It is of utmost importance that a patient understands the risks before having a surgical procedure done. Experienced surgeons understand that patient care is the top priority for any physician’s office. A hair transplant is when hair grafts are removed from one section on the patient of the body so they can be placed into the thinning or balding areas of the scalp. In general, hair transplants are considered to be safe procedures even though all surgical procedures have some level of risk. One complication that can occur after a hair transplant is an infection happening in the area where the hair grafts were placed, or removed by the doctor. Read below to learn how to recognize an infection after hair restoration surgery.
While it is rare for an infection to happen after a hair transplant, it can occur when microbes enter open wounds that are present at the site of the hair transplant or the area where the hair grafts were removed. This can happen during the surgery as well as during the healing process after the procedure.
As a leading hair transplant doctor, explains, scalp infections do not happen often, but they can occur anywhere from three to seven days after the surgery. Some of the symptoms of a post-hair transplant infection include:
- Itchiness
- Burning
- Oozing Pus
- Pain
- Warmth in the Area on the Scalp or in the Donor Area
An infection in either area can also lead to fever, swollen lymph nodes, vomiting, nausea and a headache. Even though some bleeding and swelling is normal after hair restoration, there might be an infection if the condition lasts for more than a week.
The appearance of scabbing and crusting on the wounds is normal but an excessive amount of crust formation can cause a person to start scratching their scalp. The action of scratching the scalp can dislodge the scabs as well as transmit bacteria from the fingers into the wounds.
Patients that develop an infection are at an elevated risk of developing scars that can be seen by others and also lead to a patchy regrowth of hair on the scalp. An infection also has the possibility of spreading to deeper tissues in the body if it is not treated once it is identified as being an issue. In rare cases, this can lead to the infection spreading into the bloodstream (which is known as septicemia). In turn, the infection in the bloodstream can lead to a condition called sepsis which is when the immune system releases inflammatory molecules throughout the body that might result in organ failure.
Patients that develop an infection need to contact their surgeon in order to develop a treatment plan such as antibiotics or antibacterial shampoos to use on the infected area. You also may need other assistance to help you determine legal and financial options.
