Prior to a hair transplant, it’s best to thoroughly research your surgeon to find the best surgeon for the job. This means looking for surgeons who are members of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, who have board certification in a plastic surgery field, who possess a lot of experience, and who are able to show you a lot of before and after pictures to allow you to obtain realistic expectations as to that surgeon’s work.
It’s also beneficial to ask to talk to some of the hair restoration surgeon’s former patients and see the hair restoration up close.
Even the best hair transplant surgeons cannot guarantee results. There are factors out of a surgeon’s control that impact healing. This includes the use of certain vitamins, medicines, and herbal supplements. Patients who smoke or drink a number of alcoholic beverages every day may not heal properly. Even malnutrition can affect the outcome of your surgery.
Surgeons do try their hardest to give you the best possible results, but every patient is different. If you’re unhappy with the results of a hair transplant, there are things you should do before giving up hope.
Consider the Amount of Time That Has Passed
Hairs grow at an average of approximately half an inch per month. While some hairs are in a growth cycle, other hairs are preparing for shedding or in the stages of shedding. At the end of a hair’s growing cycle, the protective sheath around the root shrinks.
As the new hair in that follicle grows, the old hair is pushed out over a span of two or three weeks. This natural process takes place every day, so there is always hair loss and hair growth occurring at the same time.
After a transplant, it is normal for the hair in the transplanted follicle to fall out approximately three weeks after the surgery. It takes another four to six months before the new hair grows.
By the ninth month, the hair starts to thicken and looks fuller. Still, it can take a full year or more from the day of your hair transplant before your transplanted follicles have produced the thick hair you expect to see. If only a few months have passed, you need to wait much longer before deciding whether your hair transplant was a success or failure.
Decide if Reparative Hair Replacement is Right for You
The majority of men and women who seek a reparative hair transplant do so because the results were not aesthetically pleasing. Often, this doll’s hair look comes from outdated surgical techniques.
If the dissected hair grafts were too large or the surgery took place years ago when hair transplantation was still a newer procedure, revision hair transplants are possible. Poor design and execution by a less than aesthetically skilled surgeon is one of the more common etiologies of patients seeking reparative work.
There are several ways an experienced hair transplant surgeon can fix your unsightly hair transplant result. One is to remove the follicles and dissect them into smaller grafts and transplant them again.
The second option involves removing a portion of the oversized follicle and transplanting the excised hair follicles into other areas. The third option involves removing the follicles and reverting to having bald spots or a shaved head. Oftentimes, additional grafts will be transplanted.
View this hair transplant before and after video to see the actual results of a hair transplant surgery with Dr. Jeffrey Epstein of the Foundation for Hair Restoration. Dr. Epstein performs hair restoration in New York and Miami.
Through the use of online consultations, anyone can discuss their specific hair loss issues and decide if a hair transplant is the best option. Dr. Epstein’s goal is always to make the end results look natural. Schedule a free consultation by calling (212) 759-3484 in New York City or (305) 666-1774 in Miami.