Hair Transplant Surgery Final Results: Does It Really Take a Full Year for Hair Growth?

This comment, addressed by Coalition hair restoration surgeon Dr. William Lindsey, was shared by a member of our Hair Loss Social Community and Discussion Forums:

Is it a myth or a fact that it takes one solid year, to see the complete regrowth of the hair that’s been transplanted? Having had a hair transplant almost 5 months ago, I only see partial hair growth. I am not completely convinced by my patient educator that more is yet to grow. Any advice please?

Here is the timeline I tell people:

Today you will leave with a crew cut of new hair wherever we place it.
Seven days from now you’ll get your sutures out and, most likely, you won’t have cleaned enough. But, once you wash away any remaining scabs in the recipient area, you should look pretty good.
The newly transplanted hair will grow for one month and then just about all of it (and any of your native hair in that area) will fall out.
Nothing will happen for 6 weeks and then your native hairs will start to regrow. You’ll think it’s your new hair, but it’s most likely not.
So from week 5 to 11 this temporary hair loss will make you appear balder than you are now. Then at about 3 months after your procedure you’ll be back to baseline with your native hair.
At around 6 months, some of the new hair will be growing. Sometimes it’s earlier and sometimes it’s later.
One year from today, I’d expect you to have pretty good results but it will probably be 15 months until hair regrowth is maxed out.
If you are undergoing a revision of a previous hair restoration surgery (particularly a plug repair) add 3 months to the above timeline starting at the 3 month event noted above.

I hope this is helpful, and it seems to be pretty consistent at our office.

Dr. William Lindsey, McLean VA

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David (TakingThePlunge)
Editorial Assistant and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog.
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