Can Hair Transplantation Damage Surrounding Follicles?

Hello,

Great informative blog. I have a question about future density after transplanted hair. Does your thinning hair follicles around where transplanted hairs gets inserted die from having that area worked on? In other words, say you still have some hair left on you hairline or mid section and you use transplants to help fill that area. When you use Propecia or Rogaine to help thicken your original hair follicles does that hair get “damaged” from having transplanted hair around them?

Thank you for your time and keep up the great site you have.

You raise a very important question. Yes, you can potentially damage the existing surrounding hairs with a hair transplant procedure. Thus, you must consider the risks versus the benefits of the surgery. Most of the time, hair transplantation near normal hair should not damage the normal hair, but if the surrounding hairs are weak (miniaturized) you may precipitate a “shock loss” phenomenon where you will experience loss due to the trauma of the surgery. Although drugs like Propecia work to minimize the shock loss risk, your doctor must not talk in generalities with you and should specifically address your risks. You must discuss this risk with your physician before a hair transplant surgery.