How Long After a Hair Transplant Are the Grafts Safe?

male, 36yo. I had a hair transplant 15 days ago. I am wondering how I can tell how many or what percentage of the grafts have survived, or if it is even possible to tell that at this point. I am also wondering if there is a certain day like day 10 post op or so that whatever grafts have survived so far will continue to survive? Can transplanted grafts die at month 5 for example that before then have been just fine?

Also, will I experience shedding of the transplanted hairs before I see any growth in 4 months or so? In other words, will things look worse before they look better? Should I be concerned if I see shedding in the grafted area? Does shedding mean the grafts have not survived? I have not yet noticed any shedding as far as I can tell.

thanks.

At 15 days without scabbing, you should be safe with the grafts and they will not come out. If the scabs persist, that is another story which requires careful washing. You really should never look worse unless you experience some degree of shock loss. At your age, to prevent this, you should be on finasteride. At 5 months, the hair should be growing or just starting to grow and the hair loss from the hair within the transplanted grafts will return.

For more, see this paper I co-authored and was published in 2006 —Graft Anchoring in Hair Transplantation (PDF file).