You had a hair transplant, what about next? Will you use medicine?

In my previous article, I wrote about the ugly duckling period. What was this process? I said that after a shedding period that starts almost 7 days after the procedure and lasts up to 4-6 weeks, the roots begin to grow again, and I emphasized that this process is painful and compared it to an ugly duckling. Never forget that hair transplantation is a microsurgical procedure and I argue that it is highly related to emotions. Most of the time, patients want to know how long it will take for their grafts to grow and they want to get a result as soon as possible. They’re right too!  

Now let’s skip this period, it’s time for the hair to reach the final result. When supplements or drugs are not used after hair transplantation, hair regrowth is slow (same as feeding and holding) up to 4 months, this continues. The hairline is not obvious. Almost every patient who has had a FUE hair transplant begins to wonder when they will see results after hair transplant. Obsessively begins comparing before and after hair transplant results on YouTube. In fact, the process starts the day after the procedure and takes up to 5 months or even 7-8 days when the result is almost complete. lasts up to a month. The 9-12 months following hair transplantation is the consolidation phase in the timeline for results. So often when a patient asks me when they will see results,I state that the shedding period after hair transplantation will be completed in 4-6 weeks and then the hair will start to form again. This is highly correlated with itching, which is a good sign of regrowth. At this point, most hair transplant centers recommend supporting the process with some drugs that we will classify as DHT inhibitors. However, in my own practice, I recommend drugs, vitamins and food supplements that do not suppress DHT hormone to my patients for 1 year.

I would like to share my purpose at this stage with you. If you take a drug that inhibits DHT, that is, suppresses testosterone, you may experience different health problems. Moreover, when you stop the drug, DHT suppression ends and there is a rewind situation. In my own practice, instead of suppressive drugs, I give appropriate medication to the newly planted hair follicles to ensure that vascularization occurs as soon as possible, to facilitate the immediate nourishment of the roots and to ensure that they are firmly attached to the newly planted area. The food supplement I recommend includes biotin, saw palmetto, ginkgo biloba, horsetail extract, It contains MSM, vitamins C, B3, B5, folic acid and zinc. It helps you in this process with use for up to 1 year.

The result obtained after the 6th month after hair transplantation is 85% of the result. The remaining 15% occurs between 9-12 months.

Sometimes during the first month the patient may notice that small hairs are falling out along with their bulbs. They may even come out with small “scabs” in the first week or two. All this is normal and it should be understood that the germinal material that will be the source of the new hair is still inside, at the base of the follicle. Unless there was bleeding at the graft site, there was no live graft loss. But please do not lift it with your hand, do not scratch it, do not rub it anywhere. As I said, itching is a sign of healing, be patient.