Category: Hairlines

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Hair Loss InformationWill Propecia Thicken the Hairline? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’m 25 years of age with miniaturization all around the hairline (about 2-3 cm deep) especially in the area above the temples. I would estimate in this area I’ve lost about 50 – 60% of density in the last 3 years. I also have some vertex thinning but it’s in an early stage so it isn’t obvious but it is definitely thinner. I’ve been on propecia for 7 months now. My question is if propecia is effective for me is it likely that the already thinned area in the front will continue to thin while the areas behind remain strong as they haven’t yet been impacted my MPB? Is there a possibility I could have a solid, healthy hairline just receded more after the thin areas are gone? Or do you think my hairline will continue to be thinner the mid scalp?

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Please send photos so I can see you; make sure the photos show with your eyebrows lifted high as you frown. Get good frontal and side pictures and send them to the address on the Contact page.

Propecia can slow hair loss, but usually will not reverse frontal hairline loss. It probably will fill in the crown, but by now you should have seen a gain as you have been on the drug for 7 months. What I am particularly concerned about is the difference between a mature male hairline and balding, so the photos will help me make that distinction. This is critical, because you do not want to undo a mature male hairline with hair transplants if that is all that is happening in the front.

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Hair Loss InformationHigh Hairline in 22 Year Old Man – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Doctor Rassman,
I am a healthy 22 year old man. I was born with a naturally receding hairline. It has been with me since I was a kid. I am experiencing no hair loss and I use Revivogen to shampoo. My receding hairline has always bothered me since I can remember and I wanted to know of some remedies to get rid of this hairline that is natural to me. I have been recommended a hair transplant and would like some recomendations from a professional such as yourself.

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At only age 22, you can not be sure if the hair loss may come on in the future. By age 30, you can tell by mapping out the hair for miniaturization. For this reason, we generally do not treat high hairlines, but that is a generality and is something that should be worked out with your doctor. I have transplanted the frontal hairlines in actors and male models your age, and would only do so after I had made a diagnosis and developed a Master Plan with them for a worst case scenario. I would consider this non-therapeutic and might consider doing it.

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Female Hairline Restoration After Brow Lift (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I have had a higher hairline since I was a teenager. I always hated it. When I had a face and brow lift at the age of 49, the high hairline became even higher. Is there a simple way of lowering it? Is transplanting the only solution?

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The photos below are of a 45 year old woman who, like you, had a high hairline compounded by a brow lift as well.

These first 3 photos are surgical pictures because they show what was missing, the deformities that were there and the problem that was tackled before (the middle and right photos were from immediately after surgery):




This next set of photos were taken after this lady’s 2nd procedure had grown in. The black hair and light skin are the most challenging contrast for hair transplant surgeons, explaining why it took two procedures to get the results you see here. She had a total of 3,508 grafts (in two procedures). Note that the side hair and temples were brought forward. In normal female hairlines the temple prominences often extend closer to the eyes than in men, narrowing the amount of forehead shown. Women’s hairlines, because they are rounded, not recessed, and the temples are important for accentuating femininity, make the work more difficult from an artistic vantage point.




The high hairline bothered her greatly after the brow lift and became unacceptable. The brow lift produced a wide scar behind the hairline (compounding the problem). In this situation, a hair transplant is the correct decision because lowering the hairline and filling in the scar behind the hairline can be accomplished with a single procedure in a person with blonde or white hair, and two procedures with someone with dark hair and light skin. The hairline was lowered by 3/4 inch and filling in the brow lift scar was also accomplished in the same procedure. A brow lift usually takes away the possibility of a hairline lowering procedure.

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Treating Frontal Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I have studied the norwood scale and have established that i am btween stages 2 and three – intial stages of rhair loss.

Reading through your articles , I have noted that propecia has limited results in treating hair loss towards the front of the head. are there any treatments which you have known to be effective in treating the front of the head?

many thanks

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Men who think that they are balding may actually just be undergoing a change from a childhood hairline into an adult hairline. Many people who think that they are balding don’t realize that the Norwood Class 2 pattern is normal. For some people, the early part of the Norwood 4 may not even be balding at all. Get a good doctor and get yourself checked out for miