What if Hair Transplantation goes wrong?

[hairraisingexperience]

I was just wondering about a few things concerning a HT, mostly prompted from research but haven't as of yet found an answer to these:

 

1) What if you go to a great surgeon who, for example, transplants 3,000 grafts. You follow all the safety instruction but for some reason the yield is extremely low. Do surgeons re-do the work or do you have to pay them again to do the same job?

 

2) Let's assume the HT went well and you've suddenly found yourself with a new head of hair. Are there any risks of losing this hair to seasonal shedding and essentially progressively destroying all the work that was done?

 

3) Are there any other major risks to losing the work that was done?

 

Thanks for any responses.

[TommyLucchese]

1) It's always a possibility this may happen. Some will offer a full or partial refund, some offer a free additional surgery, some will offer a discounted additional surgery, so MAY try to shy away from it

 

Then it comes down to really why it didn't work. If you went to a hack, you may want to just try and get a refund then go to a recommended doctor for corrective surgery. If you went to a great doctor and the transplant just didn't take - that is probably down to your own physiology. Then you have to decide if it's worth another shot, and maybe if you want to try a different doctor.

 

Seasonal shedding does exist, I've also seen a few posts of people who were in a great place at 10 months then slowly began to lose the transplanted hair.

 

Other major risks? Maybe that your donor becomes hit by...errr whats the phrase, retrogade alopecia (?) which is essentially hair loss in the "safe" zones. Then that too would likely mean the transplated hair thins/falls out.

 

These are all "what ifs" and ones you do need to consider, that's why a hair transplant is always a risk no matter who you go with. You just have to be prepared mentally for anything, but know that if you choose a quality surgeon you'll have given yourself every chance of a successful result.

[hairraisingexperience]

Thanks for that comprehensive reply - much appreciated and provided even more food for thought.

 

Would I be correct to adduce that hair lost due to seasonal shedding will permanently knock off positive results from your job? In other words, does seasonal loss, over time, require you to get additional surgery? Or does the hair grow back to full thickness as the bad seasons pass...

[TommyLucchese]

No problem!

 

It differs. Some people's transplants never looked as good as it did at the 10 month mark......for other people after the shedding was over it went back to looking good again.

 

Seasonal shedding is mainly temporary, but like I said there's been cases where transplanted hair did shed after a year or so.