Thank you for your question.
You submitted a photo of your frontal hairline and you provided a photo of some hairs. And
you describe in your question that it’s been about 2 years since your hair transplant
and you’re concerned that the hair transplanted has a significantly different quality in terms
of texture and kink to the hair compared to your native hair which is softer. And you
state that your doctor explained that the hair that was transplanted is actually healthier
but this has clearly been an area of concern for you.
Well I can give you some idea of my perspective based on just the limitations of the question,
the history provided and the photos. A little bit of background, I’m a Board-certified
cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon. I have
been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years. Hair transplant has been
a very significant part of my practice. In fact, I’m the founder of TrichoStem™ Hair
Regeneration Centers, a system we developed for non-surgical solutions for hair loss using
regenerative medicine technology combining Acellular matrix which is for wound healing
with platelet-rich plasma (PRP). And this is something that we do a lot of to help people
with hair thinning and people come to us from around the world. Just to give you a sense
of my perspective on a problem like this, certainly I have a lot of experience in this
area.
So to begin with, I would first want to learn what was the indication for your transplant
and this kind of gives me a sense of how I would guide you. And it’s kind of straightforward.
Let’s begin with if the indication for hair transplant for you was a hairline lowering
procedure or to bring the hairline forward and that you weren’t suffering from a genetic
pattern loss or androgenetic alopecia then you are basically looking at just the behavior
of the grafted hair which can have a texture difference even though it was harvested from
the donor area where the texture was more similar.
Now there are a variety of potential explanations for this which are more on the medical and
physiologic ground but I would say that one thing to just be mindful of is to understand
that hair growth cycles have a certain length of time. And a growth cycle referred to as
the anagen phase which is the active growing phase can last anywhere from 2-6 years. So
a lot of times, people, when their hair growth cycles for the transplanted hair has completed
and it sheds then it may just grow in a little softer as the original hair. It’s something
that I certainly have observed in my practice where initially, it looked a little bit strange,
then after a few years, it seemed to look okay. What is the explanation for that? Well,
at the end of the growth cycle, the anagen phase, the hair sheds, goes into a resting
phase called telogen and then comes back. It goes back to the anagen phase and when
it regrows, it grows in a way that is more naturally contiguous or continuous with your
existing hair. So far, that, basically waiting makes sense.
Now for the other perspective, if you had androgenetic alopecia or hair thinning, progressive
hair thinning then it could be that the contrast with your native hair is maybe a bit of a
challenge. We see this when we do any transplant especially a male with thinning hair, very
thin hair and then thicker hairs are placed in a way to try to blend in. In that situation,
I would recommend a treatment like Hair Regeneration. Hair Regeneration essentially helps people
with thinning hair, stop the progression of their hair loss, regrow hair that’s not
growing and thicken hair that is thinning. So in a way, if your hair is thinning then
Hair Regeneration can help the thinning hair grow a little bit thicker and kind of blend
a little bit with the hair that has this textural difference. Not saying that that’s the only
solution or the best solution but it can kind of give you a strategy in terms of what will
happen moving forward as you’re waiting for your transplanted hair to kind of blend
in a little better.
You know, a lot of our patients come after having a transplant and unfortunately, they’re
still continuing to thin let’s say 2-3 years later, and they’re looking for an option
as an alternative to transplant. And for those patients, Hair Regeneration actually fulfills
a very important role and they’re actually able to avoid a second transplant. Again,
it depends on a case by case basis.
Now that being said, in your situation, if it’s not about hair thinning then again,
to summarize, you can just wait this out and maybe work with your stylist about managing
the hair in way that can optimally blend and understand that it’s not necessarily permanent.
And a lot of times, once that hair sheds out through its completion of its natural growth
cycle, when it comes back, it may come in looking more like your normal natural hair.
And then beyond that, if it were an issue of hair thinning, then a strategy to help
strengthen your existing hair is to help avoid more contrast between the transplanted hair
and your existing hair with a technology like Hair Regeneration is worthwhile considering.
So I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question.