Post-Operative – Page 29

March 13, 2008

Can Rogaine On Healthy Hair Cause it to Fall Out? – Balding Blog

Thanks so much for this resource! I am 3 weeks post op from a HT of 4200 units. I was on propecia for 30 days prior to HT and began Rogaine / Minoxidil 2 weeks post op. I had temple work and work at the front of my hairline. I want to get the best result and minimize shock loss. I have heard Rogaine can cause shedding. Am I at risk for shedding in healthy hair zones if I apply Rogaine in it’s correct dosage to the entire top of my head, temples and along the donor scar?

Rogaine (minoxidil) on healthy hair most likely will not cause shedding, but I would strongly suggest that it only should be applied to areas of concern and not the rest of the head for two key reasons:

Cost
Side effects (or potential thereof) will occur as the area of treated skin increases

It is also worth noting that minoxidil will not influence the hair transplants to grow any better or any faster.

March 12, 2008

Mederma and Transplanted Hair – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I had a FUTH in india but there are white spots/ dolls head appeance on the recipeient area where hair were inserted. If i use mederma, would it result in loss of the transplanted hair?

Please reply.

You’ve described the older technique of a hair transplant, where pieces of skin are transplanted with the grafts and the grafts are not typical follicular unit grafts. FUT (follicular unit transplantation) should not give you the results that you describe. While Mederma is used for minor scars, I doubt it will do much for the white spots on your scalp, as this is probably the result of depigmentation of the skin edges in the transplanted grafts. I do not know if it will result in the loss of transplanted hair either, since there are no specific studies on the subject.

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March 7, 2008

I’m Numb Above My Surgical Donor Site – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

please take a moment to reply? i would very much appreciate it! i had a ht and it is 3 weeks later and the area above the donor area is still devoid of ANY feeling for about 6 inches wide and 2 to 3 inches upward! i am worried that the surgeon cut too deeply or incorrectly and has damaged nerves. i can’t find anything about this on the internet which tells me i am dealing with something unusual. have you heard of this? and if so, how long before i regain feeling back there? thank you so much for your reply!..

I would think that you either have some nerve swelling or some nerve damage. Nerve swelling usually resolves in weeks and on occasion within months. Upon examination, the doctor may not be able to tell the difference, but several examinations are probably indicated. Definitely ask your operating doctor about this.

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March 7, 2008

Using a Conditioner the Contains Minoxidil After Hair Transplant – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello,

I have heard of a hair conditioner that is good to use after hair transplant procedure. It contains 2% minoxidil along with wheat germ and jojoba oil along with other ingredients. Are you
familiar with this product and where to obtain it?

thank you

No, I am not familiar with the product. The use of minoxidil with conditioner means that much of the minoxidil will be washed away. I would suggest using a 5% minoxidil after the shower to get the best value from it.

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March 4, 2008

Any Particular Post-Op Shampoo for Long Term Use? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dr. Rassman,

I am in the process of researching surgeons for a possible transplant. I have learned from your website that post-op care is just as important as the care you receive on the day of surgery. It seems that many doctors have different post-op washing strategies.

What shampoo and conditioner do you recommend to your patients for long-term use after a person has had a transplant. In addition, what is your opinion on using NANO Shampoo and Conditioner or Dr. x’s Regrowth Shampoo (containing Nizoral 2%/Salicyclic Acid 1%) after a transplant? Would either of these selections be harmful? I use both on alternate days and want to make sure that these formulas would be okay after surgery, since I feel they are beneficial to my current progress.

Lastly, do you have any events in Texas planned for 2008?

Thanks in advance.

The value of the shampoo is in the mechanical cleansing of the scalp. Our practice has been to wash the hair thoroughly on the day after the transplant surgery to clean up any scabs that are present. Most people who do this and maintain almost any shampoo that is gentle, will see fast healing on the surface. What happens below the surface should not be impacted by the shampoo you use. Daily or twice daily washing is critical to an undetectable post operative course and most of our patient are so clean within a few days, that the transplant visibility is practically insignificant.

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March 4, 2008

Shouldn’t I See Significant Growth at 5 Months Post-Op? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I got a hair transplant myself almost 5 months ago- on October 10,2007. The hair on the front of my top scalp is still pretty thin,.I can’t tell if I lost more hair than before I had the transplant or if there is little growth from the transplants. AT 5 months, shouldn’t I be able to see significant growth- and if there isn;t should I ask my doctor at 11 months do consider doing it over again?- because they will probably say they did everything right despite the results being poor???

At just 5 months post-surgery, you can not tell how successful a hair transplant was. You shouldn’t be in such a rush to expect failure. Usually the growth just starts at 4-5 months, so I would expect that by the 6-8th month you should see 80+ percent of the hair grown.

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February 27, 2008

Hair Loss InformationI’m Wondering If My Strip Scar Is Bigger Than Most – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Doc,
Have a question on my strip scar. I can shave the sides with a #8 guard and can still see my scar, do you think its a little bigger than most. I also have light hair. Had my procedure done at [name removed].

Block Quote

Everyone has a linear scar after a strip hair transplant, but some tend to have wider scars than others. Normal scarring in 95% of first time hair transplant patients is under 2-3 mm. Scars are produced by a combination of:

surgical technique
healing properties of the patient
tension on the wound

Don’t be too hard on the doctor, for as you can see from the above list, you are more likely the cause of the scar from healing properties. The medical group you used does good work. I am sure their surgeons are all well qualified and fully capable of performing the strip excision.

February 21, 2008

Could Conditioner Applied 10 Days After My Hair Transplant Lead to Problems? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

POST-OP CONDITIONER WASHING TECHNIQUE CAUSING GRAFT FAILURE?

Dr. Rassman,

After reading about using a gentle conditioner to aid in the removal of post-op scabbing in the recipient area after surgery on a popular hairloss forum, I applied a conditioner to my recipient area for 20 minutes on Day 10 post-surgery. (It was Haircylce Conditioner that I purchased over the Internet prior to my surgery!)

But, I foolishly applied the conditioner to my dry scalp, which made removing the conditioner nearly impossible!

Finally, after 20 minutes of constant rinsing with a cup of water, I was able to remove the conditioner by gently dabbing the area with my fingertips in between rinses. There was no bleeding or noticeable irritation afterwards. Is it possible that this constant rinsing could have damaged the grafts? Please advise because I am worried that my physician may use this information against me, if I have a poor result.

Thanks in advance

Block Quote

If you did not pull out the grafts in the process, I would doubt that any problems would have been produced by the conditioner you used after 10 days have passed.

February 18, 2008

I Had Poor Results After a Transplant 11 Months Ago — What Can I Suggest to My Doctor? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello Dr Rassman,
i had a hair transplant surgery,(strip method of 2400grafts approx)from a well reputable doctor about 11 months ago with relatively poor results in the crown area. what can i do in my case, what can i suggest to my doctor? my doctor would make the final assets at the 12th-14th month he told me. (what usaualy happens in cases like mine?)
Thank you

Failure to grow can happen, even if everything is done right. Assuming that your doctor and his/her team did it all right and you did not grow the hair, you should sit down with your doctor for a frank discussion of the problem. His/her experience should produce a good interchange with the risks of failure amongst the possible outcomes. In the hands of an inexperienced team, failure rates might be much higher. On the rare occasions that I have seen failures of the transplants to grow, I have offered to repeat them at my cost. Sometimes it grows just fine the second time, yet sometimes it does not grow even on the second round. I generally wait a year to determine what the results will probably be.

The profession has called the failure of a hair transplant to grow, the “X” (unknown) factor. This distinguishes the cause from the “H” (human) factor, which reflects defects in either the surgeon’s control or the transplant surgeon’s team. Some of the causes of “H” factor include trauma to the grafts caused by drying (leaving the grafts exposed to air for more than 30 seconds at a time), or rough handling, or a switch of the solutions used in error from saline or Ringer’s solution to distilled water (slop in protocols and process of the team).

Failures in follicular unit extraction (FUE), in particular, reflect many elements of damage caused by the extraction process which have been defined by me and some other experts at various medical meetings. Lack of required skills in FUE is the most common cause of graft growth failures. Some of the causes of failure to grow may reflect autoimmune diseases such as diffuse alopecia areata, which has no real physical presentation for an easy diagnosis other than a series of biopsies to look at the scalp under the microscope.

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February 18, 2008

Months After My Transplant, There’s Dead Hairs In My Scalp – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I received a 3100 graft procedure a little over 5 months ago in the 1/3 frontal area. I see a lot of growth, but also noticed that there are areas that still have the short, blunt hairs that were originally in the follicle when it was transplanted. They never grew, nor ever fell out. If I take a tweezer to them, the hair just slips right out, and has a bent area where it’s in the scalp. Also there are black bumps at the scalp that if pulled with a tweezer, keeps getting longer and longer until it comes out of the scalp. No pain, just seems like dead hairs. Can you “shed” some light on any of this?

I am sure that when you pluck these short hairs, you will not see any bulb with them. These reflect remnants of the old hairs and they are not growth from new hair follicles. I see this in a few patients and they usually fall out with good washing.

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