Has been researching on here for a long time, had my surgery 1 month ago. I didnt experience the shedding from propecia that i had read about so i was grateful for that. I had read about shock loss and almost everybody had their during 2-3 wks, and i had a little shed around that time and was very happy that it wasnt as bad as i had expected. But now for the last 7 days it has gotten worse, and i mean really bad. Its worse when i comb my hair after the shower and using conditioner is like shooting myself so i am not even using conditioner anymore.
Is this shock loss since its already been a month and how much more do i have to endure. The hair that comes out is not even the thin strands, its the thick healthy hair.. For the last 20 days i have also been using mega men, msm 3000 and biotin 300.
My dr is a very reputable dr on this forum and his work looks like the best there is to offer from all the research that i did on this forum and also through the visits that i did. Should i be concerned and visit him or is that just wasting my time since ther eis nothing to be done. If anyone out there experienced this at 1 month like i am please help me. I am cutting my hair short tomm since i heard that i might help, if there are any other suggestions please please please let me know..

Everyone is a little different on the timing of their shock loss. My experience was from about 3-5 weeks out, I had some pretty good shedding from shock loss. After that, things calmed down quite a bit. By 7-8 weeks post HT, I was back to my regular shedding pattern, and have stayed there since (I'm almost 4 months out).

From what I've read on the forums, most people who experience shock loss feel the worst of it anywhere from about 2 weeks to 2 months out. Again, it varies from person to person. And from what my doctor told me, the hair lost to shock takes a little longer to come back in than the transplanted hair. You should start to see it again somewhere around 4-8 months post surgery.

Try not to freak out! It's just part of the process. I've had three kids, and experienced massive hair shedding from about 2-5 months after each pregnancy due to hormone swings. Not fun at all. So I know this time is tough on you, but hang in there. It should all come back in time.

I had tons of shock loss but most didn't even start until at least a month after surgery. The worst was during month two. Hang on, if it is healthy hair it will be back.

Cheers.

Has anybody tried anything that mnight have slowed it down for them... i counted the hairs and it was 49 just after combing my hair not counting the ones that i lost while showering or the ones on my pillow.... Pretty soon i doubt toppik would be effective either. Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

marino450,

Sounds like "normal" shock loss to me. Since the hairs that are coming out are thick and healthy, that's a good thing. The ones to be concerned about are any that may be in the final MPB stage and are susceptible to getting shocked out permanently.

I noticed some shock loss around month 1 after HT #2, but for me it was more noticeable at month 2 when my hair was starting to grow back. My shocked hair started growing back at 2 months and 1 week. I could tell because it grew in thick and stubbly versus new HT hair coming in thin and wispy then thickening over time.

Hang in there, don't count the hair coming out of your head and look in the mirror as little as possible. Try and get your mind off the HT for awhile. Around months 3-4 it'll start getting real interesting.