HAIR TRANSPLANT FORUM

[drcole]

shock loss can occur in some indivduals following hair restoration surgery. it will affect only the areas that are worked in. it will not affect adjacent areas if they do not recveive hair transplants or have hair removed from them.

shock loss will begin about 2 to 3 weeks after surgery and will resolve rapidly after 3 to 4 weeks after surgery. if you continue to loose hair after the 4th week following your procedure, you are loosing you hair due to something other than shock loss. most likely it is due to progression of androgenic alopecia.

many individuals have surgery and then stop using rogaine, propecia, or other medications. this can result in a sudden and severe form of hair loss following surgery. this type of hair loss will last longer than shock loss and often does not begin for months following a procedure. it will be much more extensive and affect many areas on the scalp, not just the areas that were treated with hair transplants.

shock loss will usually grow back and begin growing back 3 to 8 months after it began. the hair may not grow back with the same diameter though. in other words, it may grow back finer. if it grows back finer, the hair coverage will not be as good as before the procedure.

one of the best ways to limit shock loss is to do smaller procedures. this is not a guarantee that you will not get it though. certainly, the greater you dense pack an area, the more risk you will have of getting shock loss.

one of the best ways to treat shock loss is with Rogaine twice a day. of course, if you are on Rogaine, i would not recomend stoping it until after you new grafts have grown in. once you stop it though, you can expect a massive degree of hair loss.

[nmaccari]

Dr. Cole, I had surgery with you almost 3 weeks ago. I had about 1,100 grafts. I have been using Rogaine and Avodart consistently for years and continue to do so.

I am puzzled as to my case. It seemed like within 3 days after surgery I lost about 35% of my existing hair and even more within the hairline. It wasn't apparent because I had transplanted hair in-between but now that the transplanted hairs are shedding I am stuck with much thinner hair. Is this almost instant loss of hair after surgery considered shock loss too:?: Also, I haven't seen any unordinary loss in the past 2 weeks, is it possible that the worse is over:?:

Some positive things though: The scabs were gone within 4 days post op and I have no redness, numbness, or pinkness in the recipient area today. I can see a bunch of black dots all over my hairline and some seem to be growing. I would have to imagine that they are previous hairs since transplanted hairs always take 3 months to reappear or at least that's my understanding.

[apgr]

shock loss is one of the bigger fears i have for the procedure . Most experts i read say : strong hair will probably grow back
or likely . The word 'probably ' or 'likely' for me means risk . Totally
bald area people , have nothing to risk , zero has only one possibility , to
become bigger . If the procedure take place in a part with hair , that area gets swollen , feels like 'trauma' ,so it is natural some native hairs
fall out . Of course i am not a doctor or expert ,but this sound logical .In
my opinion shock loss always happen if there are existing hair , just many
times the patient can not understand for different reasons .

[forhair]

As Dr. Cole said, there is a very small percent of patients experiencing shock loss, can assure you that in his hands it's unlikely to happen. And even if they will experience sock loss in most cases hair will grow back. I personally didn't see hair that have been shocked and didn't grew back.
If a patient will permanently loose hair after hair transplant it will be from the natural progression if his hairloss and not from shock loss.

Still it's a surgery and in surgery anything can happen. there are always risks with any kind of surgery...even with small and easy surgeries.
If you want to have a surgery with no risks at all then just shave your head or accept your hairloss. hair transplant is the "only" way to restore your hair but maybe it's not for you.

[apgr]

totally understand what you say , i saw in another site photo of a second
procedure of a person ,who added hair except his crown also to his previous transplanted hairline . At 'progress photos' , we can see that he 'ruined' his hailine for some months , after second procedure , his
loss was very big , but his hair returned and with addition to crown new
hair , his overall look is much better , but shock loss was very obvious ,but reversible .

[drcole]

I agree, shock loss is a risk and if it is one you cannot accept, i would not have a hair transplant. Do not confuse risk with "always" because shock loss can be quite uncommon in the right hands provided you do not push the density very high.

shock loss is not always reversible. if your hair is already very fine, it may never come back the way it was originally.

[nmaccari]

Well, I think my existing hair is starting to grow back because it doesn't look as bad as it did a few weeks ago. I am still in negative territory but hopefully in the next few weeks it will get even better.

I was mentally prepared for shockloss 3 to 4 weeks after surgery but I wasn't expecting it to come right after the surgery.

Dr. Cole, can you let me know a possible reason why I lost like 30% of my natural hair within a few days after surgery? Is that common?

Thanks.