It takes several months to see sustained growth after a FUE hair transplant or a FUT strip surgery procedure. But by month 4 after your hair restoration surgery, you should start to see some proper progress. At this stage, most side effects will have subsided, and new hair growth should become visible [1].
In this review of hair transplants after 4 months, you’ll see real patient photos and results, giving you a clearer idea of what to expect when you reach this stage of the hair transplant timeline.
This article will tell you exactly what you can expect in your hair transplant recovery 4 months after your procedure. You will learn what constitutes normal hair growth at this stage, what side effects you may encounter and what red flag symptoms should be brought up to your surgeon. Moreover, we will share real patient before-and-after photos and accounts of their experiences 4 months into their recovery. Finally, we offer helpful tips to help you achieve hair regrowth as fast as possible after your hair transplant shedding period has ended.
Key takeaways
Once you have reached 4 months after your hair transplant, all temporary surgical side effects in your transplant area should have cleared, and your scalp should look as good as new. But more importantly, you should be able to see the hair that fell out during the shock loss phase starting to grow back in your transplant area [2]. This means that your shedding period is over, and your transplanted hair follicles have returned to their growth phase [1][2].
However, if you don’t see any improvement in hair length and density by the end of the 4th month post-op, don’t panic. You may simply need to give it a little more time.
By this stage of recovery, your hair transplant donor area should be completely healed. If you had FUE surgery, you should experience virtually no visible scarring once your hair has started to grow back. In the worst-case scenario, you will have some small, pinpoint marks on your donor area, where the follicles were harvested for transplantation.
Your hair will have grown long enough to conceal any scarring. If you crop your hair short after FUT surgery, your hair transplant scar may be visible. This will fade over time and become almost unnoticeable as it is covered by the hair around it.
For most patients, hair transplant shock loss ends within 3-4 months of onset [1]. This means approximately 3.5-4.5 months postop. However, this doesn’t mean that if you aren’t experiencing hair growth by this time, something is wrong with your hair transplant. Some people have to wait up to 6 months for their hair to start growing back. Here is our experienced surgeon, Dr Peter Barron’s experience with this delay in hair growth:
At month five or six, there will be one week where the growth should take off, and they’re filled with excitement again as things start to begin taking shape again. Almost every patient tells me how I was right with these predictions whenever they come to see me at follow-up.
However, for your peace of mind, you can always schedule a follow-up appointment with your surgeon to make sure your recovery is going well.
Here are some real photographs of our patients’ hair growth progress achieved by the 4th month after their hair restoration surgery, so you can get an idea of the partial results they achieved:
The patient above was experiencing Norwood stage 3-4 male pattern baldness, which had caused a receding hairline and temple hair loss. Since his condition was not very advanced, it was corrected with an under-1500-graft hair transplant. 4 months after his surgery, you can see his transplanted hair start to grow, although it is still short and sparse at this time.
Female hair transplants have become increasingly popular over time, as these procedures are just as effective in men as they are in women. The female patient above got 1100 grafts to fill out her thinning temples and the sides of her head. Within 4 months, she seems to have sparser hair than she did before, because she still hasn’t recovered after her post-transplant shock loss. However, in just a few more months, the area will be filling out.
If you want to know how patients feel about their surgical hair restoration journey and the hair growth they achieved by month 4 post-procedure, here are some of the stories our patients at the Wimpole Clinic shared with us in their reviews (see all our Trustpilot reviews to understand why our clinic has an almost perfect Trust Score, as rated by 1500+ clients):
After a long, hard wait, you can probably barely contain your excitement to finally see some results. However, it’s a good idea to manage your expectations, as graft regrowth after a hair transplant is a marathon, not a sprint.
As your new hair is starting to grow in, don’t expect too much too soon. Healthy hair normally grows around 1-1.2 cm per month [3]. This means your grafts may only be under a cm long during the first month of regrowth. And will take about a year (sometimes more) to reach your final hair density, as not all transplanted hair starts growing back at the same time.
At this still-early stage of recovery, you may be concerned that you didn’t achieve a natural-looking hair transplant. That is because the new hair growing in may be sparse and slightly odd-looking. However, that is just a temporary phase. Its density and appearance will improve considerably by the time you see your final results. Here is how Dr Ahmad Moussa, one of our excellent surgeons, describes this stage:
It’ll take two, three, sometimes four months for hair to start coming back. Initially, it might look a little bit sparse, might look a little bit spiky and wiry. And it’s just a waiting game at that point for it all to come through and for the hair to soften and settle and look more natural. I always say, being in the industry, we can spot a transplant fairly easily in the first year. But usually, after a year, it’s more difficult for us to tell. And patients are usually very happy. Some patients look amazing after just seven or eight months, and people can’t tell. But we tend to stay a little bit more on the safe side and say, aim for a year. Anything sooner than that is a bonus.
