Q: I am considering a hair transplant and would like to have the procedure and not be overly obvious about it. What are my options in hiding or concealing any redness after a week or so after the hair restoration.

A: There are a number of factors that can make a hair transplant obvious in the post-op period. These include the redness that you are asking about, but also crusting and swelling.

Redness after hair restoration surgery is easily camouflaged with ordinary make-up. At one week post-op, the grafts are pretty secure, so that make-up can be applied and then gently washed off at the end of the day. Since the recipient wounds are well healed by one week, using make-up does not increase the risk of infection. At 10 days after the hair transplant, the grafts are permanent and can not be dislodged, therefore, at this time the makeup can be removed without any special precautions.

Usually, residual crusting (scabbing) presents more of a cosmetic problem than redness, but can be minimized with meticulous post-op care. Crusts form when the blood or serum that oozes from recipients sites after the procedure dries on the scalp. Although it is relatively easy to prevent scabs from forming with frequent washing of the scalp after the surgery, once the scabs harden they are difficult to remove without dislodging the grafts.

Q: If a person is graying on the top and sides and you do a hair transplant from the back, will the top look darker after the hair restoration?

A: The hair is taken from the back and sides of the scalp and the follicular units, once dissected from the donor strip, are randomly inserted into the recipient area. That way, the color of the harvested hair will be mixed and will match perfectly. Usually, people’s hair is lighter on the top because of the sun, so when you move the hair from the back and sides to the top, it will actually lighten to match the surrounding hair, if it didn’t match already.

Q: How are grafts distributed in a hair transplant? Are they distributed evenly?

A: Actually, we don’t make the transplanted hair evenly distributed. It is usually front weighted, so that the hair restoration will look most full when looking at the person head on. Framing the face is the most important part of the restoration. Covering the top is the next most important region and, if the patient has enough donor supply, then hair can be added to the crown.