Balding Blog

Is it a case that the hair is going to shed anyway post surgery and should I wait until I experience hair loss before using Mixoxidil?

It is not automatically expected that you will have hair loss after forehead reduction surgery. It is a complication of this surgery and something that you should speak with your doctor about as this complication is not uncommon in women over 40. Minoxidil might help but maybe not. So a discussion with your doctor is appropriate. Forehead surgeries in women can cause hair loss and we consider that a complication of the process.

This patient had shock loss, causing loss of the hairs in the donor area. I am assuming that the surgeon took out too many grafts too closely in that area, which impacted the circulation to the donor area. We have performed thousands of FUE sessions and have never seen this complication.

These scars may occur as a complication of an FUT strip surgery. Sometimes they just happen and sometimes it occurs when the wound is closed under tension. Wait a period of six months and then, if it does not go away, you might have to consider doing something about it like Scalp MicroPigmentation which works very well for scars in the donor area provided that it is not too large. There is a good chance it will grow hair within six months.

I also experienced shock loss behind the native grafts (even with using Fin before, during, and still on now as a preventative measure). I think this hair is growing back, but there is still significant shock loss apparent. Online I’ve seen reports that shock loss hair should come back anywhere from 3, 6, 9, to even a year after. Should I still be optimistic that this shock loss hair will grow back, if there still needs to be more regrowth at 7 months out? Thanks.

The hairs that are lost from the shock loss depend upon what type of hairs. Those hairs that were miniaturizing will usually not return even at a year. If you are on finasteride prior to the transplant, shock loss can often be prevented, but normal hairs that might be lost will come back usually in 6-8 months.

I came across this site (https://www.hairgrowthcenters.com) and it looked promising. If you could just browse it and read some things. I just wanted to know what your opinion is on it. There is 100% satisfaction or your money back, and there are magazine articles and news reports about it. I know judging from your character that you will truthfully tell me your thoughts on it.

Also, on a side note, if hair is lost from shock loss during a hair transplant and doenst grow back, is the hair follicle still there and healthy and just not producing hair? If so, could the laser potentially stimulate those follicles back to making its hair again? Thanks so much and best of wishes to you.

There are some promising studies out there about low laser light therapy treatments for hair loss. There is still, however, a need for better and more appropriate science to back up claims that this therapy can actually grow hair. I’ve written about lasers many times before on this blog, such as here, here, and here.

Shock loss from surgery occurs very rarely, especially when the patient is taking Propecia. The hair that falls out from shock loss will regrow if the hair is not genetically impacted (miniaturized) in which case it may not return. This is why I like to use Propecia in my young patients as it seems to protect the patient against post-hair transplant shock loss. Again with regard to your last question, in shock loss, the role of the laser has not been defined.

Is shock loss after HT worse if you’re on fin and min than if wouldn’t be taking any medication? And how long does it last approximately? I’ve lost a lot of native hairs as well.

Finasteride takes time in some men. Give it a full year before drawing conclusions. I have found that in close to 100% of men, the drug will slow, stop, or reverse the hair loss. Slowing it down is common and sometimes hard to detect unless the drug is stopped, when hair loss will immediately accelerate. Stopping hair loss is less common, and reversing it is even less common (more common in men under 23). Finasteride is very effective at preventing hair loss

The photo on the left is before the surgery and the photo on the right is after the surgery. The loss of hair reflects shock loss and it could have been prevented with the drug finasteride in 95% of young men who take this drug. This 25 year old male, lost most of his native hair from the transplant, something we see often in young men when they do not take finasteride

This could be either shock loss in the donor area or over-harvesting the grafts from the donor area. You will know in about 6 months. If it is shock loss, it should reverse.