An FUE hair transplant is capable of rejuvenating your appearance if you suffer from hair loss. This is a treatment which recreates hair in areas where it has been lost. In the 8 to 12 months following the procedure, your hair will become thicker, but there are important steps which you need to be aware of after undergoing an FUE hair transplant.
One of the most important precautions to take after an FUE hair transplant is avoiding direct sunlight. Many people can choose to have an FUE hair transplant during the summer months when they have more months for recovery, making sun exposure avoidance all the more pertinent.
In this blog, we explain why avoiding sun exposure is important, and offer some advice on how you can protect hair transplanted skin after the FUE treatment.
Damage to the Skin
Incisions made in any part of the skin become more sensitive to light. They are particularly sensitive to the ultraviolet rays put off by the sun and in tanning beds. Sun exposure could hinder the healing process and result in excess scarring.
Transplanted skin is also unable to protect itself from sun exposure for at least a few months following surgery. Our skin contains cells called chromatophores. These cells are responsible for pigmentation of the skin. When exposed to the sun, the chromatophores darken the skin to protect it from further exposure.
When skin is removed and transplanted, these cells either die off or go dormant. It can take several months for these cells to regenerate in the newly transplanted grafts. In the mean time, this leaves the transplanted skin at greater risk for sun damage.
Avoid The Sun After a Hair Transplant
These are very different from each other, but the common point between these techniques is that you will reach impressive and great-looking hair after a while. However, the surgeon must decide which way to apply based on the patients’ hair characteristics, quality of hair, and quantity of a donor area. After the surgery, you will get perfect results, but it depends on you. You must listen to your doctor’s advice closely. You need to take the right amount of your medicine at the right time, protect your head against impacts and avoid the sun after a hair transplant for quite a while.
According to expert doctors in hair transplant surgeries, you have to protect your scalp from the sun for a minimum of 4-5 months after the operation. Most surgeons recommend wearing a hat that covers full of your transplant area during the 4-5 months when you go out. Besides, you should avoid using sunscreen until your incisions in the head make a full recovery. When you see a full recovery, you should use a hat or sunscreen with at least 30 SPF for a few more months. It will increase your chances of hair restoration success.
Sun Exposure Could Jeopardize the Follicles
FUE hair transplants may look like they only involve the surface of your scalp. After all, nothing gets cut out from the skin, and the only “trauma” is a series of tiny pinpricks in your donor and recipient areas that scab over within under a week. Avoiding a surgical incision and linear scar was most likely the main reason you chose a follicular unit extraction procedure like NeoGraft in the first place.
And yet, several layers of the skin are affected. The surface layer or epidermis heals relatively fast, but it can take much longer for the deeper tissues to fully heal. If the scalp experiences any sun damage during this time, the underlying tissue bearing the not yet healed follicles could be damaged as well. And this could negatively affect how well those follicles “take” to their new surroundings, which of course is a key success factor.
When can you go in the sun after hair transplant?
In sensitive scalp, this condition is more important, darkens the scalp and then leaves a trace of redness. It also delays wound healing. After the operation, the healing process should be fast and the formed shells should not be exposed to direct sunlight for 1-2 months. At the same time, bath, pool, sea, sauna, sea, such as hair roots, skin damage and direct damage to the bottom of the hair should be protected from warm environments. If possible, it is usually necessary to stay in the shade, a hat should be used, although it rarely goes out under the sun, but care should be taken not to tighten the scalp of the hat, it should be allowed to breathe. Oxygen accelerates the process of wound healing in the scalp. Sun rays are beneficial as well as harmful.
Excessive sun exposure can cause thickening of the scalp, weakening of the immune system, and many similar diseases, such as skin thinning. Grafts are taken from the Donor area by surgical methods, while slits that are opened in the recipient area are also created by surgical methods. After hair transplant, the process of wound healing begins.
