It can take 12-15 months for some patients to see final results from a transplant. Most patients, however, have a pretty good idea about how things are going by month 8-9, but not all. If growth does not happen as expected, the worse thing one can do is dive into a second procedure. One needs to figure out why the results are poor. Common reasons include 1) suboptimal surgical technique from the surgeon or his/her team 2) suboptimal post op care from the patient 3) post op complications such as bleeding or infection which impacted growth 4) a new hair disease developing after the transplant like lichen planopilaris that impeded growth and final results 5) an unrecognized hair loss condition that was present before the transplant that negatively impacted final results and 6) results were good but expectations of the patient were not aligned with goals of surgeon. Be sure to discuss all with your surgeon and get a second opinion if results are poor. It’s still a bit early to evaluate results. Most patients with suboptimal transplant results benefit in one or more ways with having a biopsy in the recipient area if results end up to be poor.
