HELP! TRANSPLANTED HAIRS FALLING OUT 6 MONTHS POSTOP

[Einstein]

I'm pleading here for some advise as I am exhausted by relentless researching and contacting my surgeon but to no avail.

My surgeon keeps telling me to wait it out which is of no help at all.

 

2,800 FUE grafts restoring hairline and zone 2.

 

The dilema is that at 4 months and 3 weeks post-op my hair was looking spectacular. Especially for that time frame, you could almost say it was looking like the 12 month post-op mark. I was loving it. However, at 5 months and 1 week post op my transplanted hairs started to slowly shed/come out/fall out. I figured its minor and probably normal. A few days for the first time ever I was appalled by the amount of hair loss I experienced in the shower!!!

 

Now, at roughly 5 months and 2 weeks post op, my hair looks like it was at the 3.5 month post-op mark. I already went through my grafts shed in the begining, why is this happening again?

 

I've been using dutasteride for about 4 months now. At first I was using 0.5mg 1-2 times weekly. Just the past three months I've increased it to 0.5mg every day. I can't imagine dutasteride causing shed to the transplanted hairs(?)

Nizoral shampoo 2% 5x weekly for 2 months now. And occasional minoxidil.

 

Is this normal? What are the chances of my transplanted hairs growing back? I went camping recently where we suddenly had no shower for a week. I had hairspray and gel sitting in my hair for a week. Thats when I noticed all those hairs falling out when I showered and saw the hue difference in my hairline and the thinning. Can it be from that? If so, will they grow back?

 

Can someone please shed some light here, as I cant find any information on the internet regarding this.

[the B spot]

Einstein--your likely experiencing some shedding associated with Duta---

 

At 5-6 months, you would not even be seeing 50% of the final result. It is more likely that the native hair you had in the area are shedding.

 

At this time, you need to stay the course as your doctor suggested....there is nothing you can do and some fallout when starting hairloss meds is normal and should be expected.

 

Getting a HT is a FULL 12-14month commitment before we see the true results, sometimes the hair itself continues to soften up to 20 months post-op.

 

Relax, take a breath... continue to monitor yourself...stay the course and reevaluate at 10-12 months.

 

Take Care,

Jason

[JMan0067]

The B spot, so does that mean if you begin Duta or Propecia a few months before the HT that this can cause the transplanted hair to shed? Will they grow back? Thanks.

[HairHope]

I'm always skeptical of first/second posts when someone had a FUE megasession. Pictures please or sorry I don't buy it.

 

His first post - he he said he saw no growth, why do people waste others time?

[Einstein]

Originally posted by the B spot:

Einstein--your likely experiencing some shedding associated with Duta---

 

At 5-6 months, you would not even be seeing 50% of the final result. It is more likely that the native hair you had in the area are shedding.

 

At this time, you need to stay the course as your doctor suggested....there is nothing you can do and some fallout when starting hairloss meds is normal and should be expected.

 

Getting a HT is a FULL 12-14month commitment before we see the true results, sometimes the hair itself continues to soften up to 20 months post-op.

 

Relax, take a breath... continue to monitor yourself...stay the course and reevaluate at 10-12 months.

 

Take Care,

Jason

 

Thanks bro. Bu thats the thing... I have already went through a minor shed with dutasteride. But lets say it is a dutasteride shed, they make the transplanted hairs fall/shed too?

 

Also, its not my native hair. Im 100% its transplanted hairs. Its right in the area I had no hair to begin with, hairline and right above the hairs line.

 

I understand its a 12 month process which is exactly why I have not mentioned my surgeon's name yet. In all fairness to the surgeon I will give this 12 months before I post any pictures and mentioning of my surgeon....because so far I am not impressed with my hair results and bumps.

 

I had to post this as this was not expected nor a normal thing post transplant to lose hairs almost 6months postop.

[Einstein]

Originally posted by HairHope:

I'm always skeptical of first/second posts when someone had a FUE megasession. Pictures please or sorry I don't buy it.

 

His first post - he he said he saw no growth, why do people waste others time?

 

...ure not not even worth a response

[Severn]

I might be able to offer some good insight into this. B-spot can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

First of all, I had first hand experience with Duta. I started shedding like crazy. It may have been temporary, but all of my hair, including the back and sides started coming like I was on chemo or something(well not quite that bad). I stopped it after a couple of months.

 

Another thing is that right now, all the transplanted hairs are in sync on their growth phase vs. resting(shedding). It was the same thing I noticed when I started finisteride. Fin did an amazing job of restoring all of my crown hair for the 3 years that it worked. But all the regrown hairs from finisteride were growing in sync at first. When they went into resting phase, they ALL did so at the same time and I lost all the hair it regrew after 4 months. But after the first hair resting phase, the hair growth rates started to stagger and finally I didn't get that massive shed that was syncronized.

 

Hope that makes sense. Looking at it another way, all the hair on your head goes through the resting phase where the follicle sheds the hair. Even on a person with a full head of hair, if ALL the hairs were synchronized on their resting phases, every few months that person would shed every hair on their head and be completely bald.

[Einstein]

Originally posted by Severn:

I might be able to offer some good insight into this. B-spot can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

First of all, I had first hand experience with Duta. I started shedding like crazy. It may have been temporary, but all of my hair, including the back and sides started coming like I was on chemo or something(well not quite that bad). I stopped it after a couple of months.

 

Another thing is that right now, all the transplanted hairs are in sync on their growth phase vs. resting(shedding). It was the same thing I noticed when I started finisteride. Fin did an amazing job of restoring all of my crown hair for the 3 years that it worked. But all the regrown hairs from finisteride were growing in sync at first. When they went into resting phase, they ALL did so at the same time and I lost all the hair it regrew after 4 months. But after the first hair resting phase, the hair growth rates started to stagger and finally I didn't get that massive shed that was syncronized.

 

Hope that makes sense. Looking at it another way, all the hair on your head goes through the resting phase where the follicle sheds the hair. Even on a person with a full head of hair, if ALL the hairs were synchronized on their resting phases, every few months that person would shed every hair on their head and be completely bald.

 

Thanks for your post its appreciated.

So did you regrow what you lost?

 

I experiences sheds from sides and back too from dut. Ironically it was actually mostly sides and back but stopped.

 

I'm pretty confident dut/fin/nizoral/minox shedded hairs regrow back. But I'm not sure if it causes tansplanted hairs to shed, and if they do, do they grow back?

[Einstein]

What my biggest worry is is that i had a lot of hairspray and gel practicaly glued to my hair when it was styled when we went camping. Then all of a sudden we were out of shower usage for 7 days, with my hair yucky, sticky and filled with gel and hairspray. I came home early and the first thing I did was jump in the shower. I have NEVER lost so much hair at once in the shower in my life.

 

That's when the biggest difference from thickness to see-through thinness was seen.

 

Was this possibly dut's shedthroughout that week but coudl not fall out because hairs were stuck together and all of sudden a weeks worth of shedding came out in the shower?

 

Or did the hairspray and gel actually destroy my transplanted hair?

[Severn]

Yea, after I got off the duta, it slowly grew back. I'm just guessing, but I think the massive shed had something to do with duta messing with the oil glands(drying up). Accutane, the acne drug, also does this and hair shedding is also a side effect.

 

I can't imagine duta killing your HT's since all it's doing is blocking both forms of DHT. But the sheds I were experiencing were enough to make me get off it. You can do what you want, but if it were me I would get off Duta until my HT growth was completely stabalized. It certainly can't hurt doing that.

 

As for me, I'll never touch duta again. The side effects were way too powerful, especially compared to finisteride.

 

EDIT: as far as hairspray or gel hurting your HT's, I also can't envision this. If that's all it took to kill the follicles, then I would just put some hairspray and gel on me to get rid of some excess body hair.

[Einstein]

Originally posted by Severn:

Yea, after I got off the duta, it slowly grew back. I'm just guessing, but I think the massive shed had something to do with duta messing with the oil glands(drying up). Accutane, the acne drug, also does this and hair shedding is also a side effect.

 

I can't imagine duta killing your HT's since all it's doing is blocking both forms of DHT. But the sheds I were experiencing were enough to make me get off it. You can do what you want, but if it were me I would get off Duta until my HT growth was completely stabalized. It certainly can't hurt doing that.

 

As for me, I'll never touch duta again. The side effects were way too powerful, especially compared to finisteride.

 

EDIT: as far as hairspray or gel hurting your HT's, I also can't envision this. If that's all it took to kill the follicles, then I would just put some hairspray and gel on me to get rid of some excess body hair.

 

lmao yeh same here for the body hair issue. I thought so because it happened after taking a shower of heavy hair spray and gel stuck in my hair for 7 whole days and then MASSIVE fallouts. Also thought the transplanted hair were probably still in a tiny wound stage., ie, not fully established like our natural hair follicles. Thus assumed it being effected by the chemicals after 168 hrs of leave-in.

 

I'm using dut because it has a greater chance of regrowth for vertex and crown which I need. Not only stablization. I dont think fin can give me some regrowh in crown and vertex. However I just may entertain the thought of swapping over to fin for atleast 1 yr tryout.

 

Thanks again bro.

 

oh and btw, I have zero sides from dutasteride so far.

[HairHope]

Can you show us pics of the 2,800 FUE grafts into your hairline and zone 2 - and then the spectacular ones at month 4, followed by a current pic at month 6 so we can objectively give you some feedback? Perhaps we are our own best critic?

 

Sorry for doubting you in the first post. My opinion is there is absolutely no way that hair gel use for a single week would cause this to happen, it is more likely hormonal (DHT). I think in the long run Fin is your best best, Dut is fairly powerful - it worked great for me, but when I came off it - the hair left me quick...

 

Hope that helps.

[Einstein]

No problem.

 

I didn't mean just an occasional use of hair spray and geel. But the fact that the stuff was in my hair holding it hard as a rock, then left there for an etire 7 days, then showering and clogging the drain with my hairs is what concerned me. When I came out of the shower it was drastically thinner and very much see-through (like 3.5 months post-op).

 

You wont be able to make any observation from my pics. Im not speaking of the results, Im speaking of the shedding.

 

Thanks for ure response. Im glues on this screen still looking for anwers.

[the B spot]

Hi Einstein, as others have pointed out, using hairloss meds can have severe short term effects...much like the experience pointed out by Severn.

 

I have to reiterate, at 5 months post-op it is unlikely that more than 50-60% of the transplanted hair has broken the surface of the scalp.

 

While I am certain you are experiencing difficulty, you must wait it out...there is simply nothing else to do. You are not experienced any side-effects, so perhaps in the coming months your hair will come back stronger than ever.

 

At this point, there is nothing in your statements that lead me to believe your transplanted hair is lost/not growing.

 

It is completely possible that you might have poor growth, but that could be from the extraction/implantation process.

 

Take a breath and relax mate---it is a long process and your not even half-way yet.

 

All--Generally speaking, Duta is hell on the hairline(from patient accounts)--but transplanted hairs generally stay, regardless---however, others have expressed shedding like this, only to regrow the hair later--I would say most duta users experience a higher level of shedding than Propecia users, but that is just an educated guess, not hard fact.

 

I think Severn's experience certainly sheds some light on how using Duta can impact each of us individually.

 

Take Care,

Jason

[Einstein]

Thanks B-spot. I wasn't really concerned about poor growth as I am fully aware of the growth process until the 12 month mark. I was concerned because I lost transplanted hairs really really bad in 1 weeks time frame at 5.5mnth post-op. If this were month 2 or 3, as I experienced already, that shedding wouldnt concern me as its a given. But to shed and regrow, and to shed again even worse at almost month 6 is very alarming. If you want me to give an estimate, I would say approximately 1500 grafts shed in one week at almost 6 month post-op. It was superb and thick looking at almost 5month post-op as it grew from the initial stage. But now.... looking like month 3.

 

Nonetheless I am waiting it out as I have pretty much no choice. I will continue with dut as the shed has stopped now and stopping dut will be fuitless.

 

I REALLY HOPE THEY GROW BACK.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Hairhope,

 

Why are you badgering Einstein? You've completely missed the point of this thread. Whether or not you believe he's had 2800 grafts via FUE is irrelevant. He has concerns about hair shedding and has posted questions looking for feedback. Thus, if you have feedback along these lines, you are welcome to provide it.

 

I see no reason to believe Einstein is not genuinely concerned and looking for honest feedback. Thus, let's give him the benefit of the doubt ok?

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

[Einstein]

Thanks Bill.

[Tsakalos]

the area that u had the FUE was slick bald or it had some native hairs there before the ht ? if the area had native hairs, this could be from the duta and seeing less hair might give u the impression that grafts were fallen. i dont think duta can cause transplanted hair to fall under any circumstances since the transplanted hairs are not affected by duta. since u say that there is growth maybe there are other factors.

[Severn]

Originally posted by Tsakalos:

i dont think duta can cause transplanted hair to fall under any circumstances since the transplanted hairs are not affected by duta.

 

I'm not so sure about that. The transplanted hair follicles won't be killed off by the dutasteride, but it could certainly make them go into Telogen phase.

 

As I mentioned earlier, duta made me shed *everywhere*. That includes the sides and back of my head, as well as my body hair and beard. Although my beard didn't actually "shed", I have always had very thick and wirey beard hairs. During my period with duta, my beard turned from coarse, to very thin. The last time my beard hair was that thin I was only 14 years old.

[Einstein]

Originally posted by Tsakalos:

the area that u had the FUE was slick bald or it had some native hairs there before the ht ? if the area had native hairs, this could be from the duta and seeing less hair might give u the impression that grafts were fallen. i dont think duta can cause transplanted hair to fall under any circumstances since the transplanted hairs are not affected by duta. since u say that there is growth maybe there are other factors.

 

Yes it was slick bald.

[Einstein]

Originally posted by Severn:

Originally posted by Tsakalos:

i dont think duta can cause transplanted hair to fall under any circumstances since the transplanted hairs are not affected by duta.

 

I'm not so sure about that. The transplanted hair follicles won't be killed off by the dutasteride, but it could certainly make them go into Telogen phase.

 

As I mentioned earlier, duta made me shed *everywhere*. That includes the sides and back of my head, as well as my body hair and beard. Although my beard didn't actually "shed", I have always had very thick and wirey beard hairs. During my period with duta, my beard turned from coarse, to very thin. The last time my beard hair was that thin I was only 14 years old.

 

I hope this is the case. Its the only optimistic thought. My surgeon emailed me and said to use Betaderm twice daily. Is that a joke or what.

[Tsakalos]

did he give u any possible explanation of the causes of the shed ? if yes what was the explanation ?

[Einstein]

I told him that a few days before I went camping I stopped taking dut (was so busy with fam. and fuests I kept forgetting and forgot to take some for the trip) and withing days experienced this shed. He said Coming off dut causes a shed and to use betaderm and minox.

I cant imagine dut's shed being that quick when you stop, and I cant understand the rationalle behind using betaderm.

[Take a chance]

Nizoral 2% is a medicated shampoo which should be used at the most twice a week.

 

I would not be using it as much as you are. At 5 months post op you are still healing and I believe the use of this shampoo may have caused some problems. Just my opinion.

[Severn]

Einstien:

 

We keep talking about duta, but honestly from your original post it sounds like you had a lot of growth all at once on the transplants. I still stand my my original premise that it's going to take a few generations of telogen phases for them to get out of sync on a shedding pattern.

 

I'm obviously no expert compared to the docs and consultants, but this is exactly what I saw when all of my crown hair started growing at once from the finisteride years ago. Four months later they all shed at once(in sync) and I didn't know if it was coming back, but it did. I think I remember going through three shedding phases before my newly restored head of hairs finally got out of telogen sync and it went to a normal pattern.

 

I'm thinking this hasn't been the norm on here because most of the growth guys are experiencing from HT's are coming slowly over a 6-15 month period. So the telegon phases are already starting out of sync. Yours just came all at once.