Q: I had my first hair transplant of 1100 grafts five months ago. The hair has been growing in well and I am very satisfied with the progress, but the new growth appears to occur in different cycles. Some of the hair never fell out and started growing within weeks. At around three months, a lot more started to grow, and now there seems to be even more growth of new hair coming in its finer stages. Is it normal for transplanted hair to begin growing at different times? Why does some hair come in looking thick and other hair start off finer and then gradually thicken up?

A: You are describing accurately how hair grows after a hair transplant. After the hair restoration procedure, the transplanted stubble is shed and the hair goes into a dormant phase. Several months later, growth begins as fine, vellus hair that thickens over time. The hair usually does not have its original thickness right away.

Typically, growth occurs in waves so that initially some areas will have more hair than others. Over the course of a year the cycles will even out and the hair will thicken to its final diameter.

Q I had a hair transplant 15 months ago at a well known clinic in Manhattan. There were about 1000 grafts transplanted in the front hair line. At this point I am upset with my results. My guess is that only about 50 new hairs have grown. My question is what would cause this to [...]

Q: I have had some grafts implanted into a donor scar. How long does it take to see the final result? A: In normal scalps, growth is generally complete by 10-12 months. Grafts placed in scar tissue may often take longer to grow.

Q: Why can donor hair become frizzy and dry once transplanted? A: Frizzing and kinkiness is a temporary phenomenon that is part of the normal healing process after a follicular unit hair transplant. During the healing process, the new collagen that forms around the grafts can alter their growth. Over time, usually within a year, [...]

Q: This is my second hair transplant and is seems like it is growing more slowly than my first. Is this normal? A: It is common for a second hair transplant to take a bit longer to grow than the first, so this should be expected. It is also possible that there is some shedding [...]