Category: Hair Transplantation

Dear Dr. Rassman:
I’ve read that following a hair transplant stitches are routinely removed in 10 to 12 days. However, I was told by a physician that he could remove them in as little as 6 days, because at that point the skin has already healed. Is it safe to do this within 6 days, and can this cause harm to any grafts?

Thank you

I would go by what your doctor/surgeon recommends.

I personally do not use sutures that need to be removed. I either use self-dissolving sutures or staples that are routinely removed in 10 to 14 days. Wounds can be sealed and stay closed with stitches removed at 6 days, but there is no strength in the wound at 6 days. If you do not pull on the edges, 6 days will probably work for many people. Removing sutures (or staples) has to do with how well your donor wound healed. In my opinion, 6 days is a bit too early… but the ultimate decision is with the surgeon who performed the procedure and their comfort level.

Dr. Rassman, I noticed few before/after photos of Asian males. I am an Asian male that has typical Asian hair which sticks straight out. Is this not an ideal hair type for hair transplants? I would assume it would be hard to cover a scar. thanks!

On rare occasions, some Asians with coarse straight hair may have hair that points upward. This is not common, but when it happens, the hair from strip surgery may have to be longer if a scar greater than 3mm is created (~5% risk). Alternative for this, of course, is follicular unit extraction (FUE), where there is no linear scar present.

Most (better than 95%) Asians have results as shown in the referenced posts below and we perform a great number of such surgeries as a matter of routine. It is worth noting that we only post the patients that have signed photo releases, so if there are few Asian patients posted it is because they simply don’t wish to have their photos made public.

• Asian Hair Transplant Patient
• Transplanting Asian Hair

Dear Dr. Rassman,

I wanted to share my thoughts with your readers concerning the selection of a HT doctor. I had several transplant sessions in the mid-1990’s. After many years, I find myself in need of a hair tune-up and will be scheduling surgery with Dr. Rassman this Fall.

I cannot stress enough that people do their homework when selecting a doctor. You only have so much donor area. When it is gone, it is gone. No amount of money can bring it back.

Through my research concerning HT doctors I have come to two conclusions. First, see a doctor that has been awarded the Golden Follicle award. This is voted on by their peers. Secondly, see a doctor whose primary specialty is hair transplantation. There are even winners of the Golden Follicle that practice other forms of cosmetic surgery. My reasoning is that I believe that HT is both surgery and art. The more a doctor performs quality HT, the better your results!

This is good advise. And you are correct in that hair transplantation is as much an art as it is a surgical procedure. This is a cosmetic procedure, afterall!

For more tips on choosing your surgeon, we put together a checklist of sorts that I encourage people to check out — Selecting a Hair Transplant Doctor.

Hi Doctor,

My understanding is that when you remove hair from the permanent zone, you want to leave enough so that the permanent zone does not look “thin.”

But what about sacrificing the permanent zone, especially in the back of the head?

Why not remove most of the hair there — so that the back may indeed look thin — while moving it to the top front and crown as desired by the patient?

I suppose you can do anything you want if you find a surgeon willing to cause you tremendous scarring in the back/sides of your head. I can’t say I know of any patients that would want to be the first candidate.

Doing what you suggest would leave a patient with a very wide and long scar on the back of the scalp as the scalp became tighter and tighter, stretching the scalp skin in the area of the excision. Even if the surgeon used follicular unit extraction (FUE), it would still not look natural, as the donor zone will be very depleted and look unhealthy (not to mention the tiny pinhole scars all over that may be visible). I have seen many patients with depleted donor hair, as too much hair was used by their surgeon for the front and top. These patients are not very happy with how their donor area (scalp) looks.

Keep in mind the entire point of doing any cosmetic surgery is to look natural (like there was no surgery done), meeting the enhancements and goals that the patient desires. Doing something extreme as you suggest is like an overly done facelift surgery, where it looks like someone is pulling one’s face back.

Hi Dr Rassman,

I am thinking of having a hair transplant FUE approx 2000 grafts in 2 months time.

My concern is I have just recently had multiple surgeries to fix a broken jaw, rhinoplasty (broken nose) and scars suffered in a recent accident. I was told I would be able to resume normal activities in a few weeks and exercise in 6 weeks. Just wanted to know if the success of the transplant (2 months after the multiple surgeries) would be hindered at all.

ps: the surgeon who performed the multiple surgeries said it should be fine but to consult with a transplant specialist.

The ultimate answer will be from your hair transplant physician, who can examine you and determine if they feel comfortable going ahead with the surgery. In general though, it should be fine.