I had sun burn for one day about 10 days post op. I am currently 5.5 months and have weak growth. Could I have damaged the grafts. Don’t think I dislodged them.
Do you think I damaged the collegen? would this cause them grafts not to grow, grow slow, grow thin or what? thanks
At 5 months, do not panic and wait out the full 8 months. The sunburn should not have impacted your grafts or significantly damaged your collagen.
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You have not shown a patient with black hair and light skin after a hair transpant. That is what I have and I need to know what I will look like. I am mostly balding in the front of my head. I can take time off work but i am planning my vacation for later this summer and want a transplant to coincide with it.
This patient had 2571 grafts done 10 days before these photos were taken. His hair is black as is yours. Many of the hairs have already fallen out, as expected. They will regrow in 2-4 months on average. As you enlarge the photographs, please note that what you are looking at is a beard of hair where no hair existed 10 days before. Imagine what you would look like if you did not shave for 10 days. Click the photos to enlarge.
Dear Doctor Rassman,
I live in Turkey.I had a hair transplant about six months a go. 2900-3000 grafts were planted on my head (mostly on middle and vertex area, some in the front). The planted hair on the front and middle area of my head has grown not so badly,and now (after six months) the front and middle areas appearance is not bad. But, my vertex area is still empty. The interesting fact is that the planted hair in the vertex area had been seen to grow satisfactorily until the fifth month after transplantation. But, between the fifth and sixth months most of the planted hair on the vertex area has fallen out. Is it normal that after six months the planted hair has fallen out? My doctor could not make me a satisfactory explanation and advised to wait more. I am depressed.
Sincerely yours
Once the hair transplants grow, they should not fall out. Are you sure that they were growing at some point and not just stubble from the original procedure?
The vertex of the head is a big area and many times the amount of hair put into the vertex is dwarfed by the size of the area. Transplants placed into the front and top will layer, such that coverage is easier to achieve. The vertex (crown) has a change in hair direction so layering is not easily accomplished. Be sure that what you are looking at is now just the effects of the swirl and the large area, but try to have the actual hairs counted.
As you are only 6 months out of the surgery, I would wait another 3 months before reacting too much to it.
Hello Doc,
This is a wonderful service that you provide here. I applaud your commitment and dedication. I am scheduled for my first HT and am nervous after reading some web postings on a site that indicates HT’s are not the answer. Pretty scary stuff…See: home1.gte.net/dschrode/newtransplant-tales.htmAnyway, I live in the Dominican Republic and have decided to work with Dr. Alba Reyes. Currently I am in the states and wanted to ask you a couple of questions.
Does the recipient area always have to be shaved?
Will Avodart provide the same protection as proscar for shock prevention?
How long until I can sweat as I live in a warm enviroment and go to the beach often (I wear a hat)?Thank you again and I look forward to your reply.
Reading the horror stories are part of good research. They are the exception to the general work being done now, though. A good doctor is your assurance that these terrible things will not happen to you, but unfortunately there are still some of those doctors out there today. As I like to tell my patients, do your research! Much of this research is covered in this site in many ways (see The Truth About Cheap Hair Transplants).
To answer your questions —
I am constantly asked how long it will take for a typical patient to be able to go back to work. This patient is 10 days post-surgery and went back to work in 4 days. He had 1,677 grafts transplanted and is a class 3A on the Norwood scale. He has the advantage of a blonde hair so that the beard of transplanted hair is also blonde. There is a small beard if you look carefully. The skin of the transplant is still slightly swollen with a fine pink hue (he is sandy blonde with white skin, known for showing a pink hue) and this will subside over the next week or so. The hair he has presently covers these changes so that it had not been seen in either his work or in any social setting. Click photos to enlarge.
I had a hair transplant last night and this morning I found grafts on my finger nails along with blood clots. My transplant surgeon told me not to worry about them after I said that there were about a dozen grafts that I could count. He said that he did not have to see me. What would you do for me in this situation?
I had a patient who picked his head in his sleep, just like you seemed to do. Knowing this, I had his wife make him wear ski gloves in his sleep the rest of that week. I did view the patient, but as the grafts had been already out of his body for hours, there was no point to put them back as they would not have grown. The grafts on this patient came from the crown, where he had 1500 grafts placed by me. He had about 10 grafts lost and they did not appear to be significant, considering the large number that we placed there.
I had another patient leave the office after the surgery and from the edge of the limo, he scraped the scalp removing about 150 grafts in the car’s gutter. We quickly retrieved them and washed the grafts with saline and put them right back into his head. Fortunately, the time out of the body and into the saline was only a minute or two. The grafts grew, but I think that we all had anxiety over this one.
I do not use bandages to cover the recipient site and I tell my patients the importance of keeping their hands off of the head and recipient area. I generally like a person to use a recliner chair for the first and second night, to keep the head elevated and make it more difficult to scratch the recipient area when they sleep. I have not had a problem like the ones I spoke about for over 10 years.
I had a transplant procedure 2.5 months ago—I am experiencing very little if any growth of the hair located below the donor scar area—my doctor assures me that this is related to some type of shock caused by the procedure and that in time it will regrow—-Is this normal??
This is not normal, but not a reason to worry. Wait it out and the hair around the donor wound should return about the same time that the transplanted hair will start growing.
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I recently had a hair transplant completed (approximately 1,500 follicular units). My doctor advised me to limit exposure of the transplant area to the sun to 10 to 15 minutes per day for the first two months following the transplant (this is the same advice given to every patient). Is this precaution necessary?
Yes, it is necessary. There are two reasons to keep sun exposure down after a hair transplant:
I tell all of my patients to use a hat or use sunblock when going out into the sun for a period of 3 months. By that time the new tissues will be relatively healed so that damage from UV will not be particularly more harmful than in other skin areas.
I am mid-way through my 5′th month after having had my 2′nd transplant. What is the longest time one has to wait to notice any growth as nothing has come through yet & I’m becoming concerned ?
I am worried that the 2′nd procedure hasn’t worked for some reason because after my 1’st transplant new sprouts of hair was apparent at the start of the 4′th month.
I had my 2′nd procedure literally 9-10 months after my 1’st.
I would appreciate any advice,
Thank-you
Many times, I have this complaint. I tell people that they must wait for a full 8 months to see 80-90% of the results from the transplant. Be patient and then write me again, sending pictures at the 8th month if you did not get the results in my then.
Dear Dr.Rassman,
At age 30 I had three procedures with a doctor in Pittsburgh.The results were excellent.The focus areas were creating a hairline and giving me forward density.The scar seems almost invisible now through the hair. My question is I’m now 40 and would like to shave my head with a number 2 clipper.With the hair cut short is it common for the donor scar to be visible? Greatly appreciate your thoughts on the matter.
Each and every person is different. Some people with no scar can not cut their hair with a number 2 clipper if their hair is straight and coarse, because there can be a subtle difference in angle above and below the area that was cut. Small scars may not be seen with the same shave if the hair character is good and the scar is minimal, yet larger scars may behave differently. Best to try it on a vacation with your hair cut short and see what you got. We can speculate, but the ultimate test is to just try it out. I have many patients who cut thier hair short, even to a crew cut after a hair transplant with no problem at all.
