My hair is growing in darker and rougher than it was. My scalp is also itching. Is this normal?

Question

8 months post fue. Hair is growing but its darker and rougher than my native hair. Also get an itchy scalp from time to time at front middle, right and left. Grafts were only placed at front right and left. Is this normal Will these issues sort themselves over time?

Ken Anderson, MD, FISHRS · Answer

Dear Collin,The answer is really simply: the technicians who placed your hair did not seat the grafts as straight as they should have been placed in the first place during your procedure.The sites for the new grafts are usually made by a physician, but in most of the country I am finding out that any old person, regardless of any medical background, may place the grafts themselves.  In fact, there are a number of companies who will send the "surgeon-of-the-day" a set of techs (see reference below) on command.  So, typically a "surgeon" arranges for techs and a patient (e.g.: YOU) to be in the room at the same time, and they, as they are performing a face lift or some other procedure on some other patient in some other room, to perform your "surgery".Unless your hair restoration surgeon has a full-time, dedicated staff of technicians who are dedicated to their craft, the results are often like going to Vegas.  I am not kidding.

Jae Pak, MD · Answer

Only your doctor can tell you for certain.  We can only guess and answer generalities. Hair texture can vary after surgery.  It sometimes depend on the individual (YOU the patient) and it can also depend on your surgery as each medical group / doctor have variable results with variable techniques.

Rashid M. Rashid, PhD, MD · Answer

Hair transplanted from the back can be very different in the way it grows in some rare cases.  It can resolve itself after a few years but that is not always the case.  You can have a slightyl different color and even texture to the hair including more frizzy hairs.

John Peter Cole, MD · Answer

It is not unusual for the hair in your grafts to become darker, coarser, and wavy following a transplant.  During a hair transplant, the scalp is traumatized by making multiple incisions.  This trauma releases growth factors that seem to have an influence on the grafted follicles.  This influence can change the structure of the hair follicles.  Of course this does no happen in all hair transplant cases.  We do not understand why some individuals see dramatic changes in the diameter, color, and wave of their hair, while others do not see a dramatic change.  Most transplanted hair tends to be more coarse in diameter than the follicles were in the donor area.  It is unclear if these changes will dissipate with new growth cycles of hair follicles.  Hair follicles on the scalp undergo a new growth cycle about every 3 to 5 years.  With a new cycle, the changes you are seeing may cease.

Michael Meshkin, MD - Account Suspended · Answer

the hair texture is sometimes different initially when the hair first starts to grow in. However this may be temporary and it may return to its original texture eventually over time.  Also the transplanted hair has the color and the texture of your donor area which may be a bit different from the recipient area.

My hair is growing in darker and rougher than it was. My scalp is also itching. Is this normal?

Answers (5)

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