Reassurance about shock loss

[win200]

I posted this in another thread, but that thread was on another topic, so I think it's worth starting a new one. The thread about my surgery can be found here:

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?t=9370

I'd love a little reassurance re: shock loss, even though I know most of the info. I'm at 9 weeks now, and I'm definitely experiencing some shock loss. Before my HT I would find about 10-20 hairs on my hands between shampooing and conditioning, and now I'm at about 30-35 (sometimes as high as 50), although it varies a little every day. It's not freaking me out, but it does make me a little uncomfortable, and there's that nagging worry in the back of my head that, although I know native hairs typically regrow after exiting the resting phase, I'll somehow be the exception and end up worse off than before my HT. I'm a little reassured about the shower loss because my hair is pretty long and thick (see original pictures), so when I shed the normal ~100 hairs throughout the day, most don't leave my head and just stay trapped by the bulk (I also use a sticky molding paste). My hairline had been receding at the temples very, very slowly over the past few years (I'd say 3 millimeters tops since about '04).

Anyway, I know that every says shock loss occurs within the first three months, but does that mean it usually stops in its tracks at three months, or that it should be tapering off around two month-ish? I.e., when does most of the shock loss typically occur within that window? And, most importantly, is there any risk that shock loss can make a person WORSE off than they were before surgery--i.e., that the surgery accelerates MPB even after the shock loss period ends? That's my worry now; I can handle loss that will grow back, but I'm concerned that I see a heightened level of shedding into the indefinite future.

As always, I really appreciate encouragement/comments/etc. You guys are great, and I'm thankful every day that I found this forum.

[gillenator]

It's more the number of hairs that still need to cycle through not as much as the time period that shockloss can take. Some take longer than others but eventually it will subside as the hair passes from telogen to the growth phase.

[Folly]

Here's something a lot of people don't know, which happened to me after my FUE hair transplant. I appear to have many years of stability in terms of hair loss (i.e. normal shedding), but i then seem to have a period of mass shedding. What a lot of people don't realise is, if you are close to a mass shedding phase before your HT, the HT WILL trigger it. So after surgery you can experience mass shedding which isn't necessarily shock loss, it's just one of your extreme MPB shedding phases. I shed very aggressively straight after my HT, for over 9 months. I found out from a hair biopsy that 60% of the hairs on the top of my head were in shedding phase. So 60% of hairs on the top of my head in the shedding phase for 9 months equals a lot of hair loss.

So under these circumstances, yes....you will end up worse after the HT. Unluckily for me, i also had poor growth from my procedure, which was a double kick in the nuts. Kind of makes me not want to ever have another HT.

[win200]

Originally Posted by Folly

Here's something a lot of people don't know, which happened to me after my FUE hair transplant. I appear to have many years of stability in terms of hair loss (i.e. normal shedding), but i then seem to have a period of mass shedding. What a lot of people don't realise is, if you are close to a mass shedding phase before your HT, the HT WILL trigger it. So after surgery you can experience mass shedding which isn't necessarily shock loss, it's just one of your extreme MPB shedding phases. I shed very aggressively straight after my HT, for over 9 months. I found out from a hair biopsy that 60% of the hairs on the top of my head were in shedding phase. So 60% of hairs on the top of my head in the shedding phase for 9 months equals a lot of hair loss.

So under these circumstances, yes....you will end up worse after the HT. Unluckily for me, i also had poor growth from my procedure, which was a double kick in the nuts. Kind of makes me not want to ever have another HT.

Yikes! That's obviously worrisome. I've always been told just to ride out shock loss, and that it will recover. I've been a very, very slow receder since as long as I can remember, and I've never had (to my knowledge) a heavy shedding phase. My shock loss so far isn't horrible, but there's definitely more scalp visible in the forelock that wasn't before, and the recipient area (the hairline) just looks scragglier and messier (partly because it's still a little red from the procedure).

Can anyone else chime in on this? Anyone else experience an uptick in non-shock loss shedding due to a HT?

[Tracy C]

Originally Posted by win200

Yikes! That's obviously worrisome. I've always been told just to ride out shock loss, and that it will recover.

Shock loss usually does recover. I went through a terrible bout of shock loss after my second procedure. It was so bad I could see my hair blowing away in the wind as I was driving with my car windows open. It took almost the whole year for my shock loss to recover. As far as I can tell, it has mostly recovered but not completely. Next months will be the two year anniversary of my second procedure.

The circumstances of your HT can have an effect on whether you experience shock loss or not. In my first procedure the doctor was mostly filling in bare areas and I did not have any noticeable shock loss. My second procedure was mostly to build up density. That is when I experienced shock loss.

Also, I am a natural red head. I do believe at this time that natural red heads are a bit more susceptible to shock loss than others.

[win200]

Originally Posted by Tracy C

Shock loss usually does recover. I went through a terrible bout of shock loss after my second procedure. It was so bad I could see my hair blowing away in the wind as I was driving with my car windows open. It took almost the whole year for my shock loss to recover. As far as I can tell, it has mostly recovered but not completely. Next months will be the two year anniversary of my second procedure.

The circumstances of your HT can have an effect on whether you experience shock loss or not. In my first procedure the doctor was mostly filling in bare areas and I did not have any noticeable shock loss. My second procedure was mostly to build up density. That is when I experienced shock loss.

Also, I am a natural red head. I do believe at this time that natural red heads are a bit more susceptible to shock loss than others.

Thanks, Tracy. My procedure was advancing my hairline forward (I was a NW2.5-3), and the doctor blended grafts back into the hairline a bit. I'm not sure anyone else would notice my loss, but I can definitely see thinness in the forelock that wasn't there before, and it's disconcerting. I had a relatively "hard" hairline before the surgery, and it's softer now; hopefully that resolves. Of course, I was also in the profile with the highest risk for shock loss (or so I've read): under 30 with active recession. I've receded very, very slowly, but I've had miniaturized hairs at my hairline for years and years now. I'd hate to permanently lose the density in my forelock in the course of getting a procedure.

[win200]

Thought I'd add a couple of pictures; these were just taken. The problem is that I didn't take "before" pictures without my hair pulled back and flattened, so it's not a great comparison; the old pictures don't really give a sense of the density behind the hairline at the forelock. In the current ones, I tried to capture some of the exposed scalp at the front, which to my eyes wasn't there before.

Any thoughts? Should this be considered minor shock loss?

The pics labeled "Shock Loss" are the new ones, and "WMartin2" and "WMartin3" are the day before the procedure.

Thanks!

[gillenator]

Every HT patient will experience some level of shockloss post-op.

Some more than others, and there are variances and variables as to how much of it grows back.

[Tracy C]

Originally Posted by win200

Any thoughts? Should this be considered minor shock loss?

If this is shock loss at all, I certainly wish my shock loss was like yours.

[win200]

Originally Posted by Tracy C

If this is shock loss at all, I certainly wish my shock loss was like yours.

Thanks for the encouragement, Tracy. And I'm very sad that you had such a nasty bout with shock loss--after all the time you spend sharing your knowledge here, you deserve as full a head of hair as anyone.

It was difficult to capture in the photo, but there's definitely a good deal more thinness in the forelock than pre-op. I usually styled my hair up, but now I feel self-conscious doing that, because scalp is visible in the front. That worries me, although if I have to endure it for half a year it isn't a big deal.

The thing most worrisome to me right now is that I'm at week 10 and still apparently experiencing increased shedding. From what I understand, shock loss usually subsides before then. I'm nervous about what another commenter said--that surgery induced a massive, prolonged shed and he was left worse off than he started.