Category: Hair Transplantation

Hello Dr. Rassman! I am very grateful for the information that you provide for all of us trying to find legitimate ways to mitigate hair loss and for answering my questions in the past.

It has been almost three months since my hair transplant procedure and I am looking forward to the results. I do recall however that 3 days after my procedure, a friend of mine inadvertently tapped my head back then with a folded box. There was no pain, no bleeding occured and the force of the tap itself was lightly moderate.

My question would be: Could that tap may have affected the grafts in the recepient area that the box may have touched? I’m just concerned that that particular single tap (no taps or hits with any object have occured since then) may have affected any of the grafts that the box may have touched back then. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

As long as it was a single tap, and the box was folded, and the color of the box was brown… you should be fine.

In all seriousness, it’s common to be overly-worried about the results of your hair transplant since at just three months you’re probably not seeing growth… but a light tap on the head is nothing to be concerned about.

Hi –

Is it normal for some, but not all of the transplanted hair to remain in the transplanted area? I thought that it was an either/or kind of thing — either you were apart of the minority of s that would retain all of the transplanted hair or all of the transplanted follicles would eventually shed. I am going on 5.5 weeks now, and probably 85% of the transplanted hairs have shed, but there remains some hairs here and there that have “taken root” so to speak and begun growing. Should I expect these to fall out eventually? I have never heard of doctors talk about some but not all the transplanted hairs falling out.

Thanks!

For those that aren’t familiar, after a hair transplant surgery it’s common for the grafts to take root and the hairs to then fall out, with growth taking a few months to occur. A minority of patients (less than 5% is my unscientific guess) continue to grow the transplanted hair immediately after surgery.

I really have no way to know if you’re one of the rare patients that doesn’t go through the dormant phase following a hair transplant (it doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing in regards to immediate growth), and only time will tell if your hair will hold. In any case, keep your fingers crossed that the 15% of remaining transplanted hair continues to grow.

Hi. I received 1500 grafts 16 months ago. The transplanted hair has grown in very well but still remains damaged. It’s very dry and frayed, is this normal for it to still be damaged? By the way my hair is slightly over two inches in length.

I do not know what to make of your description. Sometimes the transplanted hairs may look a bit different in texture, but they usually return to their natural state over time. So in other words, no… it is not normal for transplanted hair to appear or feel any different from the rest of your hair, but on rare occasions (or more often in the hands of a less experienced transplant team) the hair can be damaged during the time it is moved.

Not all hair transplants are the same, and I don’t know the exact transplant technique and methods used by your doctor. Possible damage (if that is why your transplanted hair feels different) can be caused by trauma from handling or being left open to the air for more than a few seconds when it is transplanted to the recipient site.