Very mild smoking after transplant

[GainzCentral]

Hi everyone,

 

I posted this question in an existing thread I made but got no replies so I'm rewriting it in a new thread. Please don't ignore it, I'm sure a lot of you have been nervous about screwing up your hair transplant too so please help me out.

 

I had a hair transplant in Malaga and after the op was feeling anxious so I wanted a couple of beers to relax. In the end I decided against it and just drank a couple of non-alcoholic beers instead. I did however, have a couple of cigarettes. I don't smoke but after the stress of the operation combined with the fact that smoking always seems more appealing abroad I bought a pack in a cafe and lit up two. I didn't realise that smoking is often considered a no-no because it simply wasn't mentioned in my post-op instructions. I was however told in the pre-op instructions that smokers should have a cigarette the morning of their transplant to avoid cravings during the operation. Surely if it were that damaging they would've explicitly warned against it, right?

 

After reading these forums more since I got back I'm feeling a bit guilty and worried about it. But the day after when I went for the check up the nurse said it all looked perfect. My gut feeling is that it wouldn't have really had any effect. I know nicotine and CO can constrict blood supply and slow healing but we're talking about two cigs, not smoking a pack a day every day. There seems to be a lot of conflicting opinions on this, with some saying it's the absolute worst thing you can do and others saying it just slows down healing but doesn't affect graft survival. Can someone shed light on this? I can take people saying things I don't want to hear but no flaming please. Thanks.

[Spanker]

No worries. Imo, if you have a poor result, it's not because of the smoking. I was a smoker when I had my transplant. Of course, it's good to not smoke, but I have not seen any evidence that it causes poor results. I'd love to see an in depth study on it, but all I can do it's go off off my experience, and that says, it's not going to help your transplant, but I've seen no evidence that it restricts blood flow on the scalp enough to hurt you result.

[Paulygon]

I have to side with Spanker.. though I don't smoke, it doesn't seem like it would be that great of an impact. There are far greater forces involved in causing your hair loss.

Its probably as bad as having several cups of coffee, imo.

[GainzCentral]

Thanks, guys that certainly helps allay my worries. I think I've just been in a hyper-anxious state because I really want a good result. If the grafts that I can see mostly all grow through as planned I will be thrilled with the result.