Losing Hair from Previous Transplants to Shock Loss?

Hello,

I’m in my mid-40s. I’ve had 5 hair transplant procedures since 1996, the most recent 8 months ago. All of them were to fill in bald spots in the front hairline, mid section and the temples. After my last procedure I notice that I lost quite a lot of hair right around where the new grafts went in. Now I realize that sometimes surrounding hair follicles go into shock after a transplant. But a lot of the hairs I lost, not all, were transplanted hairs from previous transplants. That raises the question, how “permanent” are transplanted hairs? Would these grow back? It has been over 8 months already since the procedure.

The other question I have, I noticed in my last 2 procedures that not all of the grafts “took”, especially from the last one. I had received 300 grafts in the front hairline, and only about 75-100 actually grew hairs (yes I was counting them!) Is that acceptable? To me of course it s not. Could it be because the area has been worked on before?

Thank you very much for your informative site.

I do not know what may be going on with you and your hair transplants. I would discuss these issues with your doctor who performed your surgery. Generally, hair transplants are permanent and if they came out (from a previous procedure) they should return. I have seen this about 6 times out of the thousands of hair transplants we have done at NHI, and each and every time a man has lost a previous transplant, it came back at about the same time as the newly transplanted hair. In rare instances, hair on the back of the scalp may not be permanent if you have conditions such as alopecia areata or just getting older, or if the hairs were harvested close to the neck line (the neck hairs may not be permanent).

Again, I would discuss your issues with your doctor who will be better equipped to know what is going on in your specific case.