Can I take Aspirin Before My Hair Transplant?

  Many people take aspirin as a general health-promoting measure (to reduce risk of heart attack and stroke) and in this case I generally recommend that it be discontinued 10 days prior to hair transplantation.  However, if you require it (for example, if you have an irregular heartbeat or if your medical doctor has recommended that you need to continue to take it), then hair transplantation can still be undertaken but certain accommodations may need to be made.  Use of additional tumescent saline solution can be helpful to reduce potential bleeding, and we may need to scale back the number of grafts transplanted.

Doctors do not want you to take aspirin before any surgery because there is a bleeding risk.  Some doctors will make an exception but the bleeding risk is still there.

Aspirin affects platelets, and will typically cause more bleeding during even minor surgical procedures.  This is  especially important in hair transplant procedures because extra or excessive bleeding can affect the overall survival of your grafts.Your primary care doctor or cardiologist will always have the best advice regarding aspirin and whether or not you can discontinue it for ten or so days.  While we would always love to have you as a patient, most hair restoration surgeons, myself included, aren't willing to take the risk of harming your heart or other vital organs in order to perform a hair transplant surgery, unless your primary doc or specialist agrees that it is okay for you to discontinue aspirin.

We advise to avoid blood thinning medications like aspirin for 2 weeks prior to your procedure. However, such medications should not be discontinued without approval of the primary care physician or sometimes cardiologist if they are for a serious underlying condition. Consult with your chosen hair transplant physician for further advice.

Aspirin irreversibly inhibits the function of platelets (key blood constituents that help stop bleeding) for up to 10 days. We therefore recommend that all patients who are able to stop aspirin stop aspirin 10-14 days before surgery.  The use of aspirin can increase the chance of bleeding during surgery. It's important to check with your doctor if you can stop aspirin. Some patients with heart disease, previous heart attacks, strokes may not be able to stop aspirin. But for those that take aspirin on an 'elective' or as needed basis - we recommend stopping at least 10 days before.

You can take an occasional aspirin anytime before or after a hair transplant, but because of its anti-clotting characteristics, generally if you have a headache, I recommend Tylenol instead. I have occasionally done surgery on people who were prescribed Aspirin, but generally I ask them to stop it at least 10 days before the surgery.

As part of the pre op instructions, we tell,our clients to stop taking aspirin or aspirin products one week before the procedure as aspirin may increase bleeding during the procedure.