grafts falling out post-op

[rcx]

i just had 2000 or so grafts from a highly reputable HT surgeon. I won't say who, but he and his staff were very professional, and I'm looking forward to the new hair growing in over the next few months.

 

One slight problem though. I'm now 7 days post-op and I would say that at least 10, maybe 12, of the grafts have been lost. Is this normal? I'd be interested to hear what others have to say about this. Of course, 99%+ of the grafts are still intact, but I worry.

 

Thanks

[rcx]

i just had 2000 or so grafts from a highly reputable HT surgeon. I won't say who, but he and his staff were very professional, and I'm looking forward to the new hair growing in over the next few months.

 

One slight problem though. I'm now 7 days post-op and I would say that at least 10, maybe 12, of the grafts have been lost. Is this normal? I'd be interested to hear what others have to say about this. Of course, 99%+ of the grafts are still intact, but I worry.

 

Thanks

[arfy]

Didn't your doctor explain to you that there is a dormant phase that lasts about 3 months (more or less) during which most if not all of the grafted hair will fall out? The hair-producing root is still intact, and your hair will start growing in after about 3 months.

 

If your doctor is "reputable" I wonder how he can operate on you without explaining everything to you beforehand?

[Guest]

rcx,

 

Within the first month about 80% of my transplanted hairs fell out. As arfy explained this is just part of the dormant phase. Don't worry about it. This is perfectly normal and most will grow back.

 

Congrats on your transplant.

 

Cam

 

Cam's Transplant

 

[Mr T]

rcx,

 

As long as there is not streaming from where the grafts were, you are probably fine. The grafts are well seated after 7 days. Losing one is usually adccompanied by .

 

What you are seeing si the normal shedding of grafts that occurs post-HT. As noted above, you will lose most, if not all, of the grafts at some point and then the re-growth will begin in 2-3 months.

 

Good luck,

 

Mr. T

 

Mr. T's 8 month post-op photos

[rcx]

thanks for the replies, but let me elaborate. i'm not talking about the shedding of hair. I knew from the beginning that nearly all of the transplanted hairs would fall out before they grew again. that doesn't worry me at all. what does worry me is that I lost at least 10 of the grafts (not just the hairs). I can tell because they look like tiny kernels of rice. I suppose losing 10 or 12 out of 2000+ is not too much of a problem, but I wanted to know if others had a similar experience.

[Mr T]

rcx,

 

What you see are not lost grafts. That "kernel of rice" is what you should expect to lose. If you don't have bleeding associated with it, you are not losing grafts, but just shedding after the HT.

 

Mr. T

 

Mr. T's 8 month post-op photos

[Guest]

i lost 5 or 6, mainly i think b/c i scratched my head a lot. if they are just "falling out", you may not be healing properly. talk to the doc.

 

http://www.hairlosshelp.com/websites/jcwhair/

 

JCW

[arfy]

What I've heard is losing one graft per every thousand is considered acceptable.

 

If you lost what looks to be a small kernel of rice, it may very well be a graft. Sometimes you will bleed if you lose a graft, if it happens recently after surgery. But sometimes, a graft just doesn't survive, and eventually it works its' way out. In a case like that, there may not be any blood... the scalp healed without including the graft, so to speak. Maybe the best way to tell what you've got is by how much dried tissue is surrounding the hair. If it seems like a graft, it may very well be a graft. Look at photos of what a healthy graft looks like:

[Guest]

When I had my HT a year or so ago, My doctor informed me about every possible situation. Also as ARFY has explained once hair is transplanted it goes to sleep and the hair is lost. It remains in this stage for few months. You are fine. That is what is supposed to happen.

[Frenchie2001]

rcx,

 

I am about 13 days post op. At about 7 or 8 days post op I really started shedding scabs and hairs. There was no blood with any of them, but like you I was worried that it seemed like a lot of "tissue" that surrounded some of the hairs. It seemed like some hairs shed cleanly not even a scab around it, but others seemed to have have more "stuff" around them. So I do not know how important it is or if it means there was a graft or it was just estra tissue. I just know how worried I was (am) and thought I would let you know I had the exact same thing.

[rcx]

Thanks Frenchie,

 

My experience seems to have been similar to yours. But I'm 10 days post-op now, and everything seems to have stabilized. You might be right in that some of what I thought were lost grafts were just extra tissue. At least I hope so.