Hair Transplant Complications

At our Orange County Hair Transplant Clinic, we received an email from a patient who already had a hair transplant from another clinic. He writes: "I received hair restoration surgery… and my hair never grew in the area and I followed all the directions carefully." He then asks, "Is there any other solutions to bring back my hair?"

Hair transplant surgery can seem as a simple procedure but there are certain factors that can cause suboptimal growth of newly transplanted hair. It is OK for any patient who is considering or has had a hair transplant procedure to be concerned about the survival of their newly transplanted hair. These issues can be categorized into two factors:

1. Technical Problems
2. Patient Factor

Both can potentially determine what the outcome of your hair transplant procedure will be.


Technical Issues

• Problems during hair graft preparation and handling: During the preparation phase of hair grafts, an inexperienced technician may unintentionally manipulate hair grafts more than what they can tolerate. The most common effect is damage to the proliferated follicle cells during graft slivering, harvesting or implanting which can or will cause the hair not to grow.

• Problems with graft maintenance: Once the hair is removed from the body the follicles should be kept in a physiological solution suitable for their survival until the time they are placed in their new location. The solution should be kept at 0 – 4 degrees centigrade to prolong the longevity of the follicular cells and slowdown the cell’s metabolism.

• Implantation phase complications: If the hair graft sites are too tight, technicians may unintentionally manipulate the hair graft’s physical attributes too much and affect the final potential of the hair cells growth.

Patient Factor

• Patient factor can be attested to either intentional or unintentional damaged caused by the patient or sometimes by a hair transplant surgeon’s negligence. Certain skin conditions can result in the loss or complete damage to the newly transplanted hair grafts. Some examples include Alopecia Areata (AA) or Alopecia Cicatricial (AC) as well as others medical conditions. In some cases these conditions may have already been present prior to the transplant or became present afterward. This is why all hair transplant surgeons must raise particular questions in regards to family history of hair loss. If there is no known history of hair loss or the patient is experiencing atypical male pattern baldness a biopsy can easily determine their condition. Come conditions can be easily determined by means of microscopic and macroscopic scalp and hair evaluation.

• Post operative hair transplant care plays a very important role in the final results of any hair transplant procedure. Physical trauma to the newly transplanted hair and other forms of hair trauma include pulling out or scratching newly transplanted hair and may cause you to lose your newly transplanted hair. In psychological conditions like Trichotillomania in which the patient pulls out their own hair it is best to see a psychologist to help you correct these types of issues.

Results are usually more evident after about one year so we recommend having your hair reevaluated by a good hair transplant surgeon if there is any doubt. Once a reevaluation is completed your hair transplant surgeon can help you treat the disorder that caused your less than desirable growth results and even tell you what may have caused your condition.

US Hair Restoration Weblog posted the original blog titled Unsuccessful Hair Transplant