Undergoing a hair transplant is a significant, often life-changing step, so you’ll naturally want to maximise the chances of its success. To do this effectively, you will need to avoid drinking alcohol before and after your surgery.
Drinking alcohol either before or after hair transplant has similar consequences as smoking cigarettes.
If patients continue to drink alcohol, they could be risking the chances of having a successful hair transplant. They could also disrupt the healing process which leads to unwanted infections.
How Alcohol Affects the Healing Process
After undergoing any sort of surgical procedure, patients are told to avoid drinking alcoholic beverages. This is because alcohol will slow down the healing process and weaken the immune system. Adding an extra day or a handful of days to the recovery process may not seem bad, but slower healing times makes a number of post-op complications far more likely.
Why can’t you drink alcohol before a hair transplant?
Because alcohol has a blood-thinning ingredients, it should be left at least 1 week before the hair transplant operation. Otherwise, the difficulty of clotting in a possible bleeding complication that is likely to occur during the operation will have a major impact on the success of the operation in the opposite direction.
Drinking Alcohol Before The Procedure
Alcohol could have disastrous effects and could affect your surgical procedure by quite a considerable margin. You should abstain from alcohol at least a week before your surgery, and even more, depending on the procedure.
In the case of an FUE surgery, the rule still stands. To get a better estimate, you should inquire with your hair transplant specialist. Abstinence from alcohol leading up to the surgery ensures a quick recovery and minimal complications during the procedure.
The issues that alcohol consumption before the surgery could bring are:
- Inflammation
- Swelling
- Hemorrhaging
- Dehydration
- Increased pain
Alcohol dehydrates your body and thins out your blood, making you more susceptible to these issues. That could also offset the recovery period, making it longer.
Can I Drink Alcohol After a Hair Transplant?
It is not recommend that you drink alcohol after a hair transplant. Drinking alcohol can jeopardise the success of the treatment, as it increases the risk of developing complications during and after surgery. It can also threaten the survival of the implanted hair grafts. For these reasons, patients are advised to avoid consuming alcohol for a period of time before and after a hair transplant.
How Does Alcohol Affect Surgical Recovery?
All of the pre- and post-up care instructions that we provide our patients are intended to maximize the chance of a successful hair transplant treatment and a smooth recovery. It may not be a lot of fun to avoid alcohol following FUE hair transplant surgery, but it can be greatly beneficial in reducing the risk of surgical complications.
Alcohol is known to thin the blood. If the blood is thin, patients are more likely to bleed during the procedure and the recovery period. Excessive bleeding can actually interfere with the transplant procedure and compromise the overall success of treatment.
If a patient continues to experience bleeding after the hair transplant procedure, the recovery will be lengthier as well. Unfortunately, a prolonged recovery can increase the risk of post-surgical complications, including infection.
Patients can reduce the risk of excessive bleeding and other complications by refraining from consuming before and after their FUE transplant.
How long After a Hair Transplant can I Drink Alcohol?
To give the new hair grafts the best chance of success and to improve the likelihood of a fast and trouble-free recovery, it’s best to avoid alcohol for 10 days after a hair transplant. If you choose to drink alcohol before this, we suggest that it’s restricted to very limited amounts.
While alcohol isn’t recommended after a hair transplant, it’s important to stay hydrated. Drinking plenty of water during the recovery period helps to promote healing in the transplanted area and encourages optimum growth of the hair grafts. Other non-alcoholic beverages such as tea, fruit juice and squash can also help you to maintain healthy levels of hydration following your surgery.
