Hair transplant complications

Hair grafting is a safe technique with very few complications.

The appearance of frontal oedema is not considered a complication, this is an anticipated, temporary clinical response that occurs during most grafts. It slowly moves vertically through the face and disappears within 3 to 4 days. It can be subdued with 30 mg oral prednisone for 3 days.

True complication from hair transplants that may occur, although uncommon, are:

• Donor site infection or wound dehiscence.
• Hypoesthesia or impairment of sensitivity, either on the donor or receptor site. This effect is usually temporary.
• Severe oedema that temporarily affects the eyelids.
• Folliculitis in the implant area.
• Poor or scarce growth of the implanted follicles.
• Number of viable and vital grafts lower than expected, according to the number of grafts performed, under 70%.

Scant growth of the implants is one of the complications of hair graft

The average expected growth of implanted follicles with current techniques is 90%. When survival of the grafts is low, some of the following factors may have influenced in the risk factors:

• Graft dehydration.
• High ischaemia period, that is, overly prolonged re-implantation time. The implant should not take more than 6 hours, given that 2 hours after extraction from the donor site, ischaemia survival is considered to be 95%, 90% after 4 hours and 80% after 6 hours.
• Graft trauma on the bulb that inhibits growth.

Do you have further questions about hair transplant complications? Request a free informative consultation now with one of our expert surgeons and they will answer all your queries.