Second Hair Transplant: When and Why It’s Needed

First Hair Transplant Session For The Patient Who Needs Second For The Crown

A second hair transplant procedure is usually preferred to increase hair density. It is also sometimes performed to repair failed previous procedures.

As you know, a hair doctor extracts hair from the donor area and implants it in the recipient area. It is the relocation of genetically strong, non-shedding hair from the back of the head. However, it is interesting to note that hair extracted from the donor area never grows back.

So, a hair surgeon expert ensures that enough hair is left in the donor region while harvesting. When too much hair is taken out, a problem known as over-harvesting may occur.

This can result in balding in the donor region. If, for some reason, a second hair transplant is needed in the future, there might not be enough hair left in the donor region. This can result from over-harvesting.

Briefly, the surgeon must carefully and precisely harvest grafts from the donor area for hair restoration. Here in this article, we are going to describe the scenario that may require a 2nd hair procedure and discuss the procedures involved in that case.

In this post

Restoring Hair Density

While the patient might want to achieve the hair density that they had in their earlier life, this is not always achievable, especially in the case of extensive bald areas. If the ideal desired density is not achieved in the first procedure, a 2nd session can be employed to increase density.

That is, the surgeon can employ a 2nd hair transplant procedure to create a means to gain more density.

Some of the patients who come to our clinic have already had an unsuccessful hair replacement surgery in another clinic and wish to get a second surgery done through us. We recommend going through our article, 4000 Grafts Second Hair Transplant Before and After for more information.

Repair Hair Restoration for The Patient Who Had Failed Hair Transplant Before

Hair Transplant Limitations and Density Improvement

There is a limit to the number of hairs that can be implanted per square centimeter in a single session of hair operation. Too much implantation of hair in a small area has a tendency to disrupt the flow of blood in the scalp, leading to issues such as necrosis (tissue death).

Due to this, patients who desire to have high-density hair plantations in the frontal area can prescribe a second session. In doing so, healthier density and volume improvements are attained over the period of time.

A second session is required in certain cases, especially for individuals with blonde or thinning hair. For such people, full coverage and the desired hair density are typically achieved in the second or third sessions.

Repair Hair Restoration Method

Repair hair restoration is mostly done in the retouching type to those areas of the scalp where hair does not grow. After the previous replacement process, final results are obtained by transplanting hair to the affected regions.

Damaged blood flow, or ischemia, can keep hair from growing in some areas. Dermatitis, which is an inflammation of the skin, may also cause this. These problems may necessitate a repair hair transplant.

In FUE hair harvesting, it’s not unusual for additional hair follicles to be removed from some parts of the donor area and less from another. Due to this problem, hair distribution on the patients’ napes of the neck (donor area) is asymmetrical. This asymmetrical distribution can be dealt with during harvesting in hair transplant repair and correction.

Some of the hair follicle harvesting, especially in the earlier years, was accomplished from a small area in the form of a square or window in the middle of the patients’ donor areas. This type of harvesting is repaired by repair hair restoration, one cause of irregular hair distribution. Dr. Yaman corrects the appearance by extracting hair follicles with a balanced distribution in the second hair transplant harvesting stage.

Second Hair Transplant Timing and Need

Dr. Resul Yaman has been performing hair transplantation on patients for 15 years. In his opinion, a second hair transplant is sometimes necessary.

Based on his experience and clinical observations, some patients experience a loss of their natural existing hair and a loss of up to 15% of the transplanted hair 7-10 years after the first procedure. This may require a second hair surgery session.

Such patients who have received hair transplants in their late 20s or early 30s may need a second transplant in their early 40s. They can have sufficient hair density for a lifetime with a second and final session.

FUE Hair Transplant vs FUT

After FUT hair transplant, much more desirable results are obtained if the second session is done with the fue method. In the FUT procedure, hair follicles are removed together with the skin. This means that there is no loss in the density of the hair in the donor area.

And when the second hair plantation is performed by the fue method, more harvesting can be accomplished. This increases the success rate.

One must try not to take hair grafts near the donor FUT line scar when correcting and repairing hair transplantation. This lowers hair density near the scar and renders the scar more noticeable. It is possible to revise the scar through hair plantation over the scar.

Hair surgery was highly sought after for scar revision following wars in the 1950s. And the technology today only makes it even easier to induce hair growth in the scar tissue. During a second hair transplant, repair hair transplant FUT scar can be performed in the donor area.

Using Body and Beard Hair for Additional Sessions

Finally, we should note here that if there is enough donor hair, then we can conduct second, third, or even fourth hair transplant sessions.

Beard hair, and sometimes body hair that’s suitable for transplantation, can be used for secondary repair hair transplants. Adding new hair to an area in which a previous transplant has been done does not result in injury or loss of previously transplanted hair.