After anagen, hair enters the catagen phase. This transitional phase lasts approximately 10 days.

Lastly, hair enters the resting phase, where the hair strand is released and falls out. Follicles then remain inactive for a few months before the process begins again.

Your hair can be abruptly moved into the fallout stage due to many factors, including illness, stress, medications, and trauma.

Having an FUE hair transplant is known to interrupt the normal hair growth phase in the affected follicles and cause shedding of those hairs shortly after transplantation. This is commonly referred to as “shock loss”.

The temporary scalp trauma that a person experiences during hair restoration may even cause neighbouring healthy hairs to go dormant or fall out. This is less common but, luckily, a temporary condition.

Telogen effluvium is a broad-spectrum form of hair loss. It doesn’t follow a distinct pattern as others do. Instead, it occurs over the entire scalp all at once. Sudden emotional trauma such as the loss of a close family member, divorce, illness, major surgery, or a car accident has been known to cause telogen effluvium.

Other factors include deprivation dieting and extreme weight loss, hormonal imbalance, allergic reactions, and medication side effects.

If you see sudden changes like bald patches or dramatic hair thinning and you can’t attribute it to normal fallout, visit a physician to assess your health and talk about possible causes. When those conditions are no longer present, the hair follicle can produce hair again. Typically, new growth can be seen within 3 months.

Permanent hair loss is most commonly attributed to androgenic alopecia, a genetic form of patterned, progressive hair fallout affecting millions of men and women. Another less common trigger that we treat at the Toronto Hair Transplant Clinic is traction alopecia. This condition sees follicles damaged and no longer producing hairs after chronic tension from tight hairstyles.

Other forms of alopecia, auto-immune diseases, permanent hormonal changes, and age all play a role in hair growth and may lead to hair loss.

• Following your FUE hair transplant, there are several things that you can do to ensure the best scalp and health conditions for growing your new hair.
• Some patients choose to stay on medications like finasteride or topical minoxidil to stave off future thinning.
• You can always ensure that your diet is balanced and loaded with natural sources of protein plus essential vitamins and minerals.
• Exercise to ensure healthy circulation.
• Talk to your surgeon about the possible addition of non-surgical laser light therapy after FUE, or PRP to help speed up healing and new hair formation.
• Follow all instructions carefully and, of course, let your surgeon know if you have any concerns at all while you’re recovering from your hair transplant. They’re invested in your success, and they’ll be able to keep you anxiety-free and healing smoothly.