What is the possibility that sleeping on the recipient site the first night after hair transplant dislodged my hair?

Question

I had hair transplant to fix my strip scar. I slept between two big duffel bags to make sure I slept on my side the whole night. Unfortunately, one bag was not heavy enough and moved. I ended up sleep on my back. What is the chance that I dislodged my hair?

Jae Pak, MD · Answer

There is no way to tell if you dislodged your grafts based on how you slept.  If you are concerned see your doctor for a recheck.

Parsa Mohebi, MD, FISHRS · Answer

This is always a possibility and that is why we always send our patients home with a neck pillow.  The neck pillow that is part of the patients post op care package helps them to keep their head more elevated and avoid them to touch or sleep on the transplanted area. This risk is higher when we do hair transplant on the temporal poitns on both sides of head, crown area or into the donor scar of previous hair transplant.  We alway discuss sleeping techniques such as semi sitting position and the proper use of the pillow with all patients before they leave as part of their hair transplant post op care education.

Jose Rodríguez-Feliz, MD · Answer

Thank you for posting your question. Possible, but in reality it is harder than what you may think to dislodge the newly translated hair follicles. The first 48hrs are critical and we always recommend to avoid any pressure on the area other than a mist of water every 2 hrs to help with itching and decrease the scab that tend to form around the grafts. If the grafts were to be dislodged, bleeding or spotting on the pillow would have been noticeable. Hope this was helpful. Good luck!

Steven E. Brown, MD · Answer

The repair of a donor scar is difficult at best. Graft loss due to position is always a concern. The only way to tell if you lost grafts in the past 24 hours is to look at the transplanted areas in question to see if the grafts are still present. The larger concern is long term graft survival as it will be significantly less in scar tissue vs normal tissue. ThanksSteven Brown, MD

Jeff Donovan, MD, PhD · Answer

It is no possible to say with 100 % certainty. Certainly pressure is not ideal for grafts post op. Review your situation with your surgeon so he or she can take a look at the grafts. If a graft was dislodged it would likely bleed. However, even without bleeding, excessive pressure can still damage grafts.

Carl A. Powell, DO, FACS, FAACS- Account Suspended · Answer

The transplanted hair is only held in place by a tiny clot.  The critical period is the first 3-4 days.  I worry about laying the transplanted scalp (recipient area) against any thing that might stick to the grafts in the first 3-4 days possibly pulling some of the newly planted grafts out.  I also worry about increasing blood pressure to tightening the scalp muscles possibly "popping" out grafts during the first 3-4 days.  My number one rule is "don't touch the grafts" in the first 3-4 days.  I have actually tugged on newly transplanted grafts 5-7 days after transplants the the grafts held strong so once the tiny clot has dried, the grafts are held in the scalp pretty well.  I have had patients hit the grafted scalp on the door frame getting into a car or other places and pop grafts 5 days out and pop grafts so it is possible to lose grafts by laying on the recipient sites, allowing the grafts to stick to what they're touching and pulling them out when to pull your scalp away from whatever the recipient scalp is touching.

William Rassman, MD (retired) · Answer

Grafts don't come out easily. If you dislodged them, there would be bleeding evident in the morning as the graft area where the grafts that came out would bleed.

What is the possibility that sleeping on the recipient site the first night after hair transplant dislodged my hair?

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