POST-OPERATIVE INSTRUCTIONS FOR EYEBROW TRANSPLANT
AFTER YOUR PROCEDURE
Medications – Take as prescribed and provided by the office.
For pain:
1. If you have no liver or kidney abnormalities, you can take two Tylenol for any mild discomfort. If you have mild-moderate discomfort, you can take two Tylenol + one tablet of 600MG Ibuprofen.
2. Aquaphor Ointment – gently apply Aquaphor ointment to the donor area once daily for 7 days. After 8 POST-OP DAYS HAVE PASSED, Apply ointment to eyebrows once daily for 5 days.
Following leaving our office, remember to sleep on back with 2 pillows under neck and shoulders or with airplane pillow at incline for 2 days and put old towel over the pillows.
Caring for the transplants
DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EYEBROWS FOR 8 DAYS DO NOT WASH YOUR EYEBROWS FOR THE FIRST 8 POSTOP DAYS.
For the first 8 days you can wash your face very gently with soap and water if desired (AVOIDING THE EYEBROWS). After the 8th day, normal face washing, showering, and mild exercise is permitted. You may wash the eyebrows gently in a circular/dabbing motion with soap and water. Normal hair shampooing is permitted the day after your procedure.
There will be tiny crusts where each graft was placed which will fall off at 5-7 days after washing begins. Gently rub off any remaining crusts at 8 days – if there is any discomfort or bleeding, stop and begin to rub again 2 days later. There will also likely be a mild amount of pinkness to the area for days to weeks after the crusts fall off.
Most of the transplanted hairs will fall off over the following 2 weeks. This is normal, as the hairs will start to grow back 2 to 3 months later. Once the hairs start to grow back, you will need to trim them once or twice monthly, and occasionally apply some hair gel to “train” some of the hairs to grow flat to the forehead in the ideal direction.
For most patients, at 4 or 5 days they are presentable without any obvious signs of having had a procedure other than they will have new hairs, and possibly some mild flaking.
Avoid excessive sun exposure for the first week after your procedure.
When the new hairs begin growing in, you may purchase an ace wrap and small gauze pads, and in the evening time gently place the gauze pads on the eyebrows (they must not have any adhesive on them) and wrap the ace wrap around your head to keep the gauze pads on. This will cause mechanical force to flatten the eyebrow hair, thus causing the hair to grow in flatter. You may continue this for 8-12 weeks. Do not wrap it too tightly, just tight enough to cause gently downward pressure on the grafts. At this point, you may consider using an Eyebrow Styling Gel to help train them.
Some of our patients have used/recommended the following products: Rock Hard Oribe Gel or Model in a Bottle Eyebrow Sealer. DO NOT USE ANY EYEBROW GEL PRODUCTS UNTIL AFTER 3 FULL MONTHS HAVE PASSED FROM YOUR PROCEDURE.
NEVER use chemical or laser treatments around any part of the eyebrow area!
What to Expect
Some bruising and swelling around eyes and numbness above the small suture line in the scalp is normal. It will take several weeks, occasionally several months, for numbness to completely resolve. You may have your hair cut as soon as the sutures have been removed. Hair coloring is permitted 3 weeks after your procedure. As the transplanted hairs are from the scalp, they will need to be trimmed typically once a month or as needed.