Common Reasons for Failed Hair Transplants and How to Fix Them

A failed hair transplant is when hair follicles that are transplanted fail to grow properly, the results look unnatural, or the transplant procedure leads to other complications like scarring or infections. In some cases, the failure can be associated with just a few parts, whereas in other circumstances, the transplant can be completely unsatisfactory.

The failure of the hair transplant procedure is a discouraging experience, given the amount of time, effort and money that has been put into the process. Patients intending to take corrective action need to understand why these failures occurred.

Some of the most frequent causes of failed hair transplants are:

1. Poor Candidate Selection

Hair transplantation is not a treatment that is good for all candidates. The age, extent of hair loss, hair type, and the state of the scalp are some aspects which decide who is a good candidate for a transplant. 

• Lack of adequate donor hair: In case a patient lacks adequate healthy hair follicles on the donor region, the hair transplanted might look thin and unnatural.
• Severe baldness: Patients with severe balding may need more than one session or other methods and one session can lead to failure of a hair transplant.
• Unrealistic expectations: There are patients who want a full head of hair no matter how limited their hair type or donor areas might be.

How to Fix?

It is essential to have a good pre-transplant assessment by a competent surgeon. At QHT clinic, surgeons are highly qualified and experienced, which prevents any kind of mistake in your hair transplant procedure. Where a patient lacks adequate donor hair, other methods such as body hair transplant or hair transplant correction surgery may be used to provide the intended outcome.

2. Unskilled Surgeon.

The most important aspects of a hair transplant are the skill and experience of the surgeon conducting the surgery.

• Poor graft handling: Mishandling of hair follicles can lead to a low survival rate in the course of extraction or implantation.
• Poor positioning: When transplanted follicles are wrongly placed or have the wrong density, they may cause unwanted thickening of the hair.
• Overharvesting: Excessive removal of follicles of the donor site may result in thinning or scarring on the surface.

How to Fix? 

Only a board-certified surgeon who has a known history of success in hair transplantations should be selected. When transplants fail, a well-trained surgeon can correct unnatural hairlines, density problems, and errors in graft placement after the transplant.

3. Poor Post-Operative Care

Even when a hair transplant is done in the most perfect way, failure of the hair transplant can occur when post-operative instructions are not observed closely. Survival of grafts in the first few weeks following surgery is of paramount importance.

• Infections: Due to the failure to provide hygiene, infections may occur that destroy newly implanted follicles.
• Washing or scratching: Violent cleaning of the transplanted area may loosen grafts.
• Smoking and drinking alcohol: Both may damage the blood supply to the scalp and decrease graft survival.

How to Fix?

Compliance with post-transplant care. In case some damage is done, corrective processes like hair transplant repair will help to recover the lost density and enhance results.

4. Inadequate Graft Survival

Poor graft survival is one of the most frequent causes of a failed hair transplant. Things that can influence survival are:

• Long out-of-body time: Hair follicles are fragile and the longer they are kept out of the body, the less viable they are.
• Inappropriate storage during surgery: Grafts can be damaged because of improper storage solutions or temperatures.
• Too much trauma at extraction or implantation: Follicle survival is impaired even by minor trauma.

How to Fix?

In modern times, graft trauma is reduced through the use of modern methods such as FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) and new storage methods. In patients with low survival rates, a hair transplant correction or a second session may be used to obtain fuller results.

5. Impractical hopes regarding the growth of hair.

Another myth is that hair that is transplanted grows after surgery. In reality:

• In the process of transplanting the hair, it usually goes into a shedding stage in the initial 2-4 weeks.
• The new growth tends to emerge after 3-4 months.
• Complete outcomes are only seen after 12-18 months.
• Patients who develop expectations to receive quick results can soon consider their transplant a failure.

How to Fix?

Quality communication between the patient and the surgeon regarding growth schedules is essential. The most important step is to wait and when growth is inadequate after 12-18 months, transplant correction would help increase the density and appearance.

6. Scarring or Poor Healing

Other patients have too much scarring, poor healing or noticeable marks on the donor or recipient sites. Causes include:

• Underlying skin problems: Problems such as eczema or psoriasis may influence healing.
• Inappropriate surgical method: Hypertrophic scars may be caused by rough treatment of the tissue.
• Lack of aftercare: Scabs should never be picked, or the scalp should not be exposed to sunlight, which will make the scarring worse.

How To Fix?

Scarring may sometimes be treated with scar revision surgery or micro-FUE, or pigmenting. The risk of such complications can be reduced at the very beginning by choosing an experienced surgeon.

7. An inadequate Density or Coverage.

A significant number of patients are not happy with the thickness of their new hair transplant, particularly where they may have had their bald areas covered with a small number of grafts.

• The result of scarcity may be a result of ambitious coverage arrangements that place fewer grafts.
• It might also happen that some surgeons will sacrifice density in an attempt to minimise scalp trauma.
• Patients who have a high level of hair loss need many sessions to get the best results.

How to Fix?

Hair transplant correction can help to correct the problem of density by applying more grafts to the problematic areas, which makes it look very natural and fuller.

8. Hairline Mistakes

One of the most prominent symptoms of a failed hair transplant is a poorly designed hairline. Common mistakes include:

• The hairline is put too high or too low.
• Natural or straight shape of hairline.
• Poor spacing of grafts.

How to Fix?

The hairline can be restored by reconstructive surgery to redraw the hairline, rearrange the grafts, and make the appearance more natural. Well-trained surgeons tend to adopt micro-FUE or combination techniques to redefine the hairline without additional scarring.

9. Genetic or Medical Factors

Others might get poor outcomes because of medical comorbidities or genetics:

• Perpetual loss of hair: As progressive hair loss persists, the patients may lose the hair around them and hence the transplant may be sparse.
• Medical disorders: Thyroid disorders, anaemia, or autoimmune diseases can influence the growth of hair.
• Drugs: Some drugs can disrupt the activity of the hair follicles.

How to Fix?

It is important to treat underlying medical conditions before surgery. Hair transplant correction could be used to keep the hair looking natural in situations where hair loss persists after the transplant.