Joe Rogan Once Had a Failed Hair Transplant, and it Left Behind a Huge Scar

Most people know podcast host Joe Rogan the way we see him today: with no hair. But there was a time when, shockingly, he had a head full of hair.

Before becoming the controversy podcast king, Joe was a stand-up comedian whose dark locks were part of his iconic look.

These days, however, he's known for his hair-free look and his podcast headphones as much as anything. In a podcast interview back in 2018, he opened up about the time he had a hair transplant that clearly failed as the years went by. Here's what he had to say about that transplant, and why hair transplants fail in the first place.

By now, almost everyone has seen at least a clip or video of Joe on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. With a slick modern background and a laid-back atmosphere, Joe hosts his interviewees in his studio with his signature style. These days, he's less "laughter" and more "controversy," but he's easily recognizable, if nothing else.

Yet in 2018, he revealed that he once tried to hang on to his hair.

He admitted, "I had a hair transplant," adding that it was, "the dumbest thing I've ever done." He was left with a "giant scar" on the back of his head, which Rogan says, "looks like a smile."

He added, "I just was scared that I was going bald, I was like, 'What can you do?'" He says that the doctors told him they could fix it, "But it doesn't really fix it."

Of course, hair transplant technology has come a long way since then. But why do hair transplants occasionally fail?

Dr. Eric Peretz, a board-certified hair transplant surgeon who works for Trichogenics, a clinic that focuses on hair restoration techniques in Thessalonica, Greece, weighed in on the topic of why transplants occasionally fail.

He shared on TikTok, "This is something that really annoys me. Many clinics will promise that if you get your hair transplant done, it will fix your hair permanently."

"This is far from the truth," he explains. "They often neglect to tell you that you might need lifelong medication as well as a second procedure a few years down the line."

Dr. Peretz continues, "Take this analogy as an example: compare your hair loss to a bucket of water with many holes in it. Now, what a hair transplant will do is add water to this bucket." "But," he cautions, "the water level will still drop because those holes are not plugged."

He then went on to explain about a number of medications that modern-day hair transplant recipients can use in order to block those holes.

And while failure is still might happen, those who undergo the procedure need to understand that there is maintenance to be done to give a recipient the best chance at long-term success.

And, to be fair, a lot has improved in the world of medicine over the past several decades. So, given the procedure today, there may have been a better chance for Joe's procedure to have a better long-term outcome.