Several factors can influence how quickly your hair grows back after shock loss and, implicitly, how much hair growth you can expect to see at the 4-month mark. Here are some of the most important:
Hair transplants are safe, simple procedures, and most of their side effects are mild and temporary. They normally clear up within a few days or weeks of your procedure. So it’s uncommon to see continuing symptoms 4 months into recovery. The longest-lasting transient adverse reaction is hair transplant redness, but it normally fades within a few weeks at the latest.
One new symptom you may encounter 4 months after your hair transplant is itching in your recipient area, as the new hair starts to grow. While the sensation will normally be mild, if you find it inconvenient, you can use some over-the-counter antihistamine to soothe your scalp.
Very rarely, some patients can develop more serious complications 4 months post-hair restoration surgery. For example, you can develop folliculitis even after your scalp is fully healed and your grafts have become secure. While this condition can be both infectious and non-infectious, when it develops this late after your procedure, it is likely to be caused by bacteria (or, more rarely, a virus or fungus). Research shows that post-hair transplant folliculitis typically develops between 2 days and 6 months post-procedure [8]. Its symptoms involve pimples or bumps around your hair roots, pain, inflammation, redness and itching on your scalp and sometimes, yellow-brownish crusts on the scalp.
The good news is that folliculitis only develops in 1% of hair transplant patients [9], usually resolves on its own and almost never affects your results. However, in extremely rare cases, if left untreated, the infection can spread and become severe, leading to scarring alopecia and endangering your overall health.
If you are 4 months post-op and you develop any of the following scalp symptoms, it is best to let your surgeon know about them:
These symptoms may not be related to your hair transplant; they may be common scalp problems that occurred coincidentally. However, getting them examined can help rule out an emerging scalp condition or a different type of alopecia (e.g. lichen planopilaris), which can negatively impact your results.
While each patient’s hair grows back at its own pace after hair transplant shedding, there are some things you can do to help your hair regrow as soon as possible:
According to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) [10], most hair transplant repairs are the result of botched operations performed on the black market. Surgeon skill and experience are extremely important when it comes to your final results, but also to your hair regrowth timeline. Excellent specialists who operate in well-reputed hair clinics use specific protocols and techniques that minimise trauma to your hair follicles and reduce the extent and duration of shock loss. This means that a good surgeon can help your hair grow back as soon as physiologically possible.
There is not much hair transplant aftercare left to perform 4 months after your surgery. However, the way you cared for your grafts in the early days can influence your subsequent hair regrowth. Here are some of the ways that could happen:
Research shows that certain hair growth treatments and therapies can shorten the duration of your hair transplant shedding and help you experience regrowth earlier. Here are some of the most common:
Our experienced surgeon, Dr Chirag Gadhia, explains how hair growth medication can help you achieve greater hair regrowth at the 4-month mark after your hair transplant:
Minoxidil can help expedite hair growth by increasing blood flow to the scalp. Similarly, PRP has been shown to accelerate post-transplant growth and improve strand density. Finasteride plays an important role in protecting native hairs and has been shown to increase the number of hairs in the growth (anagen) phase. As a result, it may create the visual impression that the transplanted hairs are growing in sooner, although it has no direct effect on the transplanted grafts themselves.
It is not uncommon to see limited hair growth when it’s only been 4 months since your procedure. The best thing to do is to have a little more patience and try to maintain a positive mindset. In the majority of cases (67.3%), patients achieve satisfying results after their first hair restoration surgery, even if it’s a little later than expected [10].
In the worst-case scenario, where over a year passes, and you are still unhappy with your results, you can get a touch-up or a second hair transplant – 98% of patients are fully satisfied after that [10].
You can feel free to address your clinic any time you have concerns about your hair growth or your recovery process. This can help you stay calm and optimistic, as they can reassure you that everything is developing normally or treat any problem they find in a timely fashion.
Regardless, do not hesitate to address your clinic if 5-6 months have passed since your surgery and you’re still not experiencing any hair growth. That is an uncommon situation that requires in-person examination and sometimes further tests to determine the state of your transplanted hair follicles.
The fourth month after a hair transplant is when the hard work usually starts to pay off. You’ll see noticeable new growth in your transplanted areas (although probably not enough to style), and your donor site will be completely covered by your hair.
