Hair Transplant Failures

[Jimmyhair]

I think I posted this in the wrong area so I am posting it here as well. I just got a procedure done at Bosley 3 weeks ago and wouldn't you know it after all my research beforehand it is now afterwards that I am seeing so many negatives online after I had it done. It seems that all the positive things I see online are connected to doctors and hair clinics and all the negative stuff is from patients on blogs and forums and websites that had a procedure. I see stories of botched procedures, pain, numbness, and things like that but also stories of the transplanted hair falling out over the next couple of years after the procedure and damage done to good hair causing it to fall out also. I have seen just a few of these stories where guys end up worse than when they started. I am wondering if there are guys out there that can verify this or come here with stories of their own. Is it common to end up worse afterwards than before you started?

[Folly]

Hey Jimmy,

Yes, you definitely CAN end up worse than when you started. I started receding very slightly at my hairline at around 28 and totally panicked. I've added a picture of my hairline in March of this year. A month after the pic was taken i met with a reputable HT surgeon and 1 month after that, had 1,250 grafts to my hairline. The bottom line, i'm now 9 months post op and here is the outcome:

1) No growth of transplanted hairs (and i mean nothing !!)
2) 3 weeks after the op i started to shed crazy amounts of hair
3) The shedding has continued for 9 months
4) You can see my scalp around my hairline and it's impossible for me cover it without toppik
5) I've lost 1,250 grafts
6) I've lost out on 6K Euros
7) Most importantly, i'm mega depressed and pissed off !!

Looking at the picture of my hairline back in March, i can't believe i had a HT. I've lost so much hair since then it's unreal. Biggest mistake of my life. I'd do anything to go back to that time. I'm such a moron it's unbelievable !!

Don't get me wrong, if the transplanted hairs had grown, it would have been the best decision ever. I probably wouldn't have had to worry about my hair for the next 6-7 years. Especially since i'm now on propecia and my hair loss isn't progressing that fast. But i don't know what happened after the surgery, i've just been shedding and shedding. My grafts have actually grown and fallen out but i don't know why. I'm still 9 months post op, so maybe they will grow back, but i doubt it.

Anyway, to answer your question...Yes, you can end up much worse than when you started. To add to the insult of none of your grafts growing, a lot of you native hair can disappear too and not just the vellus hairs. I believe i have lost terminal hairs too that haven't grown back. Worst thing is, a failed HT can turn you into a right disgruntled b#stard :-) .

Can you imagine someone going from the hair in this picture, to 9 months later not even being able to hide a receding hairline ? That's what happened to me !!

[Tracy C]

I just got a procedure done at Bosley 3 weeks ago...

Worrying abut it now is going to do you more harm than good. Stressing out over whether the procedure will be a failure or not can make it a failure.

Relax and take care of yourself. It will be at least a year before you will know how much good the procedure has done for you. I had my second surgery 15 months ago and I still have hair comming in.

[Jimmyhair]

Folly I only see one picture and it looks like you have a nice head of hair on your head. Did some of the pictures not download? I would be interested in seeing your before and after pics in order so we could see what you are actually talking about.

[DAVE52]

Can you imagine someone going from the hair in this picture, to 9 months later not even being able to hide a receding hairline ? That's what happened to me !!

From that picture the doc should have told you that you did not need a HT

[gillenator]

I think I posted this in the wrong area so I am posting it here as well. I just got a procedure done at Bosley 3 weeks ago and wouldn't you know it after all my research beforehand it is now afterwards that I am seeing so many negatives online after I had it done. It seems that all the positive things I see online are connected to doctors and hair clinics and all the negative stuff is from patients on blogs and forums and websites that had a procedure. I see stories of botched procedures, pain, numbness, and things like that but also stories of the transplanted hair falling out over the next couple of years after the procedure and damage done to good hair causing it to fall out also. I have seen just a few of these stories where guys end up worse than when they started. I am wondering if there are guys out there that can verify this or come here with stories of their own. Is it common to end up worse afterwards than before you started?

Yes, it is usually because the patient needed hairloss medication, NOT A TRANSPLANT! Then you end up with some permanent shockloss as a result and yes a person can end up looking like they have less hair.

That is why I always tell patients to never inform the doctor that you have the money to pay for a procedure.

