Sleeping and Graft Survival

[jumpman30]

Frequent reader, first time poster, future contributor. Really hope I'm being overly concerned, but after so much time, effort, money, etc. it's almost impossible not to be. Good information to know regardless. Thanks in advance fellow forum members.

 

Sunday morning around 4am (3.5 days after a large transplant), an empty pillowcase touched/grazed a portion of my grafted area. It lingered for awhile and was subsequently removed. No bleeding, no rubbing, no scratching, no discomfort, no visibly dislodged grafts.

 

Is this type of contact with recipient area so soon after surgery reason for concern?

 

I didn't see any dislodged grafts. Does this mean no damage was done? Even if I didn't lose any grafts could it cause poor yield/growth?

 

Will a lost graft always have bulb and skin attached?

 

Can a graft be lost within the first 5 days without bleeding?

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Jumpman

Its fine, you are being overly paranoid, which is okay and understandable. If you saw no bleeding, then you DID NOT hurt any grafts. Relax!

[Janna]

Grafts are pretty well set at 3.5 to 4 days post op so as NHP states, relax and try not to worry. What you describe did not hurt your grafts.

[blkblk]

as someone who is going to have a HT in just under a week.. how do you get through the first 3 days without having some sort of contact? I thoughts most people wear a cap or similar on the way home from surgery, isn't that going to be far more contact than a pillow cover whilst lying down?

 

I'm slightly concerned that I haven't planned well enough if I am expected to go 3 days without anything contacting it at all.

[orlhair1]

as someone who is going to have a HT in just under a week.. how do you get through the first 3 days without having some sort of contact? I thoughts most people wear a cap or similar on the way home from surgery, isn't that going to be far more contact than a pillow cover whilst lying down?

 

I'm slightly concerned that I haven't planned well enough if I am expected to go 3 days without anything contacting it at all.

 

Just have to be careful those first 3 or 4 days. Wearing a loose hat like a baseball cap can be done without touching the grafts at all if you put it on and take it off carefully. I just slept on my back with a couple of pillows to keep my head up higher the first few nights and used a travel pillow around my neck to keep me from turning over on my side. Some people sleep in a recliner for the first few nights.

[southbeacharchi]

I got an inflatable neck/travel/airplane pillow at target I think for five bucks. Had a soft cover. It worked awesome and kept me from rolling around at night. I also used a few pillows to raise me up overall.

[Radius]

I had trouble sleeping after all my transplant surgeries.

 

After the strip surgery, I had to sleep on the back of my head, because my hairline and temple points had received the grafts, but the back of my head was totally sore from the strip wound... Not pleasant.

 

After FUE into strip scar, I could not sleep on my back or sides, because the strip scar went from above my ear to ear to above my other ear, so I somehow had to sleep flat on my face! Very uncomfortable.

 

But somehow I managed to get through those first weeks without damaging any grafts in my sleep. It's just a period you have to get through and you have to be very careful. I did it by taking little naps throughout the day and night, never a really long deep sleep.

[southbeacharchi]

For my strip I was cut from above one ear to the other, and that pillow kept the pressure off that as well.