Do the new transplanted hairs always fall out, before growing?

I just had a transplant just over two weeks ago and I understand that typically the new hairs fall out within a couple of weeks then start to grow after 3 months. So far I havent notice the new hairs thinning or falling out, there actually growing like weeds. at this rate within 2 months my new hair will be full length. Is this common? Should they have falled out? Help

Hi TM,

Its common for them to hang around for 2/3 weeks and then they will shed - The vast majority will shed. Best thing is to have a good shower and massage them to aid them. Do not worry! After literally 3/5 days grafts are solid and in place so after 2 weeks you are safe. In my opinion the sooner the new grafts shed - the sooner they can go into the rest phase and then the sooner they can regrow.

Be aware that in many cases the transplanted hairs actually grow for a few weeks, but then fall out in a delayed fashion. I have had severeal patients over the years that called me 2-3 weeks post-op and said Doc all my transplanted hairs are still there and they look twice as long as the day of surgery. I tell them about this delayed fall out and sure enough they call me back 1-2 weeks later and say you are right they all fell out. Hopefully, you will be one of the lucky 1-2% fo patients who just get continued growth and never expewrience the fall out.

In my experience most patients shed most of their grafts 2-4 weeks post-op. It has been the exception where a higher percent of them remain in the anagen (growing) phase and continue to grow. But Like Dr. Charles stated, it can happen even if it's only 1-2% of the population. I would say that approximately 25% of my hairline grafts continued to grow immediately post-op, but within the next several months, they too fell out.

Sometimes you will notice that the crust fell off, but the hair within the graft remained. That hair remained in anagen.