I had a HT three months ago almost to the day. My doctor said the grafts would begin growing after three months. Now, I'm going on four months and I've only noticed just a very few hairs in the transplant area growing. I'm somewhat paranoid that I could have done something to jeopardize the grafts without knowing it. I did take care of the transplant area as my surgeon prescribed. I used nothing on the transplants but water for a week following the procedure, and no hair gels or any sprays at all since the procedure. I had extreme itching of the graft area a week after the procedure, which I could'nt help but scratch. Also, I somewhat picked at the scabs as they were coming loose. I never picked them bloody, but I somewhat "helped" them come off. Now, I worry these were bad practices. Also, does wearing a hat frequently, which I have done since a week after the grafts, pose any problem for the transplants? Could anyone shed some light on this? Thank you very much.

Paranoid Harve

I had a HT three months ago almost to the day. My doctor said the grafts would begin growing after three months. Now, I'm going on four months and I've only noticed just a very few hairs in the transplant area growing. I'm somewhat paranoid that I could have done something to jeopardize the grafts without knowing it. I did take care of the transplant area as my surgeon prescribed. I used nothing on the transplants but water for a week following the procedure, and no hair gels or any sprays at all since the procedure. I had extreme itching of the graft area a week after the procedure, which I could'nt help but scratch. Also, I somewhat picked at the scabs as they were coming loose. I never picked them bloody, but I somewhat "helped" them come off. Now, I worry these were bad practices. Also, does wearing a hat frequently, which I have done since a week after the grafts, pose any problem for the transplants? Could anyone shed some light on this? Thank you very much.

Paranoid Harve

To Harve,
Sometimes they never fall out and at 3 months patients are looking pretty good. At the other extreme, I have had patients that didn't start growing well until after 8 months. From some of the recent studies, it appears that many patients still have new hairs coming in at 7 months.
Personally, I don't tell my patients to expect anything until 4 months because it just causes needless worry when it comes in later than 3 months, which is common.
Sounds like you took good care of the grafts, so hold off any concern.
Dr. Parsley

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Dr. Parsley is recommended on the Hair Transplant Network