Permanent Shock Loss?

[gxm100]

Hey all,

 

I'm considering a hair transplant and was feeling pretty good about it. I had always been under the impression that shock loss was temporary, or at least usually temporary. What would cause permanent shock loss vs temporary shock loss. Is there any steps to take to try to prevent it? I would like to get a hair transplant at my hairline. The hair that is still in the forelock and behind has persisted but certainly is at least a little bit diffused. Does propecia help prevent the shock loss?

 

Thanks for the advice in advance!

[Sean]

Hey all,

 

I'm considering a hair transplant and was feeling pretty good about it. I had always been under the impression that shock loss was temporary, or at least usually temporary. What would cause permanent shock loss vs temporary shock loss. Is there any steps to take to try to prevent it? I would like to get a hair transplant at my hairline. The hair that is still in the forelock and behind has persisted but certainly is at least a little bit diffused. Does propecia help prevent the shock loss?

 

Thanks for the advice in advance!

 

Yea permanent seems like it can occur. Improper extractions to improper compressed extraction patterns to even types of tools/speeds can cause it. An unskilled person that is not efficient at extracting your particular hair type and caliber can also mess things up. If the extractor doesnt use proper magnification, that can also mess things up. Bunch of things can go wrong in fue and in fut. you really have to evaluate a surgeons surgical protocol and see if you are the patient of the day or just another for the day, amongst many other things. Sometimes you may find that out when you arrive for surgery. Or your scheduled 2 day surgery is requested to be 1 day instead. It can happen.

 

I dont think meds can help much to prevent it. Trust me, i know people who followed things to a T and still got hammered with it and some are worried while some are waiting for repairs.

[Wwiizzkkiidd24]

I agree with the above statement shockloss is a hard one to call and you can't predict how much shockloss you will encounter you might have little to no shockloss and get a great result but you could also have no or some shockloss amLtd it will grow back. I don't even think meds could help with this iether it's all down to the surgeon and how he goes about avoiding it. IE small procedures at a time to minimise the shockloss you might encounter.

 

hope this helps.

[gxm100]

so it's fair to say shock loss is largely down to the skill of the surgeon? And how many grafts would you consider a small procedure in order to reduce shock loss? 2k?

[Joesocks202]

You might get some shock loss but you don't read very much about it on the boards. If you are having the hairline redone and are worried about the hair in the baby huey then I think you will be alright if that hair is not weakened already by the balding process. If it is you may start to lose that hair and think its from shock when it isn't. Propecia should not make any difference and it has some side effects you may want to check on.

[Mikey1970]

I had a tiny touch up of 31 grafts right on the front hairline. Within 3 months I suffered significant permanent shock loss, 3 inches away in the left temple region. Worse still, it was not miniaturized hair - I have no idea what happened despite several visits back to the surgeon & consults with others. Some have said to me that even the anaesthetic can knock hair out?

[zyzz]

Yea permanent seems like it can occur. Improper extractions to improper compressed extraction patterns to even types of tools/speeds can cause it. An unskilled person that is not efficient at extracting your particular hair type and caliber can also mess things up. If the extractor doesnt use proper magnification, that can also mess things up. Bunch of things can go wrong in fue and in fut. you really have to evaluate a surgeons surgical protocol and see if you are the patient of the day or just another for the day, amongst many other things. Sometimes you may find that out when you arrive for surgery. Or your scheduled 2 day surgery is requested to be 1 day instead. It can happen.

 

I dont think meds can help much to prevent it. Trust me, i know people who followed things to a T and still got hammered with it and some are worried while some are waiting for repairs.

 

Shock loss has little to do with improper extraction. Improper extraction technique would just result in low or no yield to the implanted grafts.

 

Shock loss is the loss of your native hair from the inherent trauma of surgery regardless of improper/proper extraction or unsuccessful/successful implantation. It does not matter if the doctor's technique is good or bad, shock loss happens regardless and it's one of the inherent risk of HT surgery. Some hairs loss through shock loss might grow back, but some might not, no guarantees. Meds may help but there are no guarantees either..

[Mikey1970]

Best to wait for Replicel/Sheisedo to offer an injectable stem cell cure now I reckon lol. Seems likely to be a lot less risk. Hopefully in 2018 - fingers, toes....everything crossed.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Mikey1970

[Bill - Seemiller]

Permanent shock loss is very rare and doesn't occur unless 1) the hair that's shocked was dying and on its way out anyway or 2) existing hair follicles have been transected (damaged) during surgery. Temporary shock loss can occur any time hair is transplanted in and around existing hair due to trauma from the surgery. That said, Propecia (if you've already been taking it for awhile) can help but the good news is, anything that's temporarily shocked will grow back on its own in several months.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill

[gillenator]

Temporary shock loss and permanent shock loss are two completely different things. While both are almost always a result of the trauma caused by the recipient incisions, it's the acutely diffused hair that is usually shocked out permanently. The trauma usually shuts down the remaining follicle and does not cycle back to the growth phase. Healthy follicles that have not significantly miniaturized usually bounce back and grow another hair shaft. So those individuals that have significant degrees of diffused loss are the most at risk.

 

The instrumentation and skill making the recipient incisions have an impact as well. Obviously the more invasive the tooling is, the more trauma to the scalp. Raise the trauma level, and the probability of shock loss goes up. But even with the best instrumentation and skill, shock loss is unpredictable.

 

And yes, some docs are of the opinion that being on low dose finasteride for at least six months or longer can help reduce the level of shock loss but there is no real tangible clinical evidence or proof to support this because everyone responds differently to trauma and finasteride does nothing to repel trauma levels IMHO.

 

Transection is damage to the follicles and/or sheath and in most cases results in permanent damage.

[gxm100]

Well if you're going for a hair transplant...wouldn't mostly everyone have hair that is diffusing in the area of the transplant? I'm an NW3 but that frontal tuft is thinning. I'm scared to do work on the temples and then have the middle fall out from shock loss and look like an idiot. Would it be better off to just transplant all the way across the frontal 3rd?

[bunsenburner]

Bill's explanation is consistent with what I have heard from hair transplant doctors. Well said.

[gillenator]

Well if you're going for a hair transplant...wouldn't mostly everyone have hair that is diffusing in the area of the transplant? I'm an NW3 but that frontal tuft is thinning. I'm scared to do work on the temples and then have the middle fall out from shock loss and look like an idiot. Would it be better off to just transplant all the way across the frontal 3rd?

 

Yes I believe that anyone with MPB is going to experience some degree of diffusion.

 

Yet there are those individuals that have a more pronounced pattern of diffused loss as compared to a recessionary loss pattern.

 

And those who have a more advanced or pronounced degree of diffusion are the ones who are more at risk for permanent shock loss.