Hair Transplant | Hair Loss Caused By Car Accident

Hair Loss Caused By Car Accident

My 17 year old  daughter was in a car accident about 4 months ago. Thankfully she is  recovering well with no permanent injuries, however during  the accident  her head hit the dashboard of the car causing tremendous  bruising. About 2 weeks after the accident all of the hair in that area  just began falling out. the hair has not returned. Could there have been  some permanent damage to the hair follicles so that the hair will not grow  back and if it does not grow back will a hair transplant work to replace  the lost hair?

The cause of the hair loss is what we call ‘anagen effluvium’ assuming that there is no severe scar tissue in the area of hair loss.  This means that the trauma caused an acute lack of blood supply (oxygen) to the hair follicles, causing them to shed hair.  Normally, we would expect all the hair to regrow.  If it does not all regrow, this would suggest that there have been some scarring under the skin that resulted in permanent follicles damage.  It would be best to wait at least 6 months to see if there is good hair regrowth, in which case a transplant would be unnecessary.  If there is no growth at that time, a transplant should be considered.

Jerry Cooley, MD
Member, International  Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons

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