Antibiotic ointment or cream is applied. The hair is then dried and styled. The patient may return to work, but should avoid bending, straining or lifting x 1 week. Shampooing is allowed. Local anesthesia in the scalp skin superior to the donor site is usually temporary, resolving in weeks to months.
Infection is also rare and usually readily controlled with oral antibiotics.
Edema may become severe and is avoided by use of pre-operative steroids and head elevation. Scarring occurs most often at the donor site . This can be minimized by avoiding using a donor height less than 1.5 cm and by minimizing tension at the closure. Correction of defects can be accomplished by serial scar excision or by grafting at the donor scar. They present as a painful pulsating mass at the donor site and are treated with intralesional Kenalog injections, local ligation or excision.