HT growth time

[Guest]

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

[Guest]

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

[Dr. William Parsley]

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