I'm approximately 3 weeks post transplant. A question I forgot to ask the doctor is, am I suppose to put rogaine on the donor scar or just the recipient area? I've read lots of post but noone specifies how they get the donor area to grow back.

Desperate for Help,

Congratulations on your recent surgery. Welcome to the real "hair club". You ask a great question.

Some physicians do suggest that using rogaine in the grafted area two to three weeks following surgery might enhance healing and hair growth by stimulating blood flow to the area. This might also minimize shock fall out (telogen effluvium) by keeping the nearby follicles healthier.

However, plenty of patients heal just fine and have excellent hair transplant growth without Rogaine. So I think its benefits are marginal.

Now in the donor area I have heard it suggested to use aloa vera with vitimin E to enhance the healing of the skin tissue. This seems sensible to me.

It is possible that Rogaine might also help in the donor area to enhance healing and also inhibit possible shock loss. But Rogaine can also some times irritate the scalp. So I'd personally be reluctant to use it on my healing donor area.

Perhaps other can comment on this issue?

Best wishes for rapid healing and a bumper crop of new hair.

Pat

Pat, it is my understanding that the foam version of Rogaine does not contain the ingredients that can be irritating to the scalp, and that's what i've been using on my new HT.

IT is also true that the half cap dose they indicate is somewhat unrealistic in my opinion because the foam is not easy to work with and get coverage.

I still have sutures, so I wouldn't bother with it in that area right now anyway, but I do have to wonder if it would really help an area that already consists of bald resistant hair. Surely the scar itself contains no hair regrow, and if it did, being bald resistant, wouldn't it do so on its own?

mark h

I've been applying Minoxidil to my donor area since about 3 months post-op to quicken the shock loss regrowth. It seems to be helping.

I wanted to wait until the scar was fully healed as the solution can be a bit irritating, especially on a wound.

Ive been applying it to the recipient area and my remaing MPB area since 2 weeks post-op.

In the past I’ve also recommended Mederma to our patients, which really seems to help with scarring. I also believe that Rogaine can be beneficial as well due to the effect it has on vascular blood flow, which can aid in growing hair in the specific area.