Q: Do you ever see poor growth from a hair transplant?

A: The situations where I have encountered poor growth are:

1) When hair is transplanted to areas of skin that has been thickened due to the prior placement of larger grafts or plugs (this is called “hyperfibrotic thickening”). Removal of the larger grafts can somewhat ameliorate this problem.

2) When hair is transplanted into a thickened scar.

3) When a hair transplant is performed into and area of severe chronic sun damage. In this case, a very modest number of grafts should be used in the first session and if these grow well additional grafts can be added in a subsequent session.