7 Tips to Reduce Swelling After Hair Transplant
Despite the fact that hair restoration is considered minimally invasive, it is still a surgical procedure and can result in swelling regardless if surgery is carried out smoothly or not. Getting the maximum results out of your hair transplant is as simple as following these 7 tips to reduce swelling after hair transplant.
Tip #1 | Keep Your Head Elevated
One of the first tips to reduce swelling after hair transplant is to keep your head elevated as much as possible. When the time comes to sleep, you should try to sleep in an elevated position and avoid sleeping on your stomach. Add a few pillows under your head to ensure you follow this first of seven tips to reduce swelling after hair transplant. If you own a recliner, this would be the best place to sleep for at least the first week.
Tip #2 | Stay Hydrated
It’s important to try and follow a few tips to reduce swelling after hair transplant, which brings us to tip #2, staying hydrated! Drinking water is extremely important and has many health benefits. Consuming water will help cleanse out the liquid that was injected during your hair transplant procedure. Fluids are cleared from the lymphatic system more efficiently when they are flushed with water. Along with this, when staying hydrated and drinking at least 2-3 litres of water a day can ensure swelling goes faster than if you were to not drink any water.
Tip #3 | Massage Your Forehead
As silly as this third of our seven tips to reduce swelling after hair transplant sounds, it’s extremely helpful. You should sweep a gentle motion from the centre of your forehead to the side in order to push fluid under your skin. When doing so, it is important to avoid touching your recipient area and try not to pull your skin.
Tip #4 | Take Your Medicine
After your hair transplant, your doctor might prescribe you some anti-inflammatory medicine with instructions on how you should take them. Ensure you follow your doctor’s instructions to ensure optimal results and to help reduce swelling. Along with taking the medication your doctor prescribed, ensure that you avoid blood thinning medications such as aspirin or ibuprofen for at least a week as these are known to increase swelling.
Some doctors might inject you with a very low dose of steroids to assist with reducing swelling on your forehead. Corticosteroids is a commonly given steroid that will help you reduce swelling.
Tip #5 | Get Enough Rest & Avoid Exercise
We all know you might have your daily routine, and this could include your daily exercise routine. However, if you’re looking to follow tips to reduce swelling after hair transplant, then for at least 3-4 days you should try to get enough rest and avoid exercising vigorously. This can not only lead to swelling, but it results in you sweating which could lead to you getting an infection and affect the healing process.
After 4 days, you will be able to do some light to regular activities. If you push yourself to exercise vigorously, then the swelling can get so bad that it leads to bursting which in turn can form blood clots.
Tip #6 | Bring on the Ice Pack
Apply an ice pack around your eyes and forehead for around 10 minutes to help reduce swelling. This helps by constricting your blood vessels where the ice pack is placed, which in turn reduces puffiness and swelling. When going through the various tips to reduce swelling after hair transplant, then it’s important to understand that too much cold compression can inhibit the creation of your new hair follicles so you should apply the ice cautiously and don’t place it directly on your scalp.
Tip #7 | Eat Some Pineapple
Now, from all of the mentioned tips to reduce swelling after hair transplant, this surely does sound the strangest. However, pineapple is known to contain natural, anti-inflammatory properties. So why not have some fresh pineapple for breakfast, or perhaps a snack at lunch.
Why Do We Swell After Hair Transplant?
Now that you’ve read through our 7 tips to reduce swelling after hair transplant, you may be wondering what the reason is for swelling in the first place. As you may know, swelling is caused by inflammation or fluid retention in your body.
After your hair transplant, you may first experience swelling around your eyes and forehead. Anaesthesia and adrenaline are injected into the scalp to stop pain and bleeding. Additionally, it also creates a space between your scalp and skull muscles so that hair follicles can be easily removed from the donor area, which can result in your experiencing swelling.
Regardless, this is completely normal and should only last for a few days. It may cause discomfort or result in infection. The best thing for you to do is follow your doctor’s hair transplant aftercare regime and try some, if not all, of the tips we’ve mentioned to reduce swelling.
Final Thoughts on These Tips to Reduce Swelling
By following these few tips to help reduce swelling, the swelling should be gone after a maximum of a week. After your hair transplant surgery, your doctor or surgeon will also go over what your aftercare should be along with what you should do to assist with swelling.
If you find yourself still experiencing swelling, even after trying all of these tips to reduce swelling after hair transplant, then you should consult with your doctor to get a medical opinion on why you’re still experiencing swelling.
