women’s hair transplant

I had a hair transplant over 14 months ago and I have never been more worried or stressed. I read your article on shock loss and I fear my hair loss may be permanent. I had a full head of hair going into the surgery, just a little thin at the front, and after the surgery hair would come out in handfuls in the shower. Now I’m grasping for hair to put into a ponytail. It’s a significant amount of loss, and yes it’s been over a year and I have seen no growth. please tell me? does this sound like it’s irreversible? -Denise
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Dear Denise,

It is difficult to predict how severe shock loss will be prior to surgery.  If the hairs that were lost were permanent hairs, they would typically have regrown at the same time the grafts did—within 3-6 months.  One thing that shock loss can do is accelerate a pattern that would have occurred anyway (without treatment), by putting the hair into its rest phase (telogen) in response to an inciting event (stress, surgery, etc).   Hairs affected by shock loss that were permanent, should have grown back in by now.  If you are not using it, you may benefit from the application of topical minoxidil.  The new 5% foam may be easier to use than the liquid form.  Read the Story

I have undergone 3 hair transplant procedures and thought that they were successful.  However, recently  I have noticed further hair loss and am concerned that the hair transplants may not really be working for me, especially since reading that very, very few women are good candidates.  It is difficult to tell if I am seeing just the normal loss of my hair or if the transplants did not take.    Before I decide to have another procedure I want to be very sure that I am really a good candidate for the procedure. Thank you so much for your help.  – Lauren
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Lauren,

Thank you for taking the time to write.  Let me try to answer your question as best I can without seeing you and examining your scalp.

Hair loss, by its very nature, is relentlessly progressive.  This is why a hair restoration surgeon takes into account future hair loss when planning a transplant – they must place hair in areas that might need hair in the future in addition to the areas that have already lost hair.  In women, this problem can be worsened by the surgery itself – that is to say – if a hair is at the end of its life cycle, it may have its final “shed” at the time of surgery.  This is mitigated by the fact that the new hair you get from the surgery is permanent so you end up ahead in the long run, surgeons are just usually more cautious with their female patients.  Additionally, you do not mention what type of hair loss you have; is it androgenetic alopecia (female pattern hair loss), alopecia areata, or hair loss due to other medical problems? Read the Story

I am a 24 year old African American female. I noticed approximately 3 years ago that my hair was thinning at my temples (more so on the left than right). Approximately 2 years ago I notice that my hair line (top-middle) is receding and has now gotten to the point were it is noticeable to others (it is still pretty minor, but has progressively gotten worse). I initially thought that the thinning around my temples was due to traction alopecia and immediately changed my hair styling routine. I didn’t expect the thinning to get better but, as it continues to progress I am more convinced that this is genetic (even though no females in my family this problem). I was recently informed by a dermatologist that my loss is not consistent with female pattern hair loss and that Rogaine probably would not help.

If my hair loss is not of female pattern loss, can it still be considered genetic? And, as I’ve described my loss, do you think I could be a candidate for a hair transplant?

Please know that this has caused and is causing severe emotional distress and I need to know if there is anything I can do about it.

Thank you.
A. Smith
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Hair loss at a young age can be very devastating for anyone.  This is especially true for women who never expect hair loss to be a problem for them. Read the Story

How successful are hair transplants in women? – Wanda
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In short the answer is Very successful female hair transplantation presents its own set of distinct challenges and the surgeon needs to be aware of the specific differences in the transplantation process between men and women, but there is no reason to believe that hair transplantation is less successful in women vs men.
The main challenge we face in dealing with the female patient is making sure we have the right diagnosis prior to moving forward with a surgical solution.

The most common cause of hair loss in women is still androgenetic alopecia or in women referred to as female pattern hair loss but there are many more potential problems that can cause hair loss or thinning in our female patients. As a rule a number of different medical problems should be ruled out first prior to resorting to a surgical solution. The real issue in creating a nice result in my female patients is to have a realistic approach to what their goals are. Read the Story

I am a female age 64 and had an 800 graft hair replacement done about 5 years ago. Since the thinning on the front and crown has become very noticeable, I wonder if there is any way to tell if these grafts actually worked? I really don’t see any difference. I have received HRT since I was 26 and it had both male and female hormones in the pill. I wrote and asked the drug maker if their pill could cause hair loss and they assured me that it could not. I now find out that it can and does along with facial hair. Would minoxidil work for me or not? And if so, what is the difference between the generic and the brand name if any. Thank you for any information that you can give me.
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Thank you for your question and I will do my best to give you the best information that I can to assist you. I am going to assume that the 800 grafts you had done five years ago were placed in the front and the crown as these are the areas that you are concerned about. Read the Story

Do surgeons ever perform hair transplants from non-autologous donors? I am a 56 year old female with considerable thinning all over, and it does not seem to make sense to just shuffle the hairs to different places on my own head. Thanks. – Michelle
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Dear Michelle:

