Unsatisfactory result from FUE 12 months post-op. Could this mean that my scalp is rejecting transplanted hair? (Photo)

Your hairs look very fine and thin so that may be part of the issue.  It also maybe that your before hairs fell out and all that remains are your after grafted hairs. Like everything in medicine, hair transplants do not always work in every patient.   A second procedure may be worth a shot and if that doesnt produce results it may just be the scalp.  As long as you are going to a dedicated hair transplant clinic the odds are in your favor but they are never 100%.

Dear Yerma,

Thank you for your clinical post and
photographs. Sorry to hear about your
disappointment following the FUE hair transplantation procedure. There are several reasons that could result
in this kind of outcome. First the
number of graphs transplanted to the area might have been small in number and
spread out in surface area and as such the amount of densification would be
minimal. Some of the grafts themselves
may have died during the transplant process or more commonly some of the donor
site hair, which had been suffering from the advanced ill effects of too much
5-alpha-reductase in the scalp may have been prone to a process called telogen
effluvium. TE or shock loss of hair in
the recipient area is not uncommon and this hair rarely returns.

I think that you should see your
transplant physician and discuss the nature of the etiology. If it was telogen effluvium or the recipient
hair, a second transplantation procedure may work quite nicely as the surviving
transplanted hair in the recipient area are quite hearty and not as subject to
male pattern alopecia.

I hope this information is of some
assistance and best of luck.

To find out more, please visit the
link below.

R. Stephen Mulholland, M.D.

Certified Plastic Surgeon

Yorkville, Toronto