Is treatment still needed after a hair transplant?
For many years during consultations for hair loss treatment I found that a lot of my patients with male
pattern hair loss were under the impression that the most definitive solution for their hair loss was a
surgical hair transplant hair transplantation regardless of the method used is the transplantation of
genetically resistant hairs from the back of the scalp to the front of the scalp while hair transplant
surgery does put hair in areas with little or no hair it does not change the continuous progression of
hair loss afterwards i’ll discuss why having a hair loss treatment strategy is very important especially
after a hair transplant 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 New York City and Long Island for
over 25 years throughout much of my career hair transplant surgery was a significant part of my practice in
an effort to improve the outcomes about 10 years ago i started using a wound healing material called Acellular
matrix to improve the healing process in the donor area and to improve the survival rate of the hair grafts
we observed that a year later thinning hair that wasn’t transplanted became thicker this discovery inspired
me to come up with a system to treat hair loss the challenge was to come up with a predictable treatment
protocol for customization in order to meet the unique needs for each type of patient i developed a system
where i factored in key variables such as age gender age of onset of hair loss and severity of hair loss to
customized treatments that will work best for your profile this treatment can be used for men and women who’ve
previously had a hair transplant our treatment for hair loss which i trademarked TrichoStem Hair Regeneration
has also been very successful as an alternative to hair transplant surgery as a pioneer of this new treatment
for over the past 10 years i’ve helped a wide range of people who came from around the world with scalp
coverage improving in over 99 of patients it’s clear why TrichoStem Hair Regeneration stands as the benchmark
to compare any other ACell plus PRP treatment for hair loss that interestingly appeared so many years after we
started hair transplants are marketed and perceived by consumers as a solution for genetic pattern hair loss
the reality is that hair transplant alone does not treat progression of genetic pattern hair loss at all the
characteristic progressive hair thinning will continue after surgery for example when you see a person who had
an obvious hair transplant where you see the so-called plugs of hair that are growing in isolation they’re often
labeled as having had a bad transplant in reality they didn’t start out that way they actually probably looked
pretty good for a few years after their transplant surgery however with time only the grafted hairs that are
genetically resistant to hair thinning remained while hair thinning continued and the native thinning hairs
eventually disappeared this is one of the main reasons why i discourage men in their 20s to undergo hair transplant
even with multiple transplant surgeries rapid hair thinning will leave the coverage sparse and looking unnatural
not only will they not look like the same as contemporaries who don’t have hair loss but as they get older and reach
their mid 30s the residual grafted hair will have poor density look artificial in my experience a lot of people
who choose to undergo a hair transplant as a solution for their cosmetic concerns are frustrated by the limited
results of their surgery invariably they end up having a second transplant where they are further frustrated so
they find another surgeon to do their third transplant in the end regardless of the number of surgeries they had
they find themselves in a situation where they’ve spent a lot of money undergone a lot of pain and recovery and
no longer have any more hair left to harvest for further transplantation this is not a good position to be in
unlike other cosmetic surgical procedures like eyelid surgery facelift surgery or breast implant surgery there
is much greater variance in the outcomes of hair transplant surgery in the marketplace the advertising does not
reflect the actual reality of hair transplant outcomes in my opinion the problems arise due to patient selection
the setting of unrealistic expectations and basic issues regarding blood supply bleeding and scar tissue oftentimes
the patient who has undergone two transplants had the second transplant done by the same surgeon who did their
first transplant however there was no difference in how the surgeon approached the second procedure consequently
the yield from the second transplant is not only less than anticipated but there is often further hair loss due
to the trauma to native existing hairs and poor graft survival when it comes to patients who have had hair
transplant surgery before coming to see us they essentially fall into three basic situations one an individual
who had hair transplant several years prior and is looking to avoid having to do a second hair transplant while
they’re experiencing hair loss progression two an individual who has in the past three months had a hair transplant
and wants to optimize their healing and growth of their existing native hair three an individual who has had two
or more hair transplants over several years and is noticing the quality of their transplanted hair is diminishing
in addition to worsening of their scalp coverage due to natural progression in order to understand how we manage
these patients we should first briefly cover how TrichoStem Hair Regeneration treatment is used for people who have
never had a hair transplant and are experiencing androgenetic alopecia or genetic pattern hair loss the TrichoStem
Hair Regeneration treatment has over a 99 success rate for men and women experiencing genetic pattern hair loss the
success is defined as visual improvement in hair thickness and scalp coverage with TrichoStem Hair Regeneration we
are essentially reactivating hair that is not growing because of a prolonged resting phase where thickening hair
that was thinning and increasing the longevity of the hair growth cycle one of the advantages of TrichoStem Hair
Regeneration over hair transplant surgery is that native hair grows much closer together than what can be achieved
even with multiple hair transplant surgeries further by thickening thinning native hair and stimulating hair growth
trichostem hair regeneration treatment can achieve better scalp coverage than not just one but two hair transplant
surgeries for many of our patients typically we treat each patient with a two-year plan where we do two separate
treatments approximately 18 to 24 months apart and we expect sustainable benefits in the range of three to five
years or even more additional medical management including dht blockers nutritional and medical therapy may be
indicated depending on the category you’re in we see our patients every three to six months and review results with
them to show how they are progressing over time for patients who have had hair transplant surgery it appears that
our TrichoStem Hair Regeneration system provides an optimal environment to help both their hair grafts and their
native hairs i have the unique perspective of performing hair transplant surgery for many years and developing a
significant non-surgical treatment for genetic pattern hair loss with all of this clinical experience in my opinion
you can optimize your appearance with non-surgical options and delay if not avoid further hair transplantation in
the near future regardless of the type of hair transplant you’ve had or plan to have your genetic pattern hair loss
will continue to progress although hair transplant surgery has a potential role for improving appearance particularly
for men with frontal hair loss it’s important to recognize that a strategy for the long term is critical to avoid
regret and frustration I hope you found this information helpful thank you for your question