When you get a hair transplant, it’s important to take care of your new grafts while they settle in and take root. That means taking a few days off work to recover — but it also means limiting your sexual activity.
Surgeons recommend that you avoid sex for at least seven days after your hair transplant, but ideally two to three weeks. This will give your grafts the best chance of anchoring into your scalp so they can produce healthy new hair.
So why is it important to wait to have sex after a hair transplant? In this article, you’ll learn:
It may be safe to have sex around a week after your hair transplant procedure. But if your hair transplant is still healing and hasn’t yet fully scabbed over, you should hold off for a few more days.
If possible, it’s a good idea to wait two weeks before having sex after a hair transplant to give your grafts the best chance of survival.
Let’s explore the four key reasons why it’s important to wait before having sex after your hair transplant.
Like exercise, sex can cause your heart rate and blood pressure to increase [1]. This elevation is usually short-lived, but when your hair grafts are healing, there’s a small chance that this rise in blood pressure will cause the wounds to rupture and bleed. This can compromise the success of your hair transplant.
During sex, it’s very easy for your grafts to be moved or dislodged. Protecting your grafts is an essential part of hair transplant aftercare, so it’s really important to avoid touching or moving your hair grafts in the first few weeks after your hair transplant.
If you or another person touches your hair grafts, it can also put you at risk of hair transplant infection, which means you’ll need additional treatment and can also increase the chances of hair transplant failure.
During sex, you’re likely to sweat from your scalp. Sweating can pose a risk of infection following surgery, and it also makes it more likely that you’ll nudge or dislodge your grafts as you wipe away any perspiration [2].
Infection can lead to more serious complications if it’s left untreated, so it’s important to let your clinic know if you have any symptoms of infection. These include:
Rest promotes recovery during your hair transplant downtime, so it’s important to get lots of rest. Sex can tire you out, meaning you don’t get as much rest as you need for your hair grafts to heal successfully.
It may be safe for you to have sex after a hair transplant if:
If you’re unsure whether it’s safe to have sex following your FUT or FUE procedure, don’t be embarrassed to ask your clinic. We’re often asked, and we can help you decide whether or not it’s safe to have sex after your hair transplant based on your unique symptoms and recovery stage.
Even after you’ve got the go-ahead from your clinic, you should be careful when having sex after a hair transplant. Take the following precautions to minimise damage to your transplant and maximise the chances of hair growth success:
While masturbation is unlikely to cause problems with hair transplant recovery in the same way as sex, it’s still a good idea to avoid it in the first few days after surgery.
Masturbation can still increase your heart rate and blood pressure, and may interfere with the rest you need for successful recovery.
However, masturbation is a safer option than sex in the first week or so after your hair transplant.
Sex isn’t the only thing you’ll need to avoid for a period following a hair transplant. It’s also recommended that you:
Fortunately, your hair transplant will be worth it. Taking care of your hair grafts is really important, and can make or break the success of your procedure. Ben Stokes’s hair transplant was performed at the Wimpole Clinic, and his aftercare vigilance helped ensure a successful procedure:
“I was told the aftercare was very very important. So I didn’t properly wash my hair for two weeks, just sprayed it with water in the shower. Avoided knocking it, slept with one of those neck pillows you get on the plane to make sure. I was very lucky, I didn’t scab that badly. But as soon as I felt I could put a hat on, I was going out.”
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