Swelling After a Hair Transplant

I had really bad swelling three days after my hair transplant. My right eye closed completely. Is this usual?

The swelling we see three days after a hair transplant is dependent swelling, working its way down from the scalp to the face. Clearly it takes time to work its way down.

The other day, a patient called me on the evening of the third day telling me that one ear was an inch away from his head, had shifted in position and was pointing downward. I told him that I did that intentionally so that he would be able to hear ground termites in his older house. I’m joking! Actually, I found out that he slept on the side where his ear had the problem. I blessed him, told him to take two aspirin and it would be better in the morning. Indeed, by morning his ear was fine. Dependent edema!

A few years ago, we did a study on the use of steroids, with small, medium and large dosages used. As the dose went up, the swelling came down both in frequency of occurrence as well as the amount of swelling seen. At the dose we use today (40mgs prednisone daily starting the morning of the surgery and going out 4 days) swelling is rare and significant swelling is even rarer. It was so obvious, the study was stopped and the higher dose became our routine.