Second Opinion on Post-op Instructions

[vance7]

I’ve just had my second FUE treatment and all seems to have gone well. I’m just unsure on two of the post-op instructions and would like a second opinion please:

1. No finasteride, minoxidil or ibuprofen/any anti-inflammatories for up to 6 weeks (although all other medication can be resumed).

This one I could understand if it was topical, but I was under the impression that finasteride and minoxidil could help the recovery time. 

2. Avoid cigarettes/e-cigarettes but nicotine patches can be used straight after the surgery.

From my understanding it is the nicotine that is the problem here because it restricts oxygen to the head, so therefore I would have thought that nicotine patches are just as bad as cigarettes? 

[Berba11]

Six weeks without finasteride seems way too long, to be honest. Minoxidil makes more sense to wait for a bit. Don't see why you'd have to wait that long for ibuprofen either to honest. I'd suggest the clinic has simply adopted an overly cautious blanket approach to everything here. Just use common sense would be my approach.

I don't smoke or know enough about nicotine to say, but again I'd just go with common sense. The grafts are fully anchored around the 7 day mark. Give a little grace time just to be safe and I'd have thought 2 weeks-ish post-op wouldn't be any issue at all.

[jjalay]

I dont see why you have to stop taking finasteride. Ibuprofen is also not relevant... You should avoid smoking before surgery to optimize the healing process and also for atleast the first six months after surgery to optimize the growth. The nicotin that comes to your blood with patches is much much smalls as with smoking.

You should avoid topical minoxidil if you have any redness on your skin after surgery.

[hairman4321]

i also don't understand why you'd want to avoid topical minoxidil - it improves blood flow to the area to speed healing, and improve graft survival, no?

i feel like anything that reduces DHT and enhances blood flow would be beneficial as a no-brainer. seems weird to me you've been given this advice. advice from Dr Laorwong was to avoid topicals and hair styling products for 7 days, which is what i will plan to do.
then i plan to use topical minox and topical dutasteride.

Edited November 19, 2023 by hairman4321

[hairman4321]

On 11/18/2023 at 1:23 AM, jjalay said:

 

You should avoid topical minoxidil if you have any redness on your skin after surgery.

why?

[jjalay]

1 hour ago, hairman4321 said:

why?

it will make it worse or even cause cont. dermatitis