Aftercare following your hair transplant.

The day of the procedure and your first night

You leave the clinic with a light dressing on the donor area; the grafts themselves stay uncovered. Keep the rest of the day quiet, with no driving and no appointments. Sleep the first night on your back with your upper body raised, ideally with a neck pillow that keeps the back of your head stable and the recipient area untouched. Mild tightness, redness and a little localised swelling are normal in the first days.

The first 72 hours

For the first three days one simple rule applies: no touching, no rubbing, no scratching. Avoid alcohol and blood-thinning painkillers (unless prescribed otherwise) and cut smoking down as far as you can, because nicotine narrows blood vessels and reduces circulation in the scalp. Any forehead swelling tends to travel downwards around day 3 to 4 and settles on its own; cool compresses on the forehead help, but never on the grafts.

Sleeping after a hair transplant

Grafts need around 7 to 10 days to anchor firmly in the tissue. Until then, sleep on your back with your upper body elevated at about 45 degrees, using two pillows or an adjustable bed base. A freshly covered pillow or a clean towel underneath belongs to the first week. If you tend to turn at night, a travel neck pillow prevents rolling onto your side without noticing.

Washing your hair and caring for the crusts

The first wash happens from day 3, exactly as shown in the instructions you receive from us: a mild lotion or foam is dabbed on gently and left for a few minutes, then rinsed with lukewarm water at low pressure; never point the shower jet directly at the recipient area. Dry by patting carefully with a clean towel or kitchen paper, never by rubbing. With this daily routine the crusts clear on their own by day 10 to 14. If you use a hairdryer, keep it cool and at a distance.

Daily activities and work

Office work is usually fine again after 2 to 3 days, physically demanding work after about 2 weeks. For the first two weeks, avoid anything that causes heavy sweating or pressure on the head: tight caps and helmets, heavy lifting, or long periods bent forward with your head down. A loose head covering that does not touch the grafts, such as a wide bucket hat, is possible from around day 5 to 7 once your team gives the go-ahead.

Sport, sauna and sun

Walking is allowed from day one. Light training without heavy sweating returns after about 14 days; intensive strength and endurance sessions and ball sports after roughly 4 weeks. Sauna, steam room, swimming pool and seawater pause for 4 to 6 weeks, because heat, chlorine and salt disturb healing. Keep direct sun off your scalp for the first 4 weeks; after that a loose head covering protects you, and from month 2 a mild sunscreen can take over.

What is normal, and when should you call us?

Normal: redness of the recipient area for several weeks, fine crusts, itching from the second week onwards (a good sign of healing), temporary numbness, and later the shock loss phase, in which the transplanted hairs shed first. Contact us promptly if you notice increasing swelling with heat, weeping or purulent spots, fever, or pain that gets worse. The advantage of treatment in Frankfurt: your check-ups happen in person at our clinic, not over a video call, and your treatment team is reachable the same day.

Supportive treatments after the procedure

From around week 4, a PRP treatment can support healing and later growth; we also use peptide protocols selectively during the growth phase. What makes sense for you is something we decide together at your check-ups, based on how your healing is progressing.