About four weeks after getting a large hair transplant I had a bit of a major shock to my business which caused a good deal of panic. A lot of adrenalin rushes, flight/fright, etc., off and on for a few weeks. Pretty constant. The worst has passed, but I am wondering if these adrenalin surges hurt my new implanted grafts’ growth chances. I know it is a vasoconstrictor, but assume that the grafts were secure and alive after 10 days or so.

I don’t have a definitive answer, but I would guess that your emotional stress would have no significant impact on your hair transplants particularly since it occurred a month after your surgery. It’s going to be a case of wait and see.

Hello Doctor,
I have undergone HT 2 weeks back with 2 sessions of a total of 5000 grafts done. Till date, I don’t see a single transplanted hair being fallen out. Instead, I see them growing in length. Is this something to be worried?

I’m wondering why would you worry if you are seeing something positive like growth? You must have had a great donor density to get out 5,000 grafts in two sessions.

In general, most people see what appears to be graft growth in the first 2-3 weeks (it is actually the hair in the graft being pushed out of the scalp). As this is actually the shedding process of the hair which is going into telogen, most of the transplanted hairs will fall out in one month. Either way, follow up with your doctor as he/she can better assess your post operative course and progress.

Dear Doctor R.,
I had a FUT procedure of 3,000 grafts 3 months ago, primarily into the vertex area. Three months on, none of the transplanted hair has yet fallen out nor has it noticeably grown past 5mm.

Should I understand this as a random event, or should I infer that this represents some indicator of the expected telegen/anagen phase timeline? Thanks & with regards

I would not expect the hair to grow out until 5-7 months have elapsed. Following a hair transplant, your newly transplanted grafts will go through a dormant phase. All you can do at this point is have patience. Some people could see the start of growth after a few months, some take a little longer. A very lucky few will not go through any dormant phase and the hair just starts growing.

Did you ask your surgeon? You should’ve been informed of the wait time prior to undergoing your surgery.

A week ago my grafts were exposed to the sun for approximately 10 mins. I didn’t burn but I did go slightly pink most noticeably on my right temple. To be honest I didn’t worry about it at all at first as from what I gathered from researching previous posts here your pretty much safe up to a first degree burn.

Over the last couple of days however I’ve lost a few newly sprouted transplanted hairs where the discolouration is on my scalp. In fact they emerged just before I was exposed to the sun so only 1 week old. I’m slightly concerned as I assume the only reason this would happen is if the follicles were going back into a resting phase or if they have died.

Is it possible sun exposure can cause follicles to shed but then regrow? I’m 9 weeks post op and had just experienced some early growth about week 7/8. Your opinion would be greatly valued.

I wouldn’t think you have anything to worry about regarding your sun exposure. I don’t know why your newly emerged grafts disappeared, but 10 minutes in the sun will not harm the follicles and I doubt it will affect your scar. The ultraviolet light is what you want to avoid, so in the future I’d recommend applying sunscreen to your scalp (SPF 45 or higher).

If you are still worried, follow up with your doctor.

I am starting to panic a bit and wondered if you could give me some confidence for the future months. I had a ht approximately 9 months ago in October of 2010. At the end of the 5 month period I could see definite results and was excited about looking even better in the coming months. Friends and family noticed a definite difference from before I had the transplant.

Now I’m seeing a lot more hair loss of what I assume is the transplanted hair since I didn’t have very much hair before the procedure. Do you think that it’s possible that a lot of the transplanted hair could fall out and then grow back in or do you think I might be stuck with no regrowth? I have tried to do everything the doctor has told me to do but am looking worse almost daily. My doctor says that it could take 12 to 14 months for the ending results in my specific case. I sometimes feel he isn’t telling me everything. I guess I’m a bit afraid that I am going to continue to look worse as time goes on. Do you think there’s any possibility that I’m going through a shedding cycle with my ht?

I would need to see you to draw any conclusions. I generally tell patients to wait a year before questioning the survival and the results of the hair transplant procedure. I wish I could help give you a better feeling, but maybe a visit to me at the 12 month time frame would be a worth while investment.