From now on, your hair transplant will start to get thicker, longer, and denser — giving you the head of hair you’ve been dreaming about. See what a hair transplant looks like after 6 months. For even longer-term results, find out about hair transplants after a year or even hair transplants after 10 years.
Most people see their final hair transplant results 9-12 months post-surgery. However, in rare cases, it can take up to 18 months to reach your full hair density.
If you have questions about your hair transplant recovery or simply want to know what to expect, our experts are here to help. Book a consultation with one of our experienced surgeons, and they will be happy to answer all of your questions. They can also examine your transplant area to make sure your recovery process is going well and rule out any issues that may need prompt intervention.
The Wimpole Clinic has a 50-year legacy of hair transplant excellence, and we take great pride in our outstanding results. Take a look at our before-and-after hair transplant gallery to see our surgeon’s exceptional achievements for yourself.
Don’t forget to check out the answers to these frequently asked questions to find out even more about your hair transplant recovery after 4 months:
While it is absolutely safe to cut and style your hair 4 months after your hair transplant, you may not have much hair to cut and style at this point. Some of the lucky few patients who experienced no hair transplant shedding may have more to work with. However, the transplanted hair of the rest will likely only be about 1-2 cm long at this point and probably not very thick.
Surgeons say you need to wait at least 3 months after a hair transplant to get a close-cropped buzz cut. But by month 4, you should be good to go. It can help hide the differences in hair length between your transplant area and the rest of your head. However, it’s a common hair loss myth that shaving your head will make your hair grow faster or thicker. Cutting your hair to stimulate growth will not work, as that process is controlled by the hair follicles within the scalp, not the shafts at its surface.
Yes, it is completely normal for your transplanted hair to start growing back sparse after the shock loss period. Its density will normally increase in the following months. That is why surgeons tell you that you need to wait around 12 months to see your final results.
4 months is normally way too soon to see your final hair transplant results. Most people are barely starting to experience visible regrowth after the shock loss period. Hair density increases over time during the first year after the surgery.
However, there are very few people out there (under 5%) who report experiencing no hair transplant shedding [2]. They may be able to get an idea of their final results by month 4 post-procedure. But they may still notice an increase in hair density by 1 year post-op, as their hair transplant shedding may have been too light to notice, but still present.
While it is uncommon, still being completely bald 4 months after your surgery is not necessarily abnormal or a sign that your hair transplant has gone wrong. Perhaps your grafts just need a little more time to return to their growth phase. The fact that you are completely bald may be a good sign – it is very rare for your grafts to have a 0% survival rate. So they are likely still recovering after the procedure.
However, if 5-6 months have passed since your surgery and you still see no sign of hair growth, you need to schedule a follow-up appointment with your surgeon. They will examine you and run the necessary tests to rule out any complications or underlying conditions that may have caused low graft survival rates.
If you are starting to see your transplanted hair grow back, and the sight seems underwhelming, try to have a little more patience and keep in mind that this is only the beginning. Your hair will be growing significantly longer and fuller during the following months. Waiting can be difficult and frustrating, especially when you are anxious about your results. However, the success of a hair transplant can only be accurately assessed after at least 12 months have passed since the procedure. In the meantime, sharing your concerns with your surgeons can help put your mind at ease.
Wimpole Clinic Services:
Hair Transplants, Beard Transplants & Eyebrow Transplants.
Talk to a specialist
Dr. Michael May (GMC No: 1642315) is the Medical Director and Principal Surgeon of the Wimpole Clinic. He has 25 years experience in the field of hair transplant surgery has completed over 10,000 hair transplant procedures, accumulating an unmatched breadth and depth of experience that is exclusively available to Wimpole Clinic patients.
Dr. May entered private practice in 1982 when he first became involved with hair surgery, since then, he has dedicated his career exclusively to the science and practice of hair transplant surgery and hair restoration.
He qualified at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London after which he trained and registered as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. Dr. May was instrumental in developing the revolutionary technique of follicular unit transplant (FUT), and subsequently he also presented papers and lectures in the UK and Europe to professional colleagues. He quickly became recognised by his peers and colleagues as a leader in the field of follicular unit hair transplantation. He specialises in hair restoration surgery covering; FUE, FUT lateral slit, eyebrow, eyelashes, beards, side burns, burns, repairs
As a leading authority in his field, Dr. May became a founder member and past President of the BAHRS and is the current president of the European Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons. In addition, Dr. May is a registered member of The Trichological Society and a Diplomat of Hair Restoration Surgery (ABHRS) in 2002. Dr. Michael May full list of associations are as follows:
Dr. May is available to prospective Wimpole Clinic patients during their consultation and carries out many of the hair transplant procedures at the clinic.
