What To Expect After A Hair Transplant Procedure

Anybody who has undergone a hair transplant procedure is familiar with that question going through the patient’s mind — “When will my hair grow back?” After all, it’s the most common question patients have after the surgery.

Before you fret, remember that your hair will grow back. Maybe not immediately, but eventually, it will re-emerge—longer, stronger, and better looking than ever. All you have to do is prepare yourself for the process of hair growth after hair loss.

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What To Expect On Your Post-Procedure Hair Growth Journey

The hair growth process can take a relatively long time. At Northwestern Hair, we advise our patients to expect up to 12 months before their hair regrowth process can begin. However, this may vary slightly as this isn’t a hard and fast rule.

Some people may observe results from as early as six months, while others may have to wait until the 12 to 14-month mark instead. During this recovery and regrowth process, your hair will undergo several different phases. Therefore, it’s best to be familiar with these phases so you can know just what’s happening to your hair at any point after your surgery is completed.

The Dormant Phase

As you can imagine, with the hair transfer process involved in your procedure, these hairs become a little stressed, leading them to revert into a dormant phase that can last for about three months after your surgery.

New hair does not grow during this period, but some changes are still happening under the skin surface. Micro follicles start to develop and become active again when they reach their full size (an average of 1 cm), which happens between six months and one year after surgery. In this phase, there is no noticeable difference in appearance, but if you feel that something looks wrong, don’t worry: it’s just part of the recovery process.

Growth Phase

Once the dormant phase is over, the growth phase begins. In order to get back into the growth phase, the hair must shed, and you may observe your hair falling out until the fourth month after your procedure. This occurrence is nothing to be alarmed about and simply means your hair is getting back into the growth cycle.

Although the new hair will start to grow the same way as other hair, you may notice that it’s a different color or texture than the rest of your hair. For example, if you have a lot of dense growth, the new hair may be soft and delicate; if you have less dense growth, it may be coarse and curly. However, you should start seeing more noticeable hair growth between 4 to 12 months while your hair begins growing into place.

Finally, with your hair growing out around the 12-month mark, and you notice one or two off things about their quality, this is normal because the oil glands haven’t yet kicked in. The recovery speed of your oil glands will also depend on what procedure type you had during your transplant surgery.

If you had an FUE procedure, some of your oil glands would have kicked in around this time, and you can expect more to follow suit over time. On the other hand, you can expect as many as 80% of your oil glands to have kicked in around this time if you had a PUE procedure, making your hair smooth and shiny at about the 18-month mark.

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Conclusion

And there you have it. We recommend expecting hair growth by 12 months and the final look stages around 18 months. After this time, you should continue to see slow but steady hair growth until you reach your desired head of hair.

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I've lived in Chicago for 20 years, and have visited a handful of different med spas and have been under the care of a couple of other plastice surgeons in the Chciago Metro area. However, no experience was as wonderful as mine with Dr. Simon at Northwestern. I've lost and gained quite a bit of weight over the last 15 years or so and decided to have chin lipo, and couldn't be happier. I feel and look amazing, and will not go back to another Doctor now. His PA MoniKa is equally as lovely, and caring as Dr. Moradian himself. I would recommend Dr. Moradian, his staff, and his practice to everyone I know!

M.D. Google

Five stars is not enough. I came to Dr. Moradian for an upper bleph - my results were phenomenal. I didn't want to look surprised or crazy; I wanted to look like I got a good night's sleep. And that is exactly what he delivered. He and NSPS also went the extra mile to make sure I was comfortable. Dr. Moradian is truly a talented surgeon and I was lucky to find him.

