2. Hair Transplant Day

The Procedure Day

I attended the hair transplant venue called Plastic and Aesthetic Centre of Union Hospital 0830 on December 10.  Identification procedures were conducted by nurses.   Peter and his colleague Dr LAM Man began their surgical work about 0900.  There was very small amount of pain, about 1 degree in a 0 to 10 scale, at injection of local analgesics.  It showed that local anaesthetic is very useful if the doctor is patient enough to allow a few minutes for it to take effect!  When my friend-doctors removed hair follicles in the morning and later put them back in the afternoon, I could not feel the physical work done, not to say pain or other bad feelings!

Shaving to hair donor site before operation

In operation theatre with whole team including Drs Pang & Lam, nurses and assistants.

Extraction of hair one at a time. Note that I lied in prone position facing the floor.

There was a minor problem, which was difficult to solve but not very serious. The nose got stuffed and I had to open the mouth for breathing about 2 hours after lying on my stomach.  This was not preventable because the positioning was necessary for the doctors to harvest hair follicles.

There was adjustment in positioning to facilitate hair extraction.

Processing of hair follicles by trained staffs.

Hair follicles processed under microscope

Hair follicles aligned together after extraction and before implantation.

Lunch during operation day about 3/4 through hair extraction.

Local anaesthetic EMLA cream applied on forehead

Local anaesthetic injection to stop pain sensation at nerve positions.

Loading hair follicle to implanter

Implantation of hair follicle one at a time

Altogether just fewer than 3000 hair follicles moved home.  Work finished about 1900. Thanks to the whole team of doctors and nurses.

My condition stayed good throughout.

The head felt somewhat stiff with the local analgesics and mild skin oedema, as if I was wearing a helmet.  Peter gave me continuation of antibiotics, steroid to suppress inflammation, mild pain killers for some days, plus Propecia to continue for 6 months.  I was instructed to avoid salty food and to keep my head upright in the subseqent days to avoid triggering swelling of the scalp.

Peter reminded me that some hair will fall off because the follicles go to sleep.   It will take a year to see the final outcome. For now, it is a bit troublesome with rest: Peter asked me to sleep with the head in an elevated position for the next 3 to 5 days!  There was a regieme to keep the recipient site moist regularly (half hourly), schedule to wash hair and inspect sites.

There was a schedule to wash the sites.   Some lotions were given to me before going home.

The Night Afterwards

I had to wet my scalp with salt solution every half an hour.  It sounded like watering for gardening to my own head.  I stayed up very late that night to reduce the time spent in sleeping.  I had to sleep with the head elevated and in manners which prevented the implantation sites rubbing against the pillow or bed.  So my wife propped me up in bed to nearly 40 degrees.  My neck was specially supported with a rolled up Yoga/exercise mat.  A disposable sheet was put between my head and the pillow to avoid staining of bedsheet and pillow-case.  There got to be ways to prevent scratching of my head during sleep!  Again, my wife had an ingenious way to tie my hands loosely just enough to prevent me from sratching the head without waking myself up.  I slept only 4 hours that night, in worry that I may dry up the scalp too much or I may scratch the head accidently despite what my loved one did for prevention.

During sleep, I might scratch the head and remove newly transplanted hair follicles. So I tied my hands to wake me up before I could scratch the head: guess where it was anchored.