Ingrown Hairs / Pimples Months After Hair Transplant

3 months after my transplants i’m still getting ingrown hairs (pimples on my scalp). also i see no hair growth as of yet. do i have anything to worry about yet? also i was told the ingrown hairs is a good sign because it suggest there is growth beginning under the scalp. is that true?

Ingrown hairs are caused by three factors:

1. Leftover remnants of the hair transplant inside the recipient site, which then go on to produce reactive pustules
2. Hair grafts that are piggybacked one on the other as a result of a technical problem during surgery
3. Folliculitis that evolves into abscess formation

Usually, the third one comes about with less than skilled technicians or technicians with poor eyesight. The other two are just the risks of the process. We see an occasional eruption and on some patients more than a few eruptions. The may come from a progressive folliculitis (infection of a hair follicle) or from one of the other causes listed above.

On very rare occasions, the follicular remnants will act like a foreign body and stimulate an autoimmune process (folliculitis decalvans). Fortunately, we have seen less than a half dozen such reactions in the 20 years history of this practice, but when they occur they are very difficult to treat both in time and visible problems at the wound sites.