When you decide to have a hair transplant, you’re probably keen to know when the results will kick in. The majority of hair transplant patients see more than half of their new transplanted hair grafts start to grow after 6 to 9 months, leading to visibly thicker hair [1].
Read below to learn more about the hair transplant procedure and timeline for healing including preparing for your hair restoration surgery, what to expect on the day of hair transplantation surgery, and the month-by-month progress up to a year after the procedure.
The first stage of the hair transplant process is the hair transplant consultation. At this stage, the team will assess the patient’s hair loss and provide as much guidance and advice as needed to restore hair.
If you decide to opt for a hair transplant, you’ll decide whether a FUT surgery or an FUE hair transplant is best for you. See all the differences between FUE vs FUT to learn more.
As with any type of surgery, preparing for your hair transplant is key. Getting things right at this stage can reduce the risk of complications and encourage swift new hair growth, so make sure you know how to prepare. Our advice is as follows:
Almost all hair transplants are completed in a single day. Depending on how many hair grafts you need, you could be in the chair for anywhere between 4 and 8 hours. During this time, the surgical team will help make you feel as comfortable as possible. Find out how long hair transplant surgery takes.
Here’s what to expect on the day of your hair transplant.
One of the things patients will do first is deciding on a hairline design. The team will already have a good idea of your requirements after your consultation. But now they’ll draw a physical hairline on your scalp so you’ll have a clear idea of where your new hairline will fall.
Here are the hairline designs of 3 previous Wimpole Clinic patients:
Whether you’ve chosen an FUE hair transplant or a FUT hair transplantation, the surgery will start with administering a local anaesthetic to the patient to numb the scalp. Then your surgical team will get to work. Watch FUE surgery in action:
When all your grafts have been implanted, expect to see a series of raised red dots across the recipient site. These will scab over quickly, but it’s important to avoid dislodging them in the first few days after your transplant:
Wimpole Clinic hair transplant patient Jonathan Joseph has also shared photos of his scalp immediately after Afro FUE surgery. You can also see some of the bandages used to dress the donor area after the procedure, preventing hair transplant infection and other safety issues:
It’s important to follow your surgeon’s aftercare advice when you get home on the day of the surgery. This includes guidance on taking downtime after your hair transplant. Learn more in our hair transplant aftercare articles:
The next day, your hair grafts will look similar to the day before, although they should have begun to scab over. Learn more about dealing with hair transplant scabs.
FUE patients will find that their donor wounds heal much more quickly than those with FUT. FUE patients can remove the gauze covering their donor area by getting it wet and peeling it away from the skin, being careful not to get the hair grafts wet.
You may see slight differences depending on the medication you’re taking to promote healing. These FUE hair transplant close-up photos give an indication of a healthy-looking donor area the day after surgery [2]:
FUT patients will have stitches in the donor area. These will dissolve by themselves after a few weeks, leaving a small but visible scar.
It’s important to take some downtime this week. Avoid strenuous exercise, get plenty of rest, and eat healthily to promote fast recovery. Continue following your surgeon’s aftercare advice:
A couple of weeks to a month after your procedure, you may start to see your hair grafts falling out. This can be scary if you’re not expecting it but try not to worry! Post-transplant shock hair loss occurs in almost all hair transplant patients around this time. It happens as a result of the trauma to your transplanted hair follicles during surgery.
But by this point, the hair follicles will have settled in, and when they’ve recovered from the shock, they’ll start to produce new hair.
All being well, you’ll be clear to return to work and maybe even start exercising again 10-14 days after your surgery when the scalp has healed. However, if you’re unsure if it’s safe to participate in more strenuous activity, check in with your consultant beforehand.
Some hair transplant patients feel a little despondent during this stage of the hair transplant timeline. You may not see much hair growth, and you might even wonder if the transplant has taken. According to the hair transplant growth chart, you can expect some new hair growth during this phase, but most patients only see up to 5mm within the first 8 weeks.
Everyone’s hair grows at different rates, so even if you see less than this, your newly transplanted hair should start to grow and thicken soon. While it’s still early days, it won’t be long before you start to see sustained permanent growth from your transplanted follicles. Take a look at some of the early hair growth seen by previous Wimpole Clinic patients in these before and after hair transplant photos:
Patient before hair transplant and 1 month after surgery (FUE, 2500 grafts) — grafts have healed and the shape of the hairline is still visible. See more patient photos:
Around 4 months after your hair transplant, you should start to see some real progress. Patients will see improvements in hair density and length, and your new hairline or crown coverage should start to become clearly visible.
Before crown hair transplant and 5 months after surgery (FUE, 1800 grafts) — results start to be visible, though the patient can expect to see thicker coverage than this over the next few months
This is just the beginning. Most patients are only starting to see results around this time, so the hair may look and feel frizzy, thin, or soft. As the hair matures, it will gain the same texture as the rest of your hair, helping it blend in for a natural finish.
More and more of your transplanted hairs are now beginning to grow, creating a thicker head of hair that’s indistinguishable from your original growth. If you wear your hair long, it will take some time for these new hairs to catch up with the rest. But people with shorter hair should now start to see their new hair blending seamlessly with their existing hair.
Not all patients will see final results after a year. For some, it can take up to 18 months after surgery to see hair transplant growth. However, by this point in the transplant timeline you’ll have the hair you’ve been dreaming of so be patient because it’s worth the wait.
It should also be noted, that you may experience ongoing hair loss in your non-transplanted areas. This is normal (even expected) for people with hereditary pattern baldness. To keep your hair transplant looking fantastic beyond 12 months, men with male pattern baldness need to control their hair loss with solutions like Finasteride or Minoxidil. Without this, you may find you need top-up transplants in the future.
See hair transplants after 10 years for information about long-term results and side effects.
The Wimpole Clinic is one of the UK’s longest-running hair transplant clinics. Based on Harley Street, London, we’re home to some of the most advanced, experienced surgeons and technicians in the world.
We are happy to answer any questions or concerns you would like to ask and will work with you to create a hairline you’ll love.
Book a free consultation at one of our six nationwide clinics and find out more about the questions you really want to ask before a hair transplant to get the most out of your free and no-pressure consultation.
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