E.A. Google

I visited Dr Fine and his team after a failed breast reconstruction after being treated for cancer with mastectomy, chemo and radiation. From the first visit, there were noticeable differences between my prior surgeon and him. He and his team are empathetic and make their patients feel at ease and cared for. At each visit, he and his team have spent a lot of time with me. The visits never feel rushed. At my first visit, he looked at my infected reconstructed breast with an exposed implant and calmly explained what was necessary to fix it. He then explained the procedure he thought would be helpful and showed me before and after pictures of patients who had undergone the suggested surgery. The end result was gorgeous, by the way, in all of these pictures---even in post radiation patients. In this visit alone, he spent more time with me than my prior surgeon had spent with me over multiple visits. He answered all my very detailed questions. In my first visit with my prior surgeon, before my mastectomy, my husband and I were left alone in an exam room for about an hour with a saline-filled implant and silicone-filled implant on the counter to look at. The surgeon I went to before spent about 20 minutes with me in that visit and did not go into detail. The choices presented to me were implant reconstruction with saline- or silicone-filled implants or an abdominal flap procedure that takes 2-4 months to recover from. I am very career-oriented and don't have 2 months to take off of work. Dr Fine, on the other hand, gave me the option of a latissimus dorsi flap with a significantly shorter recovery time, lower complication rate, and better aesthetic result. He gives you his honest opinion based on 30 years of experience. He tells you the hard truths: such as that 50% of implant reconstructions fail after radiation therapy. I wish I would have known that before I started on this journey because I would have made very different choices. The icing on the cake was when he took out the infected implant in his office, which makes a woman feel really terrible and ugly and scared, and his very kind PA told me I have beautiful eyes. Wow. What a caring team.

V.H. Google

I visited Dr Fine and his team after a failed breast reconstruction after being treated for cancer with mastectomy, chemo and radiation. From the first visit, there were noticeable differences between my prior surgeon and him. He and his team are empathetic and make their patients feel at ease and cared for. At each visit, he and his team have spent a lot of time with me. The visits never feel rushed. At my first visit, he looked at my infected reconstructed breast with an exposed implant and calmly explained what was necessary to fix it. He then explained the procedure he thought would be helpful and showed me before and after pictures of patients who had undergone the suggested surgery. The end result was gorgeous, by the way, in all of these pictures---even in post radiation patients. In this visit alone, he spent more time with me than my prior surgeon had spent with me over multiple visits. He answered all my very detailed questions. In my first visit with my prior surgeon, before my mastectomy, my husband and I were left alone in an exam room for about an hour with a saline-filled implant and silicone-filled implant on the counter to look at. The surgeon I went to before spent about 20 minutes with me in that visit and did not show me any before or after pictures. The choices presented to me were implant reconstruction with saline- or silicone-filled implants or an abdominal flap procedure that takes 2-4 months to recover from. I am very career-oriented and don't have 2 months to take off of work. Dr Fine, on the other hand, gave me the option of a latissimus doors flap with a significantly shorter recovery time, lower complication rate, and better aesthetic result. He gives you his honest opinion based on 30 years of experience. He tells you the hard truths: such as that 50% of implant reconstructions fail after radiation therapy. I wish I would have known that before I started on this journey because I would have made very different choices. The icing on the cake was when he took out the infected implant in his office, which makes a woman feel really terrible and ugly and scared, and his very kind PA told me I have beautiful eyes. Wow. What a caring team.

V.H. Google

Dr. Moradian performed an incredible job! He’s one of the sweetest and compassionate doctors/surgeons I’ve ever encountered. He made me feel incredibly comfortable and relieved, putting all my anxieties to rest. I underwent a transaxillary breast augmentation, and I’m thrilled with the results. All of my friends and family are blown away by my outcome. I have a new sense of confidence that has changed my life. While I was in my recovery room, Dr. Moradian not only took care of me but also spoke to my family and answered all their questions. He exudes a sense of safety and ensures that you receive the best possible outcomes. He took the time to personally check up on me and kindly encouraged me to reach out to him. Dr. Moradian genuinely cares about your concerns and takes the time to explain everything in detail. I am so fortunate to have found him!

R.M. Google

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* All information subject to change. Images may contain models. Individual results are not guaranteed and may vary.