Sun Exposure after Hair Transplant

[35YrsAfter]

Sharon A. Keene, MD has written a series of articles in Hair Transplant International Forum magazine related to hair loss studies in identical twins. In one of her articles, Dr. Keene recognized the three major non-genetic contributors to hair loss as, smoking cigarettes, sun exposure and stress.

I always cover my head when out in the sun for any extended length of time. The most comfortable hats in my opinion offering sun protection are bandanas.

Killer Creek Harley, about a mile from Dr. Cole's office has some great looking hats and bandannas. They can generally be worn a couple days after FUE hair transplant surgery. That's my style opinion though. I have suggested this style of head cover to patients who tell me it's not their style at all. Here is the link.

-35YrsAfter works at Dr. Cole's office
www.forhair.com

[ray1]

This is very informative.

I am planning on a procedure this coming may as i am a student and have all the summer off, so was hoping to have a procedure done then travel for a few months either the US or Europe depending on where i have my procedure!

Is this option not viable now

This has been a great thread however my HT and travel plan has been put of by this

Regards

[gillenator]

What type of glass are you talking about?

[35YrsAfter]

I doubt you have a thing to worry about. Glass filters out a good bit of UV - but not all. Conventional glass is almost totally opaque to UVB and C. However, it partially allows UVA to pass through. UVB and C are the light wavelengths to be concerned about. I'm fair skinned and have had several bad sunburns throughout my life. I am older and have paid the price. Sun damage will show up later in life. When your skin is actually burned, you will know it. Bad sunburns in fair-skinned people can lead to Actinic Keratosis and often skin cancer. I had to use 5-fluorouracil on several areas of Actinic Keratosis over the years. It does a great job of getting rid of the scaly red patches, but it makes a mess of your skin during the treatment phase.

I credit my wife for steering our family toward healthy eating. She removed from the menu, trans fat as well as foods containing GMO. We cook in high quality olive oil, eat grass fed beef not shot up with chemicals and we avoid non-organic produce like the plague. It's literally amazing the difference in health my fimily has enjoyed since making these changes.

Studies show that those who have Actinic Keratosis can dramatically help the lesions by switching to a low fat diet.

-35YrsAfter isan employee of Dr. Cole's office

[gillenator]

It sounds like sympathetic shockloss is occuring especially being 17 days post-op. This is perfectly normal and I would not worry about it.

Had you stated that there was a definite sunburn as a result of the filtered UV rays, that would be different altogethor. Yet I did not read of any red burn nor inflamation or burn blisters of any kind. There is a fair amount of pain and acute tenderness associated with sunburn when the tissue is damaged.

It would be helpful to visibly see your scalp right now however trust me, you would know if your scalp was sunburned but it clearly does not sound that was the case. If you would have been outside say on a deck with your scalp exposed to "direct" UV rays, then you probably would have experienced a burn but thank goodness for those curtains and the fact that you were not "directly exposed" to the potentially harmful rays.

Now it never hurts to contact your surgeon, but my guess is that your doctor will concur with the opinion that you did not sustain a sunburn and that your grafts should be fine.

In approximately another 12 weeks, maybe earlier, you should begin to see the new growth. Wishing you the best my friend!

[gallovolador]

Dear Sirs,

I am extremely worried about what happened to me today. Itīs my second FUE procedure and I am in my 17th day post op.
Today I fell sleep at the worst time of a sunny day for about an hour in my living room coach just behind a big window with my scalp in front of this window, there is also some white curtains blocking partially the light and I thought I was safe because of these white curtains.
What triggers all my concerns is that tonight after my evening shower I saw a massive shedding, more than 100 hairs and before this event the transplanted hair was not falling -only few hairs per shower after my tenth day.

I was reading about UV protection factor of clothes and I saw that white colour protection factor is much lower than dark colours, between other factors. After my reading I consider my white curtain as a weak UV protector and I guess a good % of UV radiation through that window was hitting my scalp for an hour.

I do not have any sign of sunburn or white dots around new grafts as described here by some of the Drs. But I am afraid that the initiation of the shedding just after this could be more than a coincidence.

Any feedback would be much appreciated while I wait for the results of my last HT to come.

Many thanks for all the valuable info in this forum!.

[gillenator]

You're welcome dandy, just give it more time, you'll see.

[dandy]

Thanks Gillenator

I really hope that you are right because otherwise i can forget short haircuts for the rest of my life.

[gillenator]

Dandy,

It does not sound like you experienced a sun burn thank goodness.

Everything will resume normal coloration in several weeks, possibly several months.

You'll be fine!

[dandy]

I just returned from my vacation and managed to get my scalp pink again despite applying LOADS of spf 50 sunscreen. I had a second transplant session in mid May and avoided the sun completely 2 1/2 months until my vacation in August.

I even buzzed my head to make it easier to apply the sunscreen but maybe that was a big mistake because obviously the sunscreen did not help to protect the scalp from getting a tan because the sun was very strong.

I never burned the scalp because i felt no pain or experienced any acute redness but as the days went by the pinkness became obvious as even other people noticed it.

Now its a little better but still has a dark tint to it which makes it quite visible despite that the hair has grown longer and i hope that someone can tell me if there is a risk for permanent discoloration or if there is something i can do to reduce the pink color somehow?

I should have waited another month or so but i was desperate for some sun after eight months of avoiding the sun like a vampire

[gillenator]

Over exposure to ultra-violet rays is bad for anyone irrespective of the country one lives in.

[gillenator]

But at 5 1/2 months post-op, the regrowth is just kicking in from your first procedure.

[dandy]

Well, its nice to see that this thread is still active because i just had another FUE session and feel that there is a lot of research to be done concerning the effects of sun exposure and hair transplants.

I started getting growth after 3 months since my first session in December and the hair just thickened for every month but the yield was not very good so i decided to increase the density after only 5 1/2 months. The problem is i cant be sure if its the procedure itself or the sunburns i got earlier that are the reason for the poor yield so this time around i wont take any chances at all.

Im also worried about the chemicals in the sunblock but then again its either that or wear a silly hat or cap for months.

[gillenator]

Dergol,

What I am saying is that using both (cap & sunblock) is the best ultimate protection that one can possibly utilize, especially throughout the regrowth period. I am not saying that you "must" do both.

Many doctors concur that a cap in "direct sunlight" is sufficient enough to block out the harmful rays when outdoors in direct sunlight for prolonged periods. Others advocate sunblock/sunscreen. Opinions vary.

I favor the cap because then one does not have to keep applying the sunscreen. It's easy to apply it and then forget about it later. I especially see this with golfers, swimmers, etc. And yes IMHO I think the cap is sufficient to block out the harmful effects.

Hope that adds some clarification for you!

[dergol]

IMHO, as long as you wear the cap when in direct sunlight, you'll be fine...It is more beneficial for us to cover our scalps with sunblock. That's really where you can make the difference in protecting the tissue and the grafts...I personally recommend utilizing both whenever in direct sunlight especially in the summer months when the UVs are especially high.

So Gillenator, I'm a bit confused by your reply. Are you saying that a hat by itself is ALONE sufficient to protect from the sun, or that you need sunblock in addition?

I've never heard that both were necessary; rather that a hat alone was sufficient and that sunblock was necessary if the hat were left off. Problem with sunblock is that you don't really know if you're using enough and if you're replenishing it often enough.

Addionally, I've generally stayed away from sunblock as I fear clogging up my pores or damaging the grafts in any way by adding foreign substances to the scalp, at least for the first 6-9 months. I've even stopped using styling gels for this reason. Just to play it safe. Though, I could really use them as my hair is quite wavy and I tend to grow it out.