How Long Should I Wait Between Hair Transplants?

Hi Dr. Rassman,
I recently had a hair transplant in February and have a few questions:

1. How long do you recommened waiting before having another procedure? I’m thinking a year (to see results), but would any sooner hurt the transplanted hair?
2. If you have additional procedures, can the newly transplanted hair be affected by shock loss?
3. How often do your patients stop using Finasteride after having hair transplants?

1. I generally recommend waiting between 8-12 months between hair transplants as 80% of the hair will be at styling length by the 8th month.
2. Shock loss is rare in a second hair transplant within 2 years of the first.
3. I generally think of Propecia/finasteride as a lifetime decision, because stopping it would allow the progressive nature of hair loss to show and evolve. So I don’t recommend stopping Propecia once it is started. I don’t have statistics on how many patients stop using the medication after a transplant, though.