Thank you for your question. If you were to have a hair transplant utilizing follicles from a genetically dissimilar person your body would reject this tissue just as it would with any other transplanted organ. For example, if you were to have a heart transplant, you would need to be on lifelong medication such that your body would not reject the transplanted heart. In similar fashion, a “non-autologous” follicle would be rejected by your body without lifelong anti-rejection medication. It would make good medical sense to utilize these medications for something like a heart, or lung, or kidney, or pancreas, but not for a hair transplant. Therefore, the only acceptable tissue for a hair transplant would come directly from the patient, and/or a genetically identical person, i.e. an identical twin. Read the Story

I am a 32 year old woman and got a hair transplant surgery a year ago. The front of hairline has always had fine baby hair compared to the rest of my hair. It doesn’t fall out, it is just fine. I got the surgery to make that hair look fuller. After my 6 month progress checkup there was no growth, after a year I don’t notice a difference and the before and after photos look the same. I asked my doctor about it and explained my dissatisfaction and he said that I don’t see a difference because the grafted hair is growing but my normal hair is falling out so I don’t see a difference. I think it is a bit strange that everything was the same, no notice of hair loss at the 6 month checkup and then all of the sudden the grafted hair grows my other hair falls out etc. It sounds like an excuse but when I confronted my doctor, he says, I’m the trained doctor and that’s what happened. I know my hair didn’t suddenly start falling out at accelerated speed in the last 6 months. How do approach this, there is no way to undo going through all of the procedure etc. How do I communicate this better to my doctor…because I think I should get a refund or something because it didn’t work. ~ Sima
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Investing time, energy and money into a hair transplant procedure and ending with an outcome that doesn’t meet your goals can be quite frustrating. But gauging results, after transplanting into areas with existing hair, can be difficult especially with the variable of shock loss. Read the Story

I had a hair transplant about two years ago from a well known hair loss clinic here in Chicago. I am very disappointed in the results and was wondering if you do repair work on women. I an 29 years old and had 400 hair grafts placed in a thin area of my hair line. My hair seemed to have gotten worse after the hair transplant. Can this be fixed?
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Repair work traditionally refers to a surgical procedure that is designed to improve, remove or camouflage the adverse effects of a poorly performed surgical hair restoration. Common problems requiring attention during a repair procedure include detectable plugs or minigrafts, asymmetric hairlines, and visible scars. Your letter seems to imply that you have had one or a combination of the following: 1) poor graft growth; 2) not enough grafts to satisfy your density needs; or 3) damage to the residual native hair follicles.

The fact that your hair density has deteriorated may be related to progression of your hair loss process, or it may have arisen from shock loss secondary to the transplant procedure itself. Read the Story

My 27 year old sister underwent a hair transplant to lower her hairline. To my knowledge she had no hair loss but just wanted to kind of frame her face better. The hair transplant surgeon who performed the surgery claimed to have done the same type of surgery on many female celebrities so my sister was excited. Today she looks like a women with a hair transplant and has become extremely withdrawn. She no longer wants to go to work. She does not date and is very depressed. She is also now losing her normal hair since she had the hair transplant.

Is there anything I can do to help her? Can her hair be fixed? Is it normal protocol to do a hair transplant on a 27 year old girl with no real hair loss? Her surgeon is basically ignoring her calls now. Please give me some advise.
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Thank you for your letter. It is unfortunate that your sister did not receive the results that she was hoping for. It sounds like there are two issues that need to be addressed, hair loss in a woman and a transplant result that is not completely natural. I will attempt to give you some options regarding both of these problems.

By your letter it sounds like your sister has started losing her “native” hair since the transplant. You didn’t mention where this is occurring but the situation should be evaluated like any woman with hair loss. This involves obtaining a history of the condition as well as an examination by an experienced hair restoration surgeon. The treatable cases such as thyroid function abnormalities, anemia, elevated testosterone or polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) should be ruled out. Read the Story

My sister underwent a hair transplant two years ago and is very unhappy with her results. To tell you the truth, to me it looks like she has much less hair than when she started this whole thing. The hair that she has in the front looks kind of artificial to me. I know she is very unhappy and I’d like to help her if I can. Do you think having another hair transplant by a reputable member of your organization is a good idea or do you think she is destined to wear a wig?- – - – - – - – - -

Thank you for your inquiry. There are several issues with your sister’s transplant that need to be addressed. The first one is the issue regarding her “artificial” appearing result. Reputable, experienced physicians should be able to create a frontal hairline that appears totally undetectable as a transplant. Some of the factors that may cause an unnatural appearance are the use of grafts with too many hairs, improper direction or angulation of hairs, or a hairline that is too “linear.” Read the Story