3. Transplant Day 1 to 3

First Day after Operation

: Day 1 after operation: Appearance from front-top, mainly recipient site of hair viewable from the front.

: Day 1 after operation: Bird’s eye view from the top, mainly to recipient site

: Day 1 View from behind, mainly donor site. View to donor site possible because it was difficult to wash & dry hair for tidiness very early. So the hair stuck to each other allowing views on the donor site, which was midway up at the back of the head.

My look was still ‘in form’ the next morning. I took pctures to show the front, the top view and the back.

I spent the day working from home. I was advised to refrain from major decision making. I removed my own control about most duties and gave only advice. It was OK a day. I kept watering my scalp with saline every half-hourly.

The evening I slept about midnight, and felt slightly more confident. Again, pillows were stacked up to let me sleep propped up, to nearly 40 degrees, and the neck was supported. And, once more, my hands were tied loosely to prevent me from scratching the head. I woke up between 6 to 7 am.

Day 2 after Operation

View from the front and from behind are shown.

: Day 2 View from the front & above, mainly showing donor site.

: Day 2 view from behind, The donor site was hidden behiind hair which was deliberately allowed to grow long so as to cover the donor site so illustrated.

: Day 2 after operation: view from behind is much better after washing the hair and blowing dry with cool wind, and the donor site is not readily seen.

I took the drugs prescribed and continued to wet the scalp every half hourly. There was no pain. This morning and afternoon there were appointments which I cannot dismiss, so I had to go outside of home. So I warned friends I may meet, that I may be dressed slightly casually, and my hair may look different, so that they may not be scared. I went to the Tsimshatsui DHI Centre to wash my hair and donor site.

Day 3 after Operation

I woke up a bit tired, after several nights of sleep propped up. I can really empathize about heart failure patients now because they have to sleep exactly this way to catch their breath. The front look continued to be OK, while the back looked not so well at first before I could wash my hair scheduled in the hair centre later in the morning. In order to prevent causing undue feelings in colleagues upon close distance observation, I decided to excuse myself from meetings scheduled today. Luckily, colleagues are already extremely experienced and they can look after their own territories themselves.

: Day 3 front-view to show recipient site.

The back (donor site) did not look so well before hair washing, because the hair stuck to one another and could not hide the donor site. This view did give a view to the condition of the donor site.