Do FUE Hair Transplants Have The Same Rate of Shock Loss As Regular Hair Transplants?

I have been considering having an FUE hair transplant for almost five years and think that I am about ready to go through with it. I still have a relatively full hair and have only lost about two inches in my hairline which I would like to have restored. I have been on generic finasteride [...]

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There should be a similar percentages of shock loss with both FUE and FUT. It really depends on how much existing hair is remaining in the area that is being grafted and the health of that existing hair..

Good question. What causes shock loss? Is it the density of the grafts placed, the density of the incision sites, indvidual characteristics, or free radicals? No one really knows. i've always felt that density played a role. If you make more incision sites, shock loss is more possible. Then again, if you place a higher density of grafts that have been sitting in an an anaerobic environment for a longer period of time, then you have more free radicals in a small space. One thing i've noted over time with FUE is that my same high densities produce a lower rate of shock loss. Never the less, shock loss still rarely occurs in some patients. Still it is not as common.

Therefore, my conclusion would be that because my grafts with FUE are left out of body for less time, this is the reason my FUE grafts rarely produce shock loss. My FUE grafts have less time to build up free radicals due to anerobic metabolism. They sit in a controlled cool environment because i invented a stable cold storage for my grafts. My grafts sit in a cold storage medium with free radicals. My grafts consume only 6% of the energy they require at room temperature. I bath my grafts in a liposomal ATP solution that costs me $1.34 per cc (there are 5cc in a tsp). The ATP provides energy to the cells outside the body. Maybe the low temp, free radical scavengers, minimal incision site diameter, and the ATP play a role. one thing i can say is that shock loss has become uncommon in my clinic. It might occur, but i can't recall the last time.

Is this in reference to recipient shockloss or donor shockloss or both? Good info though.

In addition to what Dr. Charles and Dr. Cole stated prior, another factor that can contribute to "shock loss" is the amount of miniaturized hair in the region to be transplanted. Patients who are taking Propecia and/or using Rogaine may have a significant amount of miniaturized hair in their transplanted regions. This hair is more sensitive to shock loss and in these individuals the degree of shock loss can be more prominent. Also, women seem to have a higher degree of shock loss than men, which is why I take certain precautions when performing procedures on my female patients.