I Trust My Transplant Doctor, But I Think I Had Shock Loss

Firstly, I would like to thank you for your input on the website; I’m a daily reader. I have read your previous posts regarding preventative transplants. I am in my late 20’s and essentially had a first transplant done 1.5 years ago in what was pretty much a preventative measure. The transplant definitely had the impact of which you speak, namely causing native hairs to fall out, replacing miniaturized hairs with a lesser number of transplanted hairs. My transplant was only done in the front portion of the scalp, not touching the crown. I was not taking Propecia before the surgery, although there is doubt as to whether or not that would have prevented the shedding. Either way, I now am being told the following from my doctor, whom I trust and with whom I’ve developed a very good relationship:

• The procedure was not wasteful as if we had waited 1-2 years, there would have been less hair to camouflage the procedure.
• You did lose some pre-existing miniaturized hairs, but gained permanent, terminal hairs that give much more of a cosmetic fullness than miniaturized hairs.
• It is disappointing that you did not get the full potential cosmetic fullness because of miniaturized hair loss so the relative change wasn’t as great as you had hoped. But if you had waited there would have been less hair to camouflage what we were doing, and you would have been perceived as having more hair loss going into the procedures.
• For now you can go on Propecia for 6 months to help maintain hair and perhaps beef it up somewhat. Then you may have a 2nd and 3rd procedure at some point for the frontal half of the scalp to get the density you can get with transplants. You can also do a second procedure at any time, and I know you will feel that much better when that second session is in and growing.

My questions at this point are the following: Should I do another transplant now or should I wait longer? I’m told that 70% of the hair in that area now is transplanted hair and that I wouldn’t really get much if any shock loss from the next one as there are very few miniaturized hairs between the transplanted hair. Should I take Propecia before going to another transplant and if so for how long or does it not matter because there will not be anymore shock loss?

Thank you for your answer. I have had a great experience with my doctor so far and trust him to the fullest. I simply post as an educational measure for myself and for all other readers as I think this is a topic of great interest to younger men in the initial stages of hair loss.

I am a bit critical of your doctor for not using Propecia prior to your first surgery, as this probably would have prevented much of the hair loss you experienced. Propecia (finasteride) is very important in young men having transplants to protect against shock loss. Anytime after 8 months you can follow up with another procedure. Best this time to be on Propecia before hand.