Will female hair transplant give me more hair overall? (Photo)

Question

Due to having an eating disorder all my teenage years and only just finding out now (25) that I have anaemia and other deficiencies, my hair has started to become a lot thinner. If I get hair placed in thinner areas of my head, and around my hairline, will the hair from the donor site grow back at all? Will there be more hair after the transplant or will it still be exactly the same amount of hairs just relocated? If put my hair in a ponytail will it still only be as thick as it was before?

Mehmet Erdogan, MD · Answer

A female hair transplant won't give you more hair overall, because the procedure redistributes existing hair follicles &mdash; usually from the back or sides of the scalp (donor area) &mdash; to thinning areas, like the hairline or crown.However, if the underlying cause of your hair loss isn’t addressed, the non-transplanted hairs may continue to thin over time, potentially affecting the overall result.

Marco Barusco, MD · Answer

Hello,

Thank you for your question. A hair transplant redistributes hair from the donor site (usually the back or sides of the head) to thinning or balding areas, but the donor hair does not grow back. The total number of hairs on your scalp remains the same—they’re simply relocated.

While the density of your ponytail won’t change, the transplanted hair will enhance areas of thinning or recession, creating the appearance of fuller hair in those areas. To address overall thinning, treatments like correcting deficiencies, improving nutrition, or using therapies like minoxidil can complement your transplant and improve hair health.

Best regards,
Dr. Marco Barusco

Jeremy S. Wetzel, MD · Answer

Its important to understand first, that a hair transplant is simply the relocation of hair follicles from the donor area (the "permanent zone" on the back and sides of the head) into the areas of need. Once the hair follicle is removed from the donor area, it does not grow back in that spot. Second, patients who have diffuse thinning generally do not make good candidates for a hair transplant. Hair transplants work best when there is a defined area of loss that needs to be filled in. A hair transplant would not make your pony tail thicker. 
Hair loss that is related to vitamin deficiencies has a decent chance of reversing, especially for a patient in their 20s, when the deficiencies are corrected. Generally, patients with this type of hair loss are not candidates for a restoration surgery. Treatments like minoxidil, spironolactone (either topically or orally), Low Level Laser Therapy and PRP procedures can also help. And obviously correcting the vitamin deficiencies that were the presumed cause of the hair loss. Just by doing that, the hair loss should stop progressing and like I mentioned, has a good chance of reversing over several months. But if by chance it does not reverse, there are those other non-surgical treatments to try.

John Diep, MD · Answer

Not many women are a candidate for hair transplant surgery. Depending on certain type of hair loss, some women can be a candidate for hair surgery. Hair transplant in the frontal are tend to be more successful than the crown area, especially with women hair loss. Once the hair have been harvested from the donor area, it will not grow back. There will not be more overall hair after hair transplant surgery. All we do is relocating the donor hair to the recipient area.

Christine M. Shaver, MD · Answer

Donor hair will not grow back once it has been removed. It has been relocated to the new recipient area. There will be scars remaining in place where the donor hair was removed (either a line scar from FUT or dot scars from FUE). The total number of hairs on the scalp will remain the same as will the thickness of your ponytail - assuming you do not also experience shock loss of hair. Cloning would increase the total number of hairs on your scalp but this is not readily available yet. Hair loss from an eating disorder is likely also telogen effluvium, which is reversible and not best treated with transplant. I would also caution against surgery at a young age.

Jason Emer, MD · Answer

"For hair regrowth, I suggest the following to my patients: 
Start Theradome now (see link) and in office PRP/acell, you can do early transplant if you want. You need a formal evaluation to see what type of hair loss you may have. when you have hair loss its best to do a full hormonal workup for internal optimization plus scalp biopsies or scrapings to rule out any stress related, inflammatory, autoimmune or infectious causes of hair loss. In general most people with early hair loss have telogen (stress related) and/or androgenetic (normal aging) and both can be treated with in office treatments like steroid injections, PRP/acell, Exosomes and at home treatments like oral medications, oral vitamins like Viviscal, topical exfoliating sprays like Restorsea, and weekly growth factors like anteagemd. See an expert for an evaluation. If hair loss is significant it may requires hair transplant (follicular unit translation) Best, Dr. Emer"

Arslan Musbeh, MD · Answer

Yes, of course, there will be visible density in the transplanted area.
A hair transplant does not increase the total number of hairs on your head, but it creates a fuller and denser appearance in the treated zones.
Healthy follicles taken from the donor area are carefully implanted into thinning regions such as the hairline or crown, giving the front and top parts of your head a noticeably thicker look.

However, keep in mind that the donor hairs do not grow back once removed.
So while the overall volume of your ponytail may remain similar, the frontal and visible areas will appear much denser and more balanced.

Audrey G. Bauer, MD · Answer

Unfortunately, that's not how it works. The donor area is like a bank account where you can only make withdrawals.  There is not any regrowth of hair that has been removed.  In the donor area, if it is of normal density, you usually have the possibility of two or more procedures before you exhaust the supply of donor hair available (without making the area look sparse as well). So as you suspect, the overall number of follicles/hairs you have will not increase, just change location.  I hope this answers your question.

Steven C. Chang, MD · Answer

You can think of hair transplantation as hair relocation. New hair is not created. Hair from the donor sites are "lost" to that site and moved and transplanted to the new area (recipient site). Overall, the total amount of hair you have will not change.

Kulakarn Amonpattana, MD · Answer

Dear miamiuk,
Hello I'm Dr. Wipawan Vathananai, a co-worker of Dr. Kulakarn Amonpattana, from BHI Clinic, Bangkok, Thailand. Regarding your questions;
1. Due to having an eating disorder all my teenage years and only just finding out now (25) that I have anaemia and other deficiencies, my hair has started to become a lot thinner.- I have further question about this. Have you been getting the treatment for anemia and nutritional deficiencies at the moment? It is very important that these conditions are treated before getting a hair transplantation if you would like to get one.
2. If I get hair placed in thinner areas of my head, and around my hairline, will the hair from the donor site grow back at all?Answer - The hair harvested from the donor site will not grow back. 
3. Will there be more hair after the transplant or will it still be exactly the same amount of hairs just relocated? Answer - The overall hair is about the same since it is just a relocation from the high-density area to low-density area.
4. If put my hair in a ponytail will it still only be as thick as it was before?Answer - Until all of the transplanted hairs reach the same length as the non-transplanted hair, that is when you will feel that it is as thick as it was before the hair transplantation. However, other health conditions should be addressed and handled properly to maintain the hair growth.
Best regards,Wipawan Vathananai MD

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