I have a few questions about the hair transplant surgery I had three months ago.
It has been exactly three months now since my hair transplant and I have noticed quite a bit of growth, but not as I had expected. Before the surgery, the doctor said that the recipient area would receive about 40 hairs/follicles per centimetre. The growth that I have is no where near 40 hairs/follicles though. I would say that it is about 20 hairs per centimetre and when I look closely I can't see any dark hair growth beneath the scalp. I am a little concerned that this is all the growth I am going to get.
My scalp is also still quite red. Is this normal for three months after surgery? Can/should I be putting something on my scalp to reduce the redness?
Three months post op is just the beginning of the growth phase of your transplanted hairs. You have a lot more growth to look forward to. When you say 40 hairs/follicles per cm2, there is a big difference between the two as follicular units can contain anywhere from 1 to 4 hairs. The number can greatly affect the number of actual HAIRS per cm2. Of course it's just too early to expect any results at 3 months.
The redness should have subsided greatly from your surgery date. The redness fades as time passes. The growth of the transplanted hairs will also help mask some of the redness. Depending on how fair skin you are, slight redness can last close to a year.
Try to be patient, you have a lot of growth coming. On the average, you should expect 50% of growth at 6 months and 100 % at 12 to 13 months post op. You have a long ways to go. Best wishes!
I'm employed as the lead medical tech and surgical manager for the Shapiro Medical Group. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Posts: 625 | Location: Minnesota | Registered: July 24, 2006
This thing called hair surgery is not always a clear path. There are many many variables that nobody can predict. Redness and time of regrowth are just 2 of them. I have seen cases where the redness was gone just a couple of weeks after the treatment, other cases it took almost 6 months ! I have seen regrowth after 6 weeks and there have been cases of initial regrowth after 6 months.
You are well within limits and from what you write I am sure it will work out fine for you.
During my consultations I often ask what people expect to be the hardest part of a hair transplant. Many answer the pain of the injections, the fear for the unkown... In fact most people tell me that waiting for the final results itself is often the hardest part :-)
Consultant Prohairclinic (FUE only) in Belgium, Dr. De Reys.
j-man: i also was concerned about the redness as you say you are. i have been using a 99% pure aloe gel, and i have noticed the redness mellow out a lot. i think it is easy to apply through out the day, just a dab, and there is no greasy feeling.
i'll post some new pics tonight on my blog (3/16) and you can see for yourself some of the redness has gone, especially from the hairline which was my worst area.
