Eyebrow Transplant Recovery: What To Expect, Week By Week
The eyebrow transplant itself is the short part of the process. You are in and out in an afternoon. What happens over the following months is what decides how the brows end up looking, and most of that is down to how you treat them while they heal.
Here is what actually happens, week by week, so nothing takes you by surprise.
The first few days
Expect swelling and tenderness around the brow, and sometimes a little around the eyes. Small scabs form over each graft within a day or two. The area will look worse before it looks better, and this is the stage people are least prepared for.
Bring a hat, a cap or a headscarf with you on the day, so you have something to go home in if you would rather not be looked at.
- Sleep propped up on two or more pillows for the first few nights, which keeps swelling down
- Use a cold compress near the area, not directly on the grafts
- Take any medication exactly as your surgeon has prescribed it
- Do not pick at the scabs, however much you want to
The first two weeks
The scabs loosen and drop away on their own after about seven to ten days. Some of the transplanted hairs come away with them. This is normal and it is not the graft failing. The follicle stays in place beneath the skin, and what you are seeing is the hair shaft shedding before the follicle starts a new growth cycle.
Wash only as your clinic has instructed, using the shampoo you were given rather than whatever is in the bathroom. Keep the following off the brow area entirely until you are told otherwise:
- Make-up, brow pencils and brow powder
- Facial scrubs, exfoliants and acids
- Fake tan and self-tanning products
- Saunas, steam rooms and swimming pools
Avoid anything strenuous for the first fortnight. Heavy exercise raises blood pressure and increases both swelling and the risk of dislodging a graft. Sweat is also best kept away from a healing wound.
Weeks three to twelve
This is the quiet stretch, and it is the one people find hardest. The shedding has finished, there is no new growth yet, and it can feel as though nothing has worked. Nothing has gone wrong. The follicles are dormant while they settle into their new blood supply.
By this point you can generally return to your normal skincare and make-up routine, though check with your clinic first rather than assuming.
Three to eight months
New hairs start pushing through at around the three month mark. They come through fine and soft at first and thicken up over the following months. Growth is rarely even, so one brow can run ahead of the other for a while before they catch up.
The brows reach their final appearance somewhere between six and eight months after the procedure. That is when you judge the result, not before.
Living with them afterwards
The hair came from your scalp, so it behaves like scalp hair for a while and grows longer than brow hair naturally would. You trim it, roughly as often as you shave. Over a year or two it gradually adapts and slows down, but a light trim stays part of the routine for most people.
Beyond that there is nothing to maintain. The follicles are yours, they are alive, and they carry on growing.
When to call the clinic
Get in touch rather than waiting if you have increasing pain after the first few days, spreading redness, heat or discharge from the area, or a temperature. These are uncommon, but they are worth a phone call rather than a wait and see.
If you are still weighing up the procedure itself, our guide covers what an eyebrow transplant involves and what it costs, and you can see results in our before and after gallery.
To talk it through with someone, book a free video assessment or read more on our eyebrow transplant page.
See what your hair transplant could cost
A personalised price and suitability check, with no obligation.
Get A PriceDownload Our Price Guide Now
