If you’ve recently had or are thinking about having a hair transplant, one thing that you may be thinking about and concerned over is the possibility of your hair shedding. This is a very real and serious concern that a large number of people who undergo a hair transplant worry about, so let’s take a bit of time to talk about some of the side effects of having a hair transplant and whether hair shedding is something that you need to be concerned over.
The Hair Transplant Process
In a hair transplant, your physician is going to be moving hair that contains skin follicles from areas of the scalp that still contain thick, healthy hair to areas where balding or hair loss has started to take place.
This often entails grafting between 500 and 2000 tiny grafts containing these hair follicles to the new scalp, so it is an extensive number of hairs being shifted.
This entire process can take between four and eight hours depending on how many hair follicles you are having positioned into place.
After the transplant is finished, your scalp is likely to feel quite tender, so this is the first side effect that you should come to expect. In addition to that, within the first two to three weeks after the surgery, that is when you may be prone to seeing your transplanted hair falling out.
As this process takes place however, new hair growth will start up again in a few months, and most people will see 60% of new hair growth occurring within six to nine months of the surgery.
Why Hair Shedding Happens
So why does the hair shed? Most doctors currently believe this takes place because of the trauma to the hair follicles during the removal and handling of the grafts. This can cause the new hair to go dormant for a few months, thus resulting in the shedding.
One thing to note is that this is a perfectly normal and natural side effect, so not something to get too concerned over.
What You Can Do About It
While there is no real cure or method to avoid hair shedding entirely, some experts do believe that using Rogaine may help to shorten the time period in which new hair is dormant, speeding up the growth process.
There isn’t a scientifically validated method however, just something that many doctors have found to help.
So take comfort in knowing that if you do experience hair shedding at any point in time, this doesn’t mean that your surgery was not effective. Give it time and new hair growth will start to occur again. It’s all a part of the process of regaining the hair you’ve dreamt of after your hair transplant