Why is my hair not growing after a hair transplant?
A lack of hair growth as well as a decrease in hair density can be very distressing for people who’ve
undergone hair transplant surgery it’s important to understand what happens to
both your existing hair and the transplanted hair after surgery I’m Dr.
Amiya Prasad I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained
oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon I’ve been in practice in
Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years I’ve been performing hair
transplant surgery throughout my career I’m also the founder of TrichoStem Hair
Regeneration Centers a non-surgical stem cell-based
treatment for male and female pattern hair loss
I developed TrichoStem Hair Regeneration from observations made from the
application of wound healing technology to improve hair transplant results since
2011 we have developed customized treatments to help people with genetic
pattern hair loss the effects scene with trichostem hair regeneration include the
reactivation of hair growth which was not growing and the thickening of
thinning hair this combination results in a significant improvement in scalp
coverage losing hair soon after a long and costly hair transplant can make
anyone worry about their decision to have the procedure and the future of
their results hair transplant surgeons are often not clear about communicating
to patients about the impact hair transplant surgery has on hair that’s
still present on the scalp as well as the transplanted hair a common cause of
hair loss soon after transplant is shock loss shock loss occurs due to several
factors including the physical trauma hair transplant surgery has on the scalp
for example if a hair transplant consists of 2,000 hair grafts surgically
being implanted into the scalp this means there are 2,000 stab incisions
made into the scalp this level of trauma causes bleeding inflammation and
potential vascular compromise throughout the scalp as a consequence native hair
and transplanted hair can shed shortly after the transplant surgery this often
means that a hair transplant patient experiencing shock loss can look like
they have even less hair after transplant than they did prior to
surgery shock loss is temporary in shock loss the hair follicle remains intact so
hair will grow with time this is one of the reasons why you need to wait up to a
year or more to see the full results of a hair transplant a not so common reason
for why hair may not appear to grow after transplant is the development of
ingrown hair grafts it’s possible for hair grafts to grow inward so their
length changes very little even after a few months in such cases the skin needs
to be just opened and the hair needs to be released to be able to grow properly
another more significant cause for hair loss after transplant is collateral loss
this occurs when hair grafts are surgically placed close to existing hair
during hair transplant surgery the needle blade or implant er can
permanently damage existing native hair follicles
unlike shock loss collateral loss is a permanent loss of native hair caused by
the trauma of hair transplant surgery surgeons often justify or rationalize
collateral loss by assuming the native hairs are thinning anyway and will
eventually be lost collateral loss is one reason why hair
transplants are generally not recommended for most cases of female
pattern hair loss we’re hairs are diffusely thinning
throughout the scalp making it more likely for collateral loss of native
hairs to occur during transplant surgery in our practice we take a different
approach to hair restoration instead of looking at thinning hairs hair that will
be lost eventually we see thinning hair as something that can be improved to the
point that the results can exceed the outcome of even hair transplant surgery
the natural density of hair is 50 to 100 hairs per square centimeter this natural
density is significantly greater than the density of transplanted hair
generally hair grafts can be transplanted at about 20 hairs per
square centimeter this is because of the blood supply needed to sustain the
viability of the hair grafts exceeding this number of grafts can result in some
or even all the hair grafts being lost by thickening the thinning hair with our
Hair Regeneration treatment the improvement in scalp coverage reduces
the area of scalp that would need hair transplant surgery since native hairs
are much closer in density than transplanted hair thickening hair
non-surgically can achieve more coverage and hair density than any transplant
procedure in fact in the right patient with significantly thinning hair the
hair regeneration treatment can exceed the density and coverage of not one but
two hair transplant surgeries Trichostem Hair Regeneration consists of
platelet-rich plasma or PRP and extracellular matrix by a cell PRP which
is a concentration of wound healing and growth factors present in your own blood
is used in combination with extracellular matrix there are doctors
using PRP alone to treat pattern hair loss although there can be some benefit
we know from experience that’s not comparable to trichostem hair
regeneration some doctors are using PRP with the standardized dose of a cell as
one of a handful of doctrines using a cell since 2011 I have been treating
patients from around the world and have achieved consistent and predictable
results with visible long-term improvement in over 99% of genetic
pattern hair loss patients both men and women each treatment is customized using
an algorithm I developed from years of experience factoring in gender age of
onset of hair loss degree of hair loss covered age and other medical therapies
being used most patients only need one treatment session for thicker hair and
fuller coverage and results can be expected to last three to five years
some patients with more advanced hair loss have a second treatment which we
called a booster at 15 to 24 months after the initial treatment at no
additional cost while the Hair Regeneration treatment is
mostly used as a standalone procedure it can be used to help people after hair
transplant surgery I found there to be an improvement in hair transplant
outcomes if I perform Hair Regeneration treatment between one to three months
after a hair transplant there appears to be a benefit to the hair grafts as well
as the native thinning hair I’ve also observed the grass to grow sooner than
they would be expected to which means that they appear to the effects of shock
loss is actually reduced the overall benefit is better scalp coverage in both
the short and long term hair transplant surgery can be very effective but there
are limitations it is important to have a strategy in place to maximize your
scalp coverage for as long as it’s genetically permissible if you’ve
experienced significant hair loss after undergoing hair transplant surgery there
may be potential benefit from stem cell-based
hair loss treatment to help you improve your final results otherwise allow one
year after hair transplant surgery to transpire and assess your final results
I hope you found this information helpful thank you for your question