Post op swelling

[ScottishGuy]

I'm at five days post-op now, but I still have quite a lot of swelling.

 

Since day 2 the swelling has improved at the sides of my head, but the area around my eyes is more swollen than it's been before.

 

I was told swelling would be completely gone by day 5. I probably didn't maintain the 45 degree sleeping angle as much as I should have... (I admit that I slept in a normal position last night, one day sooner than is advised).

 

I'm wondering what experience other people had, i.e. how long it took for swelling to subside? I'm really hoping it will be gone by day 7 post op since I want/need to go outside again!

[ScottishGuy]

I'm at five days post-op now, but I still have quite a lot of swelling.

 

Since day 2 the swelling has improved at the sides of my head, but the area around my eyes is more swollen than it's been before.

 

I was told swelling would be completely gone by day 5. I probably didn't maintain the 45 degree sleeping angle as much as I should have... (I admit that I slept in a normal position last night, one day sooner than is advised).

 

I'm wondering what experience other people had, i.e. how long it took for swelling to subside? I'm really hoping it will be gone by day 7 post op since I want/need to go outside again!

[Forrest Gump]

I had my surgery on a Monday, and my swelling was gone by Saturday morning (I did maintain the 45% sleeping angle). I am guessing your swelling will be gone within 7 days or so.

[phxind]

Scottishguy, as far as I can tell - I was doing fine until I was sleeping at an angle and one day I slept normal and ended up with slight swelling over the eyes. I found it useful to gently massage the swelling over to the sides and sleep at an angle. The swelling is because of saline injected into the scalp during the surgery and it will move down the body due to gravity. So try and remain upright as much as possible to aid this process.

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

I do agree, now that you are at day 5 the swelling will likely be gone in another 2-3 days. In a recent large study by Dr. Hwang he showed that staying in an inclined position after hair transplant surgery increased the incidence of post operative swelling. If you think about it this actually makes sense. If a patient is susceptible to swelling, develops fluid accumulation in the transplanted area after surgery, and remains upright, gravity will make all the fluid pool in the forehead and slowly work its way south. On the other hand, if the same patient sleeps at a normal sleep angle the fluids will spread out over the entire scalp with only a small amount settling in the forehead area.

[Take a chance]

I don't understand why more HT docs dont use the head band. I wore the head band for about 7 days post op and had no swelling what so ever.

Worked a treat. Is there any reason why more docs are not using the head band?

[Forrest Gump]

A doctor can give a technical reason, but common sense would dictate that wearing a (tight) headband might restrict flow of blood to the scalp area which can be detrimental to the nurturing and growth of the newly transplanted grafts.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

I had a fellow in June, who got 2500 to his front. He neglected to remove his headband the next morning but stopped by on day 3. His face looked great, but his recipient area was really swolen. So we took off the wrap and he did fine, but at day 7, at suture removal, his face looked like day 3. So I think wearing the wrap just delayed the inevitable swelling decent.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA