You might have heard that hair transplants are a temporary solution, and that the transplanted hair will fall out. That’s definitely not true, but there’s also more to it than just being permanent or temporary.
A hair transplant moves healthy hair to the parts of your scalp that need it more. This procedure is as hard as it sounds; each of the thousands of hair follicles has to be surgically removed and surgically implanted. The implanted hair needs time to heal and adjust to its new place in the scalp. This can take several months, or even up to a year, after which all the transplanted hair is indistinguishable from the rest of your hair.
So why do people think that transplanted hair falls out?
Falling hair isn’t always the same as hair loss. Healthy hair will keep growing until it reaches a resting phase, then it sheds the hair strand and grows a new hair in its place. Hair loss happens when the follicles shed their old hair, but stop growing new strands. This can happen for many reasons, which is why hair loss can be difficult to treat.
A low-quality transplant can result in hair graft rejection, which means that you’ll lose the transplanted hair altogether. A successful hair transplant should only shed hair temporarily because of the trauma of surgery, which is called “shock loss”. So the transplanted hair does actually fall out, but they quickly get replaced, and you should see the new, short hairs start to grow. Eventually you won’t be able to tell which hairs were transplanted, and which weren’t. These hairs should last for your entire life, or at least as long as the rest of your hair does.
As long as you get high-quality care before, during, and after the procedure, your transplanted hair will be as permanent as the rest of your hair. It is possible for the transplanted hair to fall out after healing, but it will grow back healthily, so long as you follow the instructions from your physician. Hair transplantation is difficult and costly, so finding a skilled surgeon and safe practice is essential.
For more information about hair transplant options, contact Dr. Imami: