mr. T

[Guest]

I was sort of worried about having to go through the whole search procedure on my way back from Canada. I was the first person at the gate, almost 3 hour before flight, and spent the whole time sitting there. In addition to that I didn't have a hat, and ended up wearing a hooded fleece, which looked ridiculous, because it was extremely warm day. I was sitting in the corner and people were looking at me like a mental patient - nobody even dared to sit anywhere close to me. To my surprise I wasn't asked to take of my hood even once - I did get a lot of suspicious stares though.

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke

[Guest]

OK, here's my $.02 worth. I've had two surgeries.

 

I put saline solution (contact lens type) in a little spray bottle. I sprayed on the grafts several times a day to relieve the itching and help the healing. I have another spray bottle with plain water for an occassional rinse. It feels great!

 

Get one of those litle C-shaped travel pillows they sell at the airport or any travel shop. Works great for the first few days when you have to sleep sitting up.