I was wondering if hair from other than your head can be used for hair transplant for example from you face?
Yes, I have actually used beard hair from a face lift and from a brow lift to transplant into the crown. I have also used pubic hair to create beard hair. It works nicely.
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Hi Doc, Does the stiches which takes place at donor area hurt after HT? any headaches does it has to be protected from Sun etc for a long time
Thanks
Stitches are something you feel, but I would not say that they hurt. I am talking from my experience with stitches after my two hair transplants. The back hair covers the stitched area so you do not have to worry about the sun.
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Hello, I am a M-F Transgendered and would like to change my hairline to produce the best possible female results. I have tried monoxidil but always develop a rash that itches and causes flaking of the scalp. I have tried to continue but the itching gets worse and stop. My hair is very fine and straight. I would like to cover the MPB patch in the back and move the hairline forward. I plan to have FFS and have a scalp advance procedure however, I’m sure I’ll need transplants as well. I’m interested to know how you would approach my condition. I live in CA. Thank you kindly
Everyone is different. I have transplanted quite a few transgendered people. The main issue is whether or not you have male patterned hair loss. If you do not have male genetic patterned hair loss and your testicles are surgically removed, then you will not bald and the hairline lowering procedure might work well if all you are treating is the mature male hairline. Take a look at Maturation of a Hairline — Moving From Juvenile to Mature and tell me which is your hairline. If you have a mature hairline, then bringing it back down can be done with a hairline lowering procedure (with transplants for the corners if needed). If. however, you have balding as shown in this reference, only a hair transplant will get you what you need because moving more than 1 inch of hairline is impractical at a single surgical session. If you are more bald than what is shown in this reference, the question may be, Do you have enough hair to treat the frontal recession and the balding in the crown?
As you are in California, I have an office in Los Angeles and San Jose, so a visit with us would allow you to create a good plan for you.
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This patient had 1414 grafts almost 12 years ago to camouflage the obvious grafts in his frontal hairline and in the process, bring down his hairline into its normal position. His old transplants were placed too high and looked too pluggy. This is a nice result and a good demonstration of the value of camouflage when used properly. The photo on the left is before I performed any transplants on him (note the plugs there on the close-up), and the photo on the right is over a decade later. The key to the camouflage was to create a feathering zone of one hair grafts irregularly placed and spaced apart in front of the plugs, then with two hair grafts placed closer together, the transition to the old plugs was so gentle that the plugs were hidden from view. The patient was thrilled with the results.
When we wrote the original articles on repairs for the medical journals, it was taken from experiences like this man had. Today, we can harvest hair from the big plugs (not shown in these photos) as well as use camouflage as we did here. When this repair was done in 1995, the unfortunate standard of care at the time was still the ‘plugs’ that produced the corn row deformities. Surgeons were trying to repair the rough work by putting even more large grafts in between the larger grafts, which only compounded the problem. Fortunately today, few of these pluggy procedures are done and much of what we published has become today’s standard of care for repairs. To see the original work we did on the subject and the publications, look at: NewHair.com – Repair (search).
Click the photos to enlarge.
I am a female planning to get a hair tranpslant and have heard that the trauma of the surgery can cause other hair to fall out. I was wondering if being on Propecia would help keep the hairs from shedding. And if so, do you need to be on Propecia for a certain number of months before it works (i.e. keeps hair from falling out)? Thanks!
Propecia (finasteride) is contraindicated in women who may become pregnant and inefficient in post-menopausal women. It probably will have no impact on pre-menopausal women. Although studies have shown significant reduction in the rate of shock loss in men who are on Propecia, it has not been studied for in women for that purpose and in theory should not work. Hair loss shock is not common in women after transplantation.
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This patient had 1461 grafts just 10 days before these photos were taken. There is only a small beard and no real problem hiding that he had hair transplants as I comb my hair foward. In this way there is a canopy covering the frontal hairline. As with any surgical procedure, there is some visible redness (the degree of which varies per person), but this will subside more in the coming days. So many men expect that the post-operative patient will show deforming holes in the head. Note that there are no wounds evident, just a beard.
Click the photos to enlarge.
Can you show me a typical donor wound scar?
Here’s a photo of a typical donor wound scar after a single surgery in a person who heals normally. The scar measures 1mm (in the ruler, each line is 1/2mm). He came in for a second surgery this week and I am hoping that the scar from this week’s procedure will turn out as well today as it did before. The risk of significant scarring (greater than 3mm) is 5% for the first surgery, 10% for the second surgery, and higher still for a third surgery. Usually the combed hair in the back will cover most scars.
I apologize that the photo isn’t perfectly focused, but the scar still shows well here. Click to enlarge.
Hi Dr. Rassman, I have seen postings on discussion boards from patients who have had transplants that did not grow. What are the factors in determing if transplanted hair will grow and is there any way of pretermining probability of growth?
A hair transplant will grow almost 100% of the time. When they do no,t the failure to grow can be segmented into:
What most people do not understand is that this is a team process and like any team process, the surgery is only as good as its weakest member. In training a good team, the surgeon must have a tight quality control process in place to be assured of consistency.
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I had a Hair Transplant 14 months ago. There is no noticable growth. Infact, there is less hair than befpre the 2000+ grafts… all done at one time. Is there still a chance of it growing or is it over?
I would first wonder if your lost your native hair and suffered shock loss. That would be my first guess. If your doctor was sophisticated and experienced, there should be good growth evident in about 8 months. If there is really no growth, this is a set of questions you need to ask the doctor. A second opinion would have value.
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From Shakopee Valley News in Shakopee, Minnesota
“YOU’LL FLIP YOUR WIG: Rep. Frank Hornstein (D-Minneapolis) wants to create a new state bureaucracy to regulate “hair transplant facilities.” One of the purposes of investigating hair-weave artists is top make sure there is no “conduct which is likely to deceive, defraud, or harm the public.” (House File 1069) Maybe it’s time to bring back Ron Popeil’s spray-on baldness remover.”
I think what the author is trying to say, is that there are facilities/clinics/wig salesmen who pray on unsuspecting men. This is a consumer protection issue. These facilities may have deceived the public, which can result in a fraud that might harm them. The regulation of wig-makers may be at the root of the problem and although some hair transplant doctors may be also a focus of such legislation, I would like to believe that doctors would not be included in this group. There are laws that regulate what the doctor can and can not do. These laws exist in every state and these laws require the doctor to fully inform patients as to what can be done and what can’t be done with any particular treatment as well as alternatives to any suggested treatment (it is called ‘informed consent’).
I have been told horror stories by young men who respond to an ad in the newspaper (or TV) promising hair. Desperate for a solution to balding, the young, unsuspecting man goes into a wig facility and is sold some solution to his balding problem which is poorly defined. Before he knows it, he finds that the hair in the front of his hairline has been shaved off. The salesman says: “Don’t worry” and a wig is placed over the shaved area. There is no obligation to purchase a ‘system’, of course, but if the young man does not buy it, he must leave with a partly shaved head. The sale is easily made under such duress. This wig ‘system’ is attached with glue and it pulls out the hair the longer a person uses it. In effect such ‘systems’ accelerate the balding process and many wig salesmen understand that and make their money from the recurrent revenue produced by monthly adjustments to the systems and replacement systems. Sales are commission driven, so the sale is all important. The costs for the wig is a big business with wigs that sell for thousands of dollars. Everyone needs two wigs — one to use while one is being washed or repaired. I have been told that the cost for such hair systems run well over $10,000 over a five year period.
Could that be what this legislation is about?
