Sauna -steam room-swimming pool?

[izzy]

Is it okay to go into a Sauna or Steam Room or Swimming Pool 6 weeks after a Hair Transplant or will the going into a sauna or steam room ruin the hairs or potential growth?

[Thehairupthere]

You can safely go swimming or into a sauna at this point.

[Mountinvan]

Would you say the same thing at 3 weeks? 4 weeks?

[Thehairupthere]

Yes swimming and sauna are fine then too. At 3 weeks I wouldn't suggest diving head first into the water though that may be a bit hard for the grafts, but they are set at that point so they should be fine.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

We had an interesting case a couple of years ago. He was a repair case from a major chain operation and he'd had chronic scar problems. About a year after our repair case, we revised his first scar and he started having the same problems. I tried cortisone shots, antibiotics, and he looked like he was chronically infected.

 

Then I got an email from him saying his dermatologist was treating him for folliculitis on the lower extremities, which I'd never examined, and she thought it was from him spending 2 hours a day in a hot tub and steam room...also which I'd never thought to ask about.

 

Her antibiotic treatment and cutting down to a shorter time in the steam room and hot tub seemed to cure him.

 

So I think this is one of those "too much of a good thing..." issues. Use moderation as you resume your activities.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[scar5]

You can safely go swimming or into a sauna at this point.

 

Swimming crawl/freestyle twists your neck, think about that.

Breaststroke and Butterfly extend and tug your neck muscles in a forward and down motion. Also a baddy.

 

I wouldn't swim for six months, if its a second or third procedure or especially if its a revision. I did though. Then i read a post from a doctor on this board, I think it was from one of Mssrs Alexander-Lindsay-Feller saying that swimming stretches your muscles.

 

For the first strip, you know you will have it cut open again for top-ups so I guess, you can be more lenient. But if it's you lucky last strip (sorry eh..em FUT), or especially revision, stay outta that pool if you can.

 

Some docs say anything is possible a week out. Others are more cautious. Reps always play down the fears too.

[Thehairupthere]

6 months is excessive. If you want to wait that long that's fine, but it's extremely cautious and unnecessary.

[JayWalker]

If you are doing breast stroke you are pushing your head upto you back, so you are not stretching the scar, quite the opposite, you are relaxing the skin.

[scar5]

If you are doing breast stroke you are pushing your head upto you back, so you are not stretching the scar, quite the opposite, you are relaxing the skin.

 

..and when your head re-enters the water it returns down, stretching the 'relaxed' muscles.

 

Think about the scalp stretching exercises pre-HT and that is before the cut has been made and the skin taken out! They are done for more than 7 days because-I assume- there is a cumulative effect that builds up over many weeks, even months. So why after an op, is it suddenly OK to do stuff weeks - or even days later? After the cut? I've always been told that six weeks is when you can even start looking at the scar to see it opening.

[JayWalker]

..and when your head re-enters the water it returns down, stretching the 'relaxed' muscles.

 

Think about the scalp stretching exercises pre-HT and that is before the cut has been made and the skin taken out! They are done for more than 7 days because-I assume- there is a cumulative effect that builds up over many weeks, even months. So why after an op, is it suddenly OK to do stuff weeks - or even days later? After the cut? I've always been told that six weeks is when you can even start looking at the scar to see it opening.

 

Yes, but you are only going back to normal neck position when you go back in the water.

I think if you do things in moderation and be sensible then you shouldnt have an issue.

[scar5]

if you do things in moderation and be sensible then you shouldnt have an issue.

 

Nobody will disagree with you there. How could they? But sometimes, and this I mean in general sense-not specifically at this point, and certainly not personally, we get this 'moderation message' as a kind of general smoke screen that obscures our view of some useful and incisive details.

 

I've always been interested in the 'information trade' about HTs and the timing of 'the news' that goes back and forth between customer and clinic. Eventually, all the cards are played, but it's the order in which they come down that counts.

 

We find out and accept the 'unpredictability of scars' long after we predict that a fine doctor will prevent a disaster. I accept being frozen in doubt is no good. We know ships sink sometimes, and that if we don't sail on the boat, we'll be stuck in town listening to the doomsdayers forever.

 

As for swimming, perhaps gentle breaststroke is OK. I don't really know, but serious swimmers do have tight necks and often they hunch over a little too. One of the stretches they do is an 'axial extension' which is like moving your head back and down to create a double chin.

 

It is a curious point though, that we do stretches for months pre-op and get told to lift weights a week post-op:confused:

[JayWalker]

I think it's all a guide, they can't give you instructions for everything, post op. You just have to exercise some caution and commen sense. If it doesnt feel right, chances are it's not.

I'm using weights post op, but avoiding things like deadlifts, squats etc, as I know they will be wrong for my head. I'm swimming but only doing breaststroke, and moderate pace. This feels right to me, and is within the guidelines given to me for post op care.