Yes, Smoking hurts hair transplant results badly by affecting blood circulation. Poor blood circulation prevents hair follicles from receiving sufficient oxygen and nutrition; if the newly implanted hair follicles don’t receive enough oxygen, they won’t survive.
Hair transplant surgeons do not recommend smoking cigarettes before and after hair transplant surgery because carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke decreases blood’s ability to deliver enough oxygen to the targeted region. Thus, it is recommended to stop smoking at least a week before and two weeks after the hair transplant surgery.
In this article, we will discuss why smoking is not recommended before and after the hair transplant and how it affects your surgical outcome.
Keep reading to build self-awareness before choosing a hair transplant. Let’s dive in.
How Does Smoking Affect Hair Transplant Surgery Outcome?
Nicotine in Tobacco can affect our health in multiple ways.
- Nicotine negatively affects our blood circulation, respiratory system, immune system, and reproductive health. It also increases cholesterol levels in the blood.
- Nicotine in tobacco constricts our blood vessels and triggers plaque formation in arteries and blood vessels. These constricted blood vessels and arteries with plaques fail to deliver oxygen to all internal organs.
- As Nicotine affects blood circulation, It doesn’t allow anesthetic medicine to pass through the body properly while surgical procedures, which causes complications in surgery.
- Nicotine in cigarettes can increase the thickness of the blood, which may cause abnormal blood clotting. For major and minor surgeries, abnormal blood clotting is risky and may cause serious health issues.
Can A Patient Smoke Before Hair Transplant Surgery?
Not at all. Smoking before hair transplant surgery is not recommended. However, you must quit smoking at least one week before undergoing a hair transplant for the following reasons:
- Smoking slows down the healing procedure: Smoking adversely affects the grafts and slows down the healing procedure. Thus, a non-smoker’s scalp heals faster than a smoker’s scalp.
- Smoking may increase bleeding: Stop smoking before surgery to minimize bleeding during the procedure. Though hair transplant surgery has become minimally invasive, the chance of bleeding may increase due to smoking.
- Smoking may increase complications: You must stop smoking at least one week before surgery for better results without complications. Experts suggest that the patient’s donor site and transplant area heal faster if they stop smoking 15 days before surgery. It also increases the overall success rate dramatically.
Smoking After Hair Transplant Surgery Is Also Not Recommended
Two weeks following the hair transplant surgery are the most crucial time. Thus, surgeons do not recommend smoking after a hair transplant for at least 15 days.
Check all reasons behind it.
- Smoking reduces blood flow to the Scalp: Smoking after a hair transplant is not recommended because the nicotine will constrict your blood vessels and slow down wound healing. New hair follicles need adequate nutrients to heal and grow, but they will eventually damage if they don’t get enough oxygen. In addition, lack of oxygen may cause permanent damage to the grafts, which will profoundly impact the overall surgical outcome.
- Procrastinates the healing process: Smoking leads to poor blood supply to the scalp and increases the risk of infection because it slows wound healing. When surgical wounds take longer to heal, they will remain open long-term. An open wound increases the chance of infection.
- Increases the chance of Necrosis: Recent studies have reviewed that smoking increases the likelihood of necrosis or skin death, which can also deeply impact the surgical outcome by damaging hair follicles permanently.
- Smoking produces more scabs: Smoking increases bleeding from the wound site on the scalp, forming scabs. Accumulation of scabs will slow the recovery process. In addition, excessive scabs may cause itchiness and irritation and slow hair growth.
- Smoking may end up causing increased scarring: Smoking ends up causing more scarring after a hair transplant because it directly affects the fibroblasts’ normal functions, which is a vital part of natural wound healing. Fibroblasts secret a particular type of protein that helps skin cells adhere to each other. But smoking reduces fibroblast cells’ ability to move to the target area and interrupts natural healing. This can result in increased scarring after surgery.
One of the best Hair transplant surgeon in India suggested quitting smoke entirely after surgery because smoking damages our hair health and can affect the quality of the newly grafted hair. Thus, try to avoid smoking completely to protect your newly grafted hair.