I’m Worse Off Now AFTER My Hair Transplant

Dr. Rassman,

I had a my first procedure done over 1 year ago (1900 grafts) by a reputable surgeon but am extremely disappointed with my results. I have noticeably less hair now than prior to surgery. My doctor said the procedure went fine, but I have lost more native hair than transplanted hair received which is the source of my visible concern. My question – how do I know if this is correct. How can I know that the 1900 grafts survived or if there was in fact a problem with my procedure I am not aware of. I am 49 and have been on Propecia for several years. Have you ever heard of this situation? I feel like I’m in the middle of a nightmare – I have paid a small fortune to fast track my hair loss. I don’t know where to go from here. Please help!

I hear and see situations similar to yours nearly everyday. If you were a young man (under 25) and not on Propecia, I would predict the hair loss as almost a certainty. Hair transplant surgery should take into account a Master Plan to plan for future losses.

You should not have lost native hair at your age (49), as men of this age have hair that rarely reacts with shock loss, particularly as you are on Propecia. Although this is a risk that patients must be made fully aware of before having the surgery, there are too many uncertainties here for me to draw conclusions without examining you myself and see what happened to the transplants you had. Hopefully, you have good before pictures taken for an expert to draw conclusions. You need to have a second opinion.