Category: Post-Operative

My son had a hair transplant surgery in 2004. Since then he is suffering from chronic pain especially at the donor area, constant pulling, throbbing and tightness. Is there anything that can be done to relieve his misery? Thanks.

Pain for so long in the donor area can be a rare complication of a hair transplant surgery. It may also be that there is a small area where nerves have grown in a bundle and are irritating the area. Sometimes, larger nerves are cut and this can cause problems. If he gently taps the scar area and it induces a shock like pain, then the problem may reflect cut nerves.

This can be a complicated problem or a simple one, but this is not something I will treat over the Internet. With a case like this, you should have your son follow up with the hair transplant surgeon who did the procedure so that the area can be examined.

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I had about 2,500 grafts transplanted approximately one year ago. The grafts grew in pretty well for about 7 or 8 months, then I exerienced some shedding. I know have less of the transplanted hair that I did 3 months ago. Funny thing is that it seems I also lost some of the hair from a prior transplant years ago. This is dissapointing and depressing. I believed that hair that had begun to grow would not fall out again, and I do not have an auto-immune disease. Any ideas? (I’ll try and get a follow-up with my surgeon. Thanks

If you had any original hair still left in the transplanted area, you could lose that hair and cause your problem. If all of the hair that is thinning is transplanted hair only, that is rare. We call the donor area hair “permanent hair,” but is it really permanent? In a very small percentage of the population, the donor hair can thin permanently. If that happened in your transplanted hair, the same would be apparent in the donor area, as both have the same source. I always measure the density of the donor area prior to a transplant so if this happened, I would have a measurement to compare to.

In a very small percentage of patients, hair that has been transplanted can be lost… and if that happens it will usually return. I do not understand the cause of this when it does occur, but I have seen it a few times and most of the time the hair came back. Please do have a follow-up with your surgeon and express your concerns.

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Is it possible say after 4 months of the procedure to damage the hair grafts if you are kinda compulsive and don’t really like to even show that you are losing hair as in my case i didn’t have to much hair loss in the first place but don’t like to show that i am losing any at all by styling the hair downwards. spending like 10-20 minutes doing so basically what I am saying is that if the hairs are inplanted after the immediate post op 1-3 months is ok to be less careful after this period and is there any adverse way to affect the growth. Also when is ok to buzz ones head after the FUE technique is performed.

thank you very much

Your hair transplant doctor should have told you this. Hair that was transplanted is considered permanent after a week or two.

Either you are an obsessive compulsive or have not been told the right information. You do not have to be so careful 4 months out from surgery. The point of the surgery is to have your own natural hair. Treat it as such.

Hey Dr. Rassman. Just a quick question that maybe you can help me with regarding my recent hair transplant. I also will be making an appointment to see my doctor. I had 1200 grafts done mostly in temple area 4 months ago. At around month three I first noticed some regrowth now a month later I have longer hairs in that area, which I expect to become fuller as I get closer to the year mark. However, hair has only grown along the front line of what was transplanted. So I have a thin line of hairs connecting the front of my hair line to the sides, yet have a large gap between that and my regular growing hair. My question is, is this normal? Can hair grafts first grow in the front and take more time to grow in behind it? Is it possible that only the hairs in the front “survived” and the others aren’t coming in? I know at four months it is still too early to tell, but I thought it was odd nonetheless. Thanks so much.

The most likely answer is that by the 8th month fully 80-90% of the hair should have grown or started to grow. I never draw conclusions at the 4th month and you are correct, some parts may grow faster than other parts of the scalp. Be patient and wait another 4 months or so to see the results.

I just had my first hair transplant and it says to not have sex for one week. Is masturbation ok the evening of or day after? or will it possibly cause some grafts to fall out?

I remember a billionaire I performed a hair transplant some years ago. He had an interpreter with him (came from Asia) and I jokingly told him not to have sex for 3 years. I remember laughing and I thought he understood it was a joking comment. Three months later, his interpreter called and told me that his boss told him ‘to hell with the transplant’, and he didn’t care if it ever grew, but could not handle the abstinence from sex for any more time. I realized how humor is very cultural and he revered my medical and surgical skills and took my joke as a directive, not as the humorous “masterpiece” that I intended. Obviously, it was a dumb joke that got lost in translation.

Anyway, I generally recommend passive sex for the first 1-2 nights, then go for it which ever way you feel up to it after. With regard to masturbation, wait a day to be safe.

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Hello Doctor

After a hairline transplant some people get a facial swelling for a few days and some people don’t. My question is : Is a facial swelling a good sign, a bad sign or indifferent, regarding the future success of the operation and healthy grow of the transplants

Thank you

Facial swelling is just an annoyance after a hair transplant that occurs in random individuals. It is neither good or bad. You can always minimize swelling by sleeping at a more up-right angle (so that the fluid drains downward) and in our practice, we rarely see it because of the use of short term steroids during and after the surgery.

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I am now two weeks post op from my forth HT. I have had great results the last three times with the same doctor. This time he did some temple work. It is now day 15 and both my temples are still red and I have a slight cobblestoning look. I know that cobblestoning in it’s true form was mainly due to large grafts, grafts too large for the incisions ect. I also understand that a this is what really sets aside a good transplant doctor from another. Is it normal for me to still have reddness and some slight elevation in the temple area after 2 weeks. I was told that while the graft area still should be red now the skin should have smoothed out to an even level by now and I should have no traces of elevation in the transplanted area. If this is true does this mean that I’m going to have a permanently detectable transplant in the temple area?

thanks

Cobblestoning, in my experience, does not occur in follicular unit transplantation. In some patients redness does last weeks or even months, but with those who have had prior transplants, the history of redness from previous transplants should tell you what you need to know. I am unwilling to give you treatment recommendations without examining you. Check with your doctor about your concerns as your recent experience seems different.

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