What Is the Average Rate of Hair Growth and Maturation after Hair Transplant Surgery?

Did you see lots of variability in your past hair transplants as to when hairs popped vs when they matured? Some say only 50-60% of hairs have popped by month 6. Hair transplant surgeon Dr. Steven Gabel says 5-9 months is the key pop period, and 9-12+ is mostly maturation. Dr. Jerry Cooley says 50% of “overall result” by month 6/7. My doctor just emphasizes “variability and patience”.

I will hit month 7 in a week, and I’d say 70% of the hairs have popped (could use more) and maturation is not really there yet. I know it’s still early, but it’s challenging to know where I should be. I feel behind. .

There’s really no perfect answer for this because when a percentage is given, it’s an average and furthermore, the percentage typically includes both the “popping” of the transplanted hair and maturation.  Hair that pops is virtually undetectable in most cases because most of these hairs are invisible and colorless.  You can feel them but you can’t see them.  So even if 60% of the hairs popped, only 30% of them may be making any significant cosmetic improvement.  Thus, if you put the two percentages together, one could say at that point you are at about 45% growth.  Although there are many hairs in between the popping and maturation stage so even that’s not 100% accurate.

In my opinion, many hairs start popping between 3 to 5 months. At 5 months I’d say you are most likely around 50% popping but only 25% maturation.  At 7 months, I’d suggest you are at 70% popping but only 50% maturation.  At 9 months I’d say you are at 90% popping but only 70% maturation.  At 10 months I’d suggest 100% have popped but you’re only at about 80% maturation.  But 12 months you’re most likely at 90% maturation and by 18 months you should be at 100% maturation.

The above percentages are based on my own experiences, talking to various hair restoration physicians and making assessments of results. These are not hard numbers.  But I hope this helps.

Bill Seemiller
Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network
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David
Editorial Assistant and Forum Co-Moderator

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