Personal grooming is nowadays very important has become a secret to your elegance. It helps us to feel confident, look stylish and it definitely helps to leave an everlasting impression and hair plays an important role in that. According to the popular saying that invest in the good hair care because it is the crown that you never take off! People these days love to style their hair differently whether it’s the hair color or the chemical hair treatments, they love to do so to make their hair game strong. By undergoing excessive chemical treatments, many people are losing hair. In case of excessive hair loss and baldness, the trichologists recommend hair transplant. Hair transplant is definitely a permanent method of hair restoration but there are always pros and cons of everything. There are different types of hair transplant and their side effects are also different. Following are the few side effects of hair transplant that one must aware of before getting a hair transplant.

Side Effects of Hair Transplant

Although hair transplant is completely a safe procedure if performed by an experienced hair transplant surgeon. But there are few complications which can be treated with the proper care and treatment. The hair transplant surgeon will describe all the pre and post treatment care options in the consulting session. The complications after hair transplant can be characterized into following categories;

    General Complications:

    There are few general complications after hair transplant that can easily be treated with the doctor’s prescription. There are no long term side effects of hair transplant.

    • Swelling:

      Swelling is the most common side effect of hair transplant. You may notice swelling on your forehead and eyes. However, the swelling will resolve on its own within couple of days.

    • Bleeding:

      You may notice some bleeding on your scalp but this can also be treated with minor care. However, if you experience excessive bleeding, then you may require additional care or stitches.

    • Infection:

      The infection on scalp is a rare side effect. If your treatment is done by an experienced surgeon and you are taking precautions, you need not to worry about this.

    • Thinning of Hair:

      Hair thinning after hair transplant is also referred to as ‘Shock Loss’. You may experience loss of newly transplanted hair follicles along with your previous hair but do not worry. This is a stage and new hair will regrow.

    • Itching:

      Itching is also a common side effect of hair transplant and most of the patient experience this. This is due to the scab’s formation on the scalp and will resolve with the use of shampoo as suggested by the doctor.

    • Scabs:

      There will be scab formation after hair transplant on your scalp. Do not prick or scratch these scabs as this will worsen your current condition. These scabs will remove on its own within few days.

    • Pain:

      As hair transplant is a surgical procedure, you will experience some pain. But the doctor will prescribe pain killers and antibiotics to treat pain and to prevent infections.

    • Numbness:

      You may notice numbness after hair transplant on your scalp. The duration of numbness can be up to 18 weeks but incase of more, you are suggested to seek medical care.

    Complications after FUT Hair Transplant:

    FUT or Follicular Unit Transplantation is also known as Strip Surgery as a strip from the back of your scalp containing hair follicles is extracted and the area is then sutured back. The hair follicles are then extracted from the strip carefully and then implanted on the recipient area. The common side effects after FUT Hair Transplant are;

    • Bleeding:

      Bleeding is common after the strip surgery as a strip of hair is extracted but this will be solved with the help of bandages and with the proper care.

    • Folliculitis:

      Folliculitis or inflammation of hair follicles is also a common side effect of FUT hair transplant. This will be treated with the help of anti-inflammatory drugs prescribed by the doctor.

    • Infection:

      Infection is a rare side effect of FUT hair transplant. The doctor will prescribe you antibiotics to avoid infections on the sutured area.

    • Necrosis:

      Necrosis or cell death is the condition occurred on the area where strip has been extracted. There will be further no hair growth on the extracted area.

    • Suture Extrusion:

      The non-dissolvable sutures can be extruded but this happens very rarely.

    • Keloid:

      Keloids or hypertrophic scar is a rare condition occurred due to the exaggerated response to surgery.

    • Donor Hair Effluvium:

      It is referred to as ‘Donor Shock Loss’. It can be seen on the upper and lower area of the donor site. This can be treated with the help of topical solutions like Minoxidil.

    • Arteriovenous fistula:

      It is an extremely rare side effect of FUT hair transplant.

    Complications After FUE Hair Transplant

    FUE or Follicular Unit Extraction is the hair transplant where hair follicles are extracted from the donor area (back of the scalp) and are implanted into the recipient area with the help of flat or blunt punches. FUE hair transplant has become more popular these days but for the longer sessions i.e. for greater number of hair follicle implantation, FUE is combined with the FUT Hair transplantation. The common side effects of FUE hair transplant are;

    • Donor site depletion or moth-eaten appearance:

      Donor site depletion or Moth-eaten appearance is the result of non-uniform and aggressive hair follicle extraction.

    • Hypopigmentation or pinpoint scarring:

      Due to the punches used in the surgery, white atrophic macules are formed resulting in pinpoint scarring. But this will be less visible if the surgery is performed by an expert surgeon.

    • Acute effluvium:

      This can happen after few days or weeks after the surgery resulting in the diffused hair loss but it will resolve on its own.

    • Buried grafts or ingrown hair:

      This happens with the blunt punches when grafts are extracted in hurry or proper extraction is not done, then the graft is forced back into the dermis resulting in buried grafts.

    • Higher transection rate/Over harvesting:

      It may lead to the permanent hair loss or thinning of hair on the donor area due to the excessive harvesting of the grafts.

    • Keloid/hypertrophic scar:

      This happens very rare after FUE hair transplant. Only 2 cases have been observed till now.

    • Epithelial cyst:

      This happens if the grafts are not carefully or fully harvested from the donor area resulting in swelled or bumped formation on the area.

    • Necrosis:

      This also happens very rare. If happens can result in cicatricial alopecia. Numbness and persistent pain: This is a common side effect and can be treated with the help of pain killers prescribed by the doctor.

We hope you have an answer to your question- is there any side effects of hair transplant? We have compiled a list of all the possible side effects of hair transplant. Most of these side effects are avoidable and can be treated with the help of medications and proper post-op treatment care. It is advisable to everyone that before undergoing any procedure, have a proper consultation session with your doctor and get your all queries cleared by them and always choose the best hair transplant surgeon for your procedure to avoid aftercare complications of hair transplant.