[Folly]

Folly I only see one picture and it looks like you have a nice head of hair on your head. Did some of the pictures not download? I would be interested in seeing your before and after pics in order so we could see what you are actually talking about.

Jimmy, the pic in my first post is of my hair, 1 month before the surgery. I just had a little thinning at the front. Here is a pic of my current hairline, showing the areas where the 1,250 grafts were placed (within the red perimeters). So at 9 month post op, almost none of the grafts have grown and i have lost LOADS of hair i had there to begin within. All the hair which you can see within the surgical area is my native hair. Before the op, i had 3 times that amount of hair within the area. So not only have my grafts not grown, i've lost loads of the native hair i had there to begin with. And it wasn't hair that i was going to lose anyway, which is what i always read about on HT sites. They always say hair that doesn't grow back from shock loss was on its way out anyway. I don't believe that. I believe i've lost other 'good' native hair from this surgery.

[Tracy C]

Jimmy, the pic in my first post is of my hair, 1 month before the surgery.

You did not need a hair transplant. Do your best to stop worrying and stressing over it. All this worry and stress is doing you more harm than good.

[Folly]

Thanks Tracy C. I'm trying not to stress, but i can't stop myself from getting on these forums and reading about HT in general. I'm definitely gonna try to stop all this though.

I've been on propecia for the last month, so hopefully i will regrow a little hair using that and i can forget about hair transplants for the next 2-3 years. Just hope propecia doesn't cause me a big shed initially. I've stopped shedding hair for the past 3 weeks or so, after 9 - 10 months of intense shedding after the HT. Fingers crossed i can get back to where i was pre-op. Thanks.

[gillenator]

Folly,

Have you been formally diagnosed with MPB by a reputable HT docotr, NOT the ones who did your procedure?

I mean you may not even have genetic hairloss (MPB) and then you are taking Propecia? Feel free to contact me for a referral to someone reputable in ideally your area.

Also, Propecia is not going to regrow anything in the frontal zone of your scalp. If you had that much density there to start with, they could have potentially transected much of the hair there already, and not much to do with shockloss as you are thinking.

Transection is permanent damage to exisitng hair and/or follicles.

I don't like being the bearer of bad news but you need to know what you are dealing with. With the head of hair that you had, you may have just been experiencing a natural upward movement of your once juvenile established hairline, NOT MPB.

That's why I am somewhat skeptical of what you have been told by the clinic and you need to get advice from someone honest and reputable that does not need your business.

I wish you the best as you get things worked out for yourself!

[Folly]

Hi Gillenator,

Thanks for your reply. I've seen a couple of dermatologists who have also confirmed MPB. I've attached a picture of my crown and a hair density image of the middle of my scalp. You can see minituarization in the hair density image and you can also see some thinning in my crown pic (around my crown). I'm pretty sure it's MPB, but please feel free to comment on the pics, or let me know if you want other pics. You've seen a pic of my hairline, although i'm just getting over 10 months of intense shedding, so i'm hoping everything starts to fill back again, as it was pre-op. Also, I had a hair pathology done by a derm, who said i'm shedding 60% of the hairs on the top of my head and 8% in the donor area, so it's definitely just MPB. My dads is 65 and has been an NW4 now for about 15 years.

Just before my surgery, i had a massive shed on my hairline, due to minoxidil. I foolishly started using it 2 months before my op. When i had the FUE surgery, i had very little native hair on my hairline, as it had all shed. I think the doc definitely MUST have damaged existing hair, which doesn't seem to have grown back. The grafted hairs haven't grown either, so my hairline looks terrible now. I don't think anyone should do a HT whilst they're in the middle of a agressive shed.

Gillenator, are the chances of a succesfull transplant to my hairline now much less likely, now that i've had a failed operation in that area? I've read that the area operated on gets saturated with scar tissue and blood flow becomes poor ?

Also, are there some people who just can't have a HT ? i.e. their scalp won't accept transplanted hairs ? Have you ever heard of this? My derm told me i don't have any type of strange alopecia (like scarring alopecia), just MPB. I'm really skeptical about FUE now and might go for strip next time. I see all these great results posted online and can't believe i've had no growth. My HT surgeon was recomended by IAHRS by the way.

Thanks.

