Question:
I am trying to schedule a hair transplant during my vacation time toward the end of the year and I was wondering how long after the hair transplant do I have to wait to go out in the sun without my head being covered? Would it be more than two weeks?
Answer:
I get this question several times a week. Probably because I live and practice medicine in Florida. In the past I have always told patients not to allow any direct sun exposure to the scalp until they can look in the mirror and not see any redness or discoloration from the procedure. Any time you expose already abnormally pigmented skin to direct sunlight you taking a risk that permanent changes will occur. Meaning there is a chance that there could be some degree of permanent redness. However, I now suggest to patients that they wait an additional 1-2 months to insure that the pigment of the skin immediately surrounding the newly grafted tissue will respond in a similar fashion to the adjacent tissue.
Posted by Jeffrey S. Epstein, MD, FACS
