Hair Transplant: What Is Shock Loss?

Shock loss is when your non-transplanted hairs are "shocked" from the surgery and it falls out.  If these hairs are genetically susceptible to genetic hair loss, then the hair loss is likely permanent. 

Shock loss is due to the loss of normal hair whether it is from donor site or recipient area.  It occurs in less than 5% of patients.  It can occur with both FUE and strip procedures.  Usually if it occurs it will take place in the recipient area.  
Shock loss from hair transplant can occur due to the following:
Anesthesia-  excessively long procedures taking longer than 12 hours can induce shock loss more likely.  the repeated use of lidocaine, marcaine, and perhaps most importantly epinephrine can affect nourishment of the hairTraumatic harvest-  In strip surgery, traumatic harvest can induce shock loss.  Recipient area trauma- during the incision making process the hairs are either crushed or cut and damaged during the process.Ways to minimize shock loss are as follows:
Improve recipient bed and donor area environment.  Make your recipient environment improved by addition of growth factors and/or PRP to help reduce incidence of shock loss to native hairs.Use of Rogaine and Propecia- can help miniaturized hair become more stable and less likely to fall out during procedure9xRobotArtas-  The latest version of the robot can make recipient sites and can determine angle of existing hair and help ensure that the angle will not damage existing hair.  Especially helpful in patients where you are transplanting hair to create densityMinimize anesthesia time and procedure time- We limit number of grafts to a safe number per session.  Extended anesthesia periods and harvest times can cause patients to have a higher chance of shock loss.  The 9x Robot harvests between 1000-1500 grafts per hour making it superior to previous additions and traditional FUE approaches.Best Anil Shah

Shock loss is loss of the non-transplanted hairs after a hair transplant procedure.  This is a rare phenomenon, but has been reported to occur in up to about 5% of cases.  In my practice, I do not personally see shock loss happening even 5% of the time.
The exact cause of shock loss is unknown, but is thought to be due to trauma to the scalp and possible loss of blood flow to the area.  It most commonly occurs at the recipient areas, but can also occur at the donor sites in some patients, regardless of the hair transplant harvest technique.  Fortunately, shock loss is almost always temporary with return of the affected hair within 3-4 months in most cases.
All the best,

Shock loss is when the patient’s original and native hair falls out shortly after the hair transplant procedure. This is due to the extremely sensitive nature of their hair follicles. They experience trauma as a result of the invasive nature of the surgery. And their hair will fall out as a result creating areas of very low, sparse density. The hair follicles will enter a resting phase known as telogen effluvium. The tendency to experience shock loss will be different from person to person. Again, this has to do with how sensitive their hair follicles are.If shock loss is a concern, a possible course of action may be to have the surgeon perform a preliminary test to extract and insert hair follicle grafts in small, discrete regions to observe what the effects will be. Patients who experience diffuse hair loss and wish to improve their hair density through a hair transplant tend to have a greater risk of experiencing shock loss.

There is 2 type of shock lossThe shock loss occurring on hair in the regression or miniaturization phase can be prevented or moderated by the use before and after intervention of medicinal treatments. Finasterid can be used to sufficiently strengthen the hair present, and transform hair regression, healthy hair and thicker.If the surgeon use unsuitable instruments he can cut the existing hair root, damage them. The risk of shock loss can be also when the implanted area is still partially supplied, and the surgeon may accidentally damage the root of neighboring follicles, by incisions, or by implanting follicles.