[Jimmyhair]

Thanks for the picture Folly. I agree with others after seeing your first picture that you definitely did not need a hair transplant. You had a great head of hair for a 28 year old. Nowadays in our modern lifestyle, and yes that is what I believe is causing hair loss not some genetic programming, most guys at 28 are going bald. You sound a little like me. Most people would have told me I was crazy for getting an HT since I have more hair on my head than most guys my age. I'm 45. I also was a little greedy and wanted my hair to look like it did when I was 20. I am thinning across the top of my head but the only place you could see a little balding was on the very top of the crown which bugged me. the rest of my head was covered with hair but the doctor convinced me I was seriously thinning through the entire top and I got 3000 grafts done. It seems like a lot but they tell you it wont cover a lot since you have 40000 through the entire zone of mpb. Well anyway I am post opt 2 months now and I believe I may be a tiny bit thinner across the entire tope where all the grafts were done. It doesn't appear I have suffered a major shock loss but I am unclear how long that can happen. Some people say after 2 weeks you are safe but others say they had shock loss 2 months after HT. The big thing for me is the growth of the transplanted hairs. Of course right now I cant see anything growing after 2 months but by the sixth month out I am hoping I see something. If not you will have a friend in the pissed off category.

[Jimmyhair]

I am sorry I don't have any pics. I never thought to take any before the HT but since I am only 2 months out I guess i could take some now. I will try to get to it. My crown is a thinner than yours and about twice as big.

[gillenator]

Jimmyhair,

Most HT patients experience shockloss approximately 3-4 weeks post-op. You obviously are already aware that the degree of shockloss varies between patients. IMHO, it is the level of trauma caused to the recipient area from the incisions, and sometimes can even impact the donor zone.

You might even notice more thinning on top of your head in the next month or so before the regrowth begins.

You also sound like a good candidate for Propecia because you have alot of native hair left that is susceptible to DHT.

Let us know how things develop for you in the coming months and best wishes to you.

[gillenator]

Folly,

I have been meaning to reply to you and thanks for the updated pic. No question IMHO, that there are some grafts coming through at the hairline area that you circled in red. The hair that is coming through that appears "crinkled" are the grafts.

Your case is somewhat difficult for the following reasons:

1) How experienced was you docotr in FUE?

2) IMHO, you should have been re-scheduled for the procedure because of the shedding of your exisiting hair from the intial use of starting minoxidil. Did you inform your doctor of this?

3) It appears very possible that transection was done to exisitng hair follicles in the recipient area because of the lack of exisitng hair and why your surgery should have pushed ahead for 9 months. That would have given the shed area a chance to recoup and regrow what was once there. That way your surgeon would clearly see where he should have not made incisions, he would have seen the angulation of your exisitng hair and made the accomodating recipient incisions at the appropriate angles.

4) It is diffucult to conclude why the new grafts are not growing 9 months post-op. I think it could be from initially starting Propecia in the last several months. Yes, no question that you should be on it HOWEVER, it is the timing of starting something new so quickly post-op. I truly believe the minoxidil caused the first shed however starting another hairloss drug so quickly may be affecting "any" of the follicles in the recipioent area from entering the growing phase. So both exisitng follicles that were not damaged and the new transplanted follicles may be lingering in the resting phase at present. The test results from your derm confirm this with 60% of them in the shed/dormant phase. That's very high.

5) You may experience a delay in the regrowth period with all of this worry. So reaaly try and listen to Tracy and do not allow stress to take over. Stress will compound the problem and hold back the regrowth period further.

6) If you still have these issues one year post-op or so, you will at least have a better idea of how much exisitng hair was permanently damaged and also get an idea of how successful the FUE was.

Whatever you do, STOP TRYING NEW PRODUCTS. I highly recommned that you take a vacation, get away, fill your time with fun activity and forget about you hair for awhile.

Some will advise you to start taking MSM, scalp invigorators, scalp cleansers, etc, etc. Some will even advise you to start using laser therapy!

Let your follicles chill and rest. They have been through enough for now, no sense to keep introducing new products and chemicals, herbals, supplements, and on and on.

If you want to email me more pics in the future that's fine. I think you'll find more growth coming with a little more time.

Wow, thaty was a mouthful and hope you do well in the future my friend.

Take care Folly!