HOI Encyclopedia Category: Complications & Risk Management

Pitting After Hair Transplant

Written by HOI Medical Editorial Team
Medically reviewed by Dr. Ahmet Dilber
First published: January 2026 · Last updated: September 2026

Pitting after hair transplant is an uneven or dimpled skin texture caused by excessive channel depth or tissue trauma during implantation. It is mainly a cosmetic issue and may improve over time, though severe cases can persist and require corrective treatment.

Key Facts

Pitting Graft healed below the skin surface
Opposite of Cobblestoning, where grafts sit raised
Cause Channel cut deeper than the graft
Growth Usually unaffected
How it reads Orange-peel texture when hair is short or wet
Correction Cosmetic only; prevention is depth control

Pitting and cobblestoning are opposite errors and are constantly confused. Both come from a graft sitting at the wrong level, but they sit at the wrong level in opposite directions and neither is treated like the other.

Graft level Result How it looks
Below the skin surface Pitting Small depressions; hair emerging from a dimple
Flush with the surface Correct Hair leaving flat, even skin
Above the surface Cobblestoning Raised bumps at each graft

The cause is depth, set at the moment the site was made. A channel cut deeper than the graft lets it sink, and the skin heals over its edges. Nothing in aftercare produces pitting and nothing in aftercare prevents it — by the time the area has healed, the level is already fixed.

It is a texture problem, not a growth problem. Pitted grafts usually grow. The hair simply emerges from a slight hollow, so the surface catches light unevenly and looks uneven when the hair is short or wet. In dense placement it reads as an orange-peel texture rather than as separate dimples.

Correction is limited, so prevention carries the weight. Once healed, options are cosmetic — resurfacing, or camouflage with pigment — and none restores flat skin completely. Calibrating depth against real grafts at the start of the procedure is the only reliable control.

For raised grafts, the opposite error, see cobblestoning after a hair transplant. For pigment camouflage of uneven scalp texture, see scalp micropigmentation.

Ataköy 2-5-6. Kısım Mah. Rauf Orbay Cad. Yalı Ataköy Sitesi No:4 C1 Blok Kat:3 İç Kapı No: 36

Bakırköy / İstanbul

Citywalk Boulevard - Unit 20-01, Al Safa St.

Dubai

Page last updated: 04.09.2026
Editor Contact: fatih@hairofistanbul.com

Send Us an Email

Your message will reach us

    Contact Us

    24/7 Live Support