Possible Complications that may occur in Hair Transplantation:

Swelling on Forehead

A few problems and complications can occasionally occur with follicular unit hair transplantation. The most frequently seen problems relate to swelling of the forehead, which can occur and subside within the first week after surgery, and small pimples that may form at some of the graft sites during the first three or four months after the procedure. The swelling, if it occurs, goes away spontaneously. We employ certain measures (injecting steroid with the local anesthetic) during surgery to lessen the incidence of swelling to where we see this phenomenon very rare. The pimples or cysts that form are treated by simply opening them with a sterile needle, if they occur.

Fallout (“shock loss”)

A common occurrence after large sessions of follicular unit hair grafts is temporary fall-out of previously transplanted follicular unit grafts or from some of the thinning, balding hair. Because of changes in circulation that occur from the many punctures in the scalp, some follicular hairs are shocked. By “shocked”, we mean that the blood supply is temporarily diminished, causing the hair to go through a premature hair-growth cycle where the hair falls out and re-grows again. If this happens, do not be alarmed. The previously transplanted follicular hairs will all grow back, along with the newly transplanted follicular hairs. It should be emphasized that follicular unit hair grafts, when they are transplanted, take an average of three months before new growth appears above the surface of the skin, with some taking as long as nine months. Little crusts that develop and hairs that are in the follicular unit grafts, fall off within the first two to three weeks, but this and the shedding of other hairs is no cause for concern.