Hair Loss InformationDo All Twins With Balding Gene Lose Hair At the Same Time? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Do all twins with a balding gene lose hair at the same time? Is it possible for one twin to not have the balding gene? Or is it possible for one twin to bald at a different rate if they were at a different stress level ?

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We have seen many identical twins (same genes) over our 23 years at NHI but they do not bald or lose hair at the same time. Maybe several months to years apart. This may suggest some outside influence. For example one set of twins twin used anabolic steroid and lost his hair fast while his twin did not. Another twin used a hair piece and developed traction alopecia from the tapes and glues. The twin with more hair, at one point, was a donor for his brother who needed the extra hair.

I have seen twins without hair loss, but have not followed one of a pair with hair loss. I would imagine that stress might cause one twin to have accelerated hair loss if they had the genes for balding.

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How Do You Reverse Or Fix A Bad Hair Transplant Plug? (Before After Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

How do you undo a bad hair transplant? I see many of them on men in stores and at work.

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Hair transplant has been referred to as “plugs” and still carry that negative connotation because the transplanted hairs actually looked like “plugs”. These type of surgery were pre 1990’s work when doctors were not transplanting follicular units. Those big plugs are still around on the heads of thousands if not millions of patients. We’ve (New Hair Institute) been correcting or fixing the “bad work” for over 23 years since we opened. Instead of a lengthy explanation of how it is done, the flowing before and after photos reviews the corrective hair transplant surgeries performed by New Hair Institute over the years.
You can also see them here

Repair of Hair Transplant Plugs: The old plugs that created his unnatural looking hairline were cut out and then transplanted back in a more natural looking pattern. A total of 1212 grafts were placed in this repair surgery.

Repair of Hair Transplant Plugs: In the repair phase, the large grafts were dissected into their individual follicular units and re-implanted. One procedure of FUT provided excellent camouflage. A second session will be considered to increase fullness.

Repair of Hair Transplant Plugs: Mr. AQ had old plugs that failed to grow hair. Note the visible white scars produced by the hairless plugs. After the repair with one procedure of Follicular Unit Transplantation, the scarring was undetectable and the patient let his hair grow naturally gray.

Repair of hair Transplant Plugs: Patient JG had extensive scarring from a sew-on hairpiece and 3 hair transplant sessions using plugs, many of which didn’t grow well. Luckily, the patient had salt & pepper hair, ideal hair for a repair. Dramatic improvement was accomplished with just one session, although JG planned a second session. One problem that we could not correct was the very low hairline.

Repair of Hair Transplant Plugs: This patient had very noticeable plugs done earlier in his life and he was unhappy with the way they looked. Being a Norwood 5A, he also had very thin hair all over his head as you can see from the top-down photos we took. After three procedures totaling 5405 grafts, we were able to not only hide the plugs that he had, but we were also able to achieve a very full looking head of hair from nearly any viewing angle.

Mr. AS had a very pluggy frontal hairline from the old plug technique. A slight Widow’s Peak was created to break up the straight-line appearance of the hairline and to camouflage the plugs. This repair was accomplished with just one session of Follicular Unit Transplantation. A second session will make it perfect.

Repair of Hair Transplant Plugs: Plugs placed within patient’s old hairline by another transplant center were not too noticeable at first. However, with further hair loss, the poorly planned transplant became very unnatural. Fortunately for the patient, the old plugs were located high enough so that a dramatic camouflage was achieved with just one session of Follicular Unit Transplantation.

Repair of Hair Transplant Plugs: This patient is a 37 year-old man who had three procedures performed at another clinic. He was dissatisfied with the pluggy results. We transplanted 1,947 follicular grafts to camouflage the old plugs.

Repair of Hair Transplant Plugs: A 38 year-old man came to NHI dissatisfied with a hair transplant he had at another clinic. In his first surgery at NHI, he had his pluggy hairline removed, re-dissected, and re-transplanted. During his second surgery, his remaining plugs (not in the hairline) were removed. In his third surgery, he received 1,696 follicular units, and his results were great, but are still not complete.

Repair of Hair Transplant Plugs: Patient BII has medium weight hair of above average density (2.5/mm2). Two original sessions of large mini-grafts resulted in a hairline that was lopsided and pluggy. The patient was treated at NHI with two sessions of Follicular Unit Transplantation after some of the larges mini-grafts in the very front were removed. The hair from those grafts were subdivided under the microscope and re-implanted. We always use every single follicle!

Repair of Hair Transplant Plugs: Joe Penny came to our office a few years back to fix a bad hair transplant that utilized the old plug technique. As you can see, his three sessions totaling 3811 grafts turned out quite well.

Hair Loss InformationHair Transplantation For Generalized Thinning – Balding Blog

Even if your hair is thin all over how likely is it that you can give an appearance of thicker hair by moving some hair from less noticeable locations to the front?

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This question covers a lot of territory:

1- If there is generalized thinning over the entire head and you are a male and the thinning is in the side and back of your head as well, you might have a condition called Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (DUPA). This condition is not good news, and these patients can not undergo a hair transplant as there is a poor donor area and therefore the doctor can not move enough good quality hair to cover the thinning area. Scalp micropigmentation (SMP) on the other hand, may be a good alternative (see: scalpmicropigment.com).

2- If there is generalized thinning over the entire head and you are a female and the thinning is in the side and back of your head as well, you will not be a candidate for hair transplantation as the transplanted hair will have poor growth. Again as I said in #1 above, Scalp micropigmentation (SMP) on the other hand, may be a good alternative

3- If you are a male and you have thinning on the front, top and/or crown area and you are under 30 years old, the first treatment course we would be to try finasteride (Propecia) and give you a year to see if some of the hair thinning stabilizes or possibly reverses in some of these areas. If you stabilize or reverse the thinning process, hair transplants can be planned at that point in time if appropriate, however, you must work out the hair supply/demand issues with your doctor. Thinning in men evolves into balding and hair transplants do best in treating balding. When we perform a hair transplant on a young man, we advise the patient to use the drug finasteride to minimize any shock loss from the hair transplant surgery.

4- For women who do not bald but have thinning and a healthy donor area, the amount of hair that needs to be transplant may be limited by the size of the thinning area and the amount of hair one can transplant in a single session. If the thinning is great, the benefits of even a large hair transplant (say~ 2500 grafts) might not be enough to make an appreciable difference. In these situations, I might transplant a female in particular area (like the frontal area to strengthen the hairline or a central or right/left part to make the area look fuller). In this way there can be a partnership between styling and transplants. This is difficult to explain but worth a consultation with an expert in this field.

Most important, there is a balance between the demand for hair and the supply of hair as the doctor moves it around.

Hair Loss InformationCan I Swim After I Have SMP? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Can I Swim After I Have SMP?

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You have to wait about 3 days before you go swimming (ocean, lake); however, if there is chlorine in the water (typical swimming pool) you should wait at least 30 days to be sure there is no connection between the pigment and the water. When SMP is properly done, the pigment settles below the epidermis within 30 days, so the chlorine from the swimming pool can not reach the pigment. Chlorine can bleach the pigment and change its color. Ocean or lake water should be fine.

Hair Loss InformationCan a Laser Be FDA Approved For Hair Loss Treatment? – Balding Blog

I saw a website from a ‘company’ in the field of hair restoration, where the doctors were advertising several types of lasers for the treatment of hair loss saying that their devices are FDA approved. Does this mean that these devices have been tested by the FDA and actually work?

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We addressed the subject of FDA regulation with hair lasers many years ago here and here. The FDA never really approves such a device confirming that it grows hair, but in this case they cleared it to be safe for sale. It is unfortunate that some doctors seem to promote the idea that such devices are ‘approved’ by the FDA for certain hair loss treatments. The FDA does not actually test these devices on its claims of growing hair, but place the burden on the seller or manufacturer to demonstrate safety and effectiveness. In this situation, the FDA clearance for use of terminology for Low Level Light Laser Therapy seems to have faltered.

Hair Loss InformationIs There A Typical Mature Female Hairline – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am 21 years old and my hair is everything to me. I don’t want to lose it, even when I grow older. Is there a mature female hairline like the mature male hairlines you write about that I should worry about?

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Unlike the male’s mature hairline which is V shaped, the female hairlines are usually rounded. The rounded hairline may move upward and in most women who are under 40, the upward movement does not change the rounded shape. If by chance you do not follow this rule of thumb, you can always have hair transplants to restore your rounded hairline. Check it out with a doctor who understands the female patterns of hair loss.

Hair Loss InformationNot Hair Loss News – A Supercentenarian Talks – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

The body of a supercentenarian expands science’s appreciation for the physiological limits of aging.

This article was Published in The Scientist:

Two interviewers chatted with the now 113-year-old van Andel-Schipper back in 2003. The interview was also repeated at age 111 (neuroscientist Gert Holstege) and again at 113. She was amazing with memories going back to the details of a soccer game in 1898 when she predicted that her favorite soccer team was not going to be successful and she was right.

“She knew exactly what was going on in politics, in sports,” recalls Holstege”… “She could explain … exactly what happened in 1898 when Wilhelmina became queen [of the Netherlands].” She remembered the details of the parties she’d gone to with Dutch soldiers as WW1 began in 1914. “She was completely alert.” She died at age 115.

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I (Rassman) had a great grandmother who lived to 114 years of age and I remember her well. Like Andel-Schipper, her brain functioned reasonably well, but unlike her, she was not in a nursing home. She lived with her daughter (my grandmother). Every Sunday, the family would get together with her. She was born before Lincoln became president and was alive when I went to medical school. She gave me the following advice. “Marry a rich woman until you get established and she puts you on your feet. Then get a divorce and marry for love the second time.” It could be modern day advice for many of our peers.

Hair Loss InformationI Have Low Hair Density, Am I Able To Have A Hair Transplant? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I have already gone for tricho analysis they told that I have a very low hair density I.e 100 per square cm. So now I would like to go for hair transplantation is it possible now

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Low hair density means you will have less hair available for a hair transplant and your expectation and results will have to be discussed with your doctor. In general a normal hair density for a Caucasian male is 200 hairs in a square centimeter. It is also important to establish a diagnosis of your hair loss type and why you may have a low hair density. If you have a Class 3 pattern (just frontal corner loss), you should be able to have a hair transplant with your low donor hair. But if you have a condition such as diffuse unpatterned alopecia (DUPA) you will not be a candidate for surgery as the condition of the hair in the donor area is not healty. It is not normal to have 100 hairs per square centimeter. I never trust a single measurement, so you might have someone else reaffirm the density numbers.

Hair Loss InformationHow Dense Can Hair Really Be Transplanted? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

In a very recent question, asked about hair cloning, you mentioned that “theoretically you will have an endless supply of hair and your hair density can be as high or higher than what you started with”. In another entry of yours, Dr. Rassman, we read that “Hair can be transplanted at a density that approaches 35% of the original density in many people.” and that “the ability to place such densities depends upon many factors which include: hair thickness, skin characteristics, the size of the instruments for making sites, the skill of the surgical team at placing grafts tightly together and the processes that reflect the quality management of the surgical team.”

What is different about hair cloning different, which allows us to place the grafts so tightly together that you will end up with a density of 100%

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Perhaps there is a misunderstanding that I would like to clear up.

There is no limitation on the density of transplanted hairs, except on a per session basis. How close you can put the grafts together during surgery depend on the width of the grafts (not hair). Some grafts can be 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch wide.

You must understand that hair transplant surgery involves moving hair from one location to another location. It does not create new hair. Let’s say that you got 35% of your original density in one session, then you want the same number of grafts transplanted again, assuming that the donor supply is as good, you can probably come close to doubling the 35%. Again, if you then wanted to do another 35% equivalent grafts, you will be getting close to 100% of the original density. There is actually some limits to this process, for example, what is the size of the donor area, the blood supply and the availability of grafts from the donor area. When grafts are placed very, very close together, we call this term “dense packing”, a term I defined in 1994 in the Hair Transplant Forum.

If you are a completely bald Norwood 6 patient and want your original density of 200 hairs in a square centimeter, where would the donor hairs come from? You only have a limited number of donor hair and the surgeon has to use judgement to create the most effective use with limited number of donor hairs you have. Unless there is cloning, putting in an unlimited number of hairs is impossible.

If you are a Norwood 3 and want the original donor hair density, then it may be possible with multiple surgeries.