Hair Restoration Blog

Q:

I have curly hair and underwent hair restoration surgeries to increase the density of hair on the front and top areas.  It’s been about 7 months since my hair transplant procedure and I haven’t noticed any difference in thickness compared to before.  I understand it could take up to 10 months after hair transplant to see the result, but at the current ‘rate’ I’m not hopeful.

I am diabetic and I know that after the surgery, my glucose levels were unexpectedly high, and the only explanation I could come up with was that it was because of the steroids I was given. After the surgery I monitored my glucose levels frequently, every 2 hours (which is more than normal) and they were far higher than normal despite the fact my diet was the same and so were the insulin dosages.  I can’t help but think I’m not seeing much of a difference because of my high glucose levels causing the hair follicles to die.  Is this possible?
A:
Elevated blood glucose may affect the healing of the surgical wounds after any surgical procedures.  Although we always recommend to keep the glucose within the normal range around the time of a hair transplant surgery for better healing of the wounds, there is no study to evaluate the exact impact of elevated glucose on growth of transplanted hair follicles after hair transplantation.

Since you hair is curly, it will be difficult to evaluate your final growth at this time.  It may take even over 10 to 12 months to see the final growth of transplanted hair.

Q:

I have diabetes. Can I have a hair transplant procedure?

A:

Patients with diabetes can successfully have a hair transplant surgery if diabetes is under good control. Diabetes used to be a life limiting disorder and diabetic patients could not have many elective surgical procedures due to their increased risk of wound complications and infection. With the new medications and methods for controlling diabetes, patients with diabetes can safely have hair transplant surgery or any other elective procedures without significant increased risk of infection or complications with their healing phase. Here at US Hair Restoration, we need to have a clearance from the doctor who follows patient for his/her diabetes to make sure patient’s blood sugar is in normal range and diabetes is effectively controlled.