My husband has been talking about having a hair transplant. We weren't sure how much downtime he will need?

Hair transplant surgery is an outpatient procedure. You can resume normal activity next day. Unless your work is MMA fighting.  Most people take a few days off work. Most doctors advise no strenuous activity for a few weeks. 

Downtime after a hair transplant varies among individuals. If someone works from home, for example, normal work routines can occur within 24-48 hours. With the newer techniques such as follicular unit extraction, which I perform at my center, post-procedure discomfort is minimal. Also, this procedure leaves no linear scar. I usually recommend 4-7 days prior to returning to work -- there is swelling that occurs in some patients, along with a reddish appearance where the grafts are harvested and where they are implanted. The procedure is typically performed in a procedure room in an office or accredited facility. Rarely is hair transplantation performed in a hospital setting. Good luck!

Thanks for your question. The recovery depends on the type
of procedure and how much hair the patient wants transplanted. I recommend hair
transplant with NeoGraft® for most of my patients. This is a kind of follicular
unit extraction, or FUE, transplant that is aided by a handheld machine, which
removes hair follicles one at a time and then transplants them in another area.
The NeoGraft system takes much less time than a manual FUE transplant, usually
a few hours depending on the area, and it damages the scalp less. This makes
for a quicker recovery. Some of my patients have even returned to work the
following day, but 2 or 3 days off is more common. The procedure could be
performed wherever your surgeon generally does surgery. I recommend that you
and your husband look into NeoGraft and doctors in your area with a great deal
of experience and training with this system. Good luck!

This can take 1-10 days depending on how you need to look for work. No method is the best and no research has backed one over the other. Pubmed's website is the basis of the strongest research in medicine. you can type in your doctors or procedure name and see how much is available by them or on a procedure. The center doesnt matter as much as who is running it i.e doctor/corporation and so forth. Do a lot of research.

The recovery from hair transplant surgery is surprisingly rapid.We have patients resume working in about 5 days. The donor site for a strip graft is well camouflaged with the remaining hair. The recipient site and upper lids can get swollen which is what takes time. FUE extraction is not much different time wise.

hi KarenGenerally, 5-7 days of downtime is sufficient for most individuals but I'll mention a few important points to consider. A hair transplant is performed either in a well equipped office or a surgery center. It is not performed in a hospital operating room the way other surgeries are performed. Depending on the size of the session (how many grafts and how big of any area needs to be covered), it may take 4-12 hours. A hair transplant involves removing hair from the back of the scalp by one of two methods (follicular unit extraction or strip surgery) and the transplanting those hairs into the front of the scalp. Both of these are well accepted methods and both offer advantages and disadvantages so take time understanding both follicular unit extraction and strip surgery. There is no 'best' method. Surgeons around the world use both. It's not only important to consider how the grafts "come out", but also the planning and detail that goes in to how they are put "back in"! This is what will influence what your husband looks like one year down the road. As the area in the "recipient" area (front or top) heals after surgery, there can be some redness, crusting, swelling and minor discomfort. By day 3, most people feel quite good. Any discomfort that was there was is usually gone, and the redness has gone down considerably too. The new little hairs can still be seem. It's possibly for some individuals to have swelling of the forehead between day 2-5 and that may last a few days. By day 7, most people look and feel quite good and for most the only sign of a hair transplant is the appearance of the new little hairs in the front or top. There may be faint redness in the area as well (especially for those with lighter skin types). The new hairs then fall out in 2-4 weeks but leave behind their roots. They reappear about 2 months later and that's when the hairs start growing in. Return to mild physical activity is fine after 7-10 days (but check with the specific surgeon for further recommendations). Heavy lifting and activity and exertion is best avoided for 2 weeks.So to answer your question, 5-7 days is usually about right for most people. If your husband did develop swelling another day or two could be needed for the swelling to go down. If he was quite bald, there could be a faint redness in area of the transplant until the new grafts grow in. This doesn't occur in everyone but is important to be aware.

Hair transplants are usually an office procedure and performed under local anesthesia. There are two types of harvesting techniques (1) strip surgery and (2) FUE surgery. To see the differences read the web reference below. You must get an expert with lots of experience in doing this type of surgery

Thanks for your questions. As a general guideline, we advise our patients to
plan on 3-7 days of downtime after a NeoGraft FUE hair transplant. However, every
patient is different in how quickly they recover and what they are comfortable
with before returning to the public eye. Depending on how many grafts a patient needs, the transplant can usually be performed within 1 or 2 days. We believe NeoGraftNeoGraft, the revolutionary new technology for hair
restoration, gives the best results. It's the least invasive method available with virtually no scarring and minimal downtime. This procedure is normally done in the doctor's surgery centre or office, but more importantly, be sure to choose a reputable facility with an excellent
safety record.

most hair transplants take 4-8 hours to be performed. Most patients resume day to day activities the next day wearing a baseball cap. If you need to meet the public and have long hair that can be combed over the recipient area, you also can resume occupational activities without head covering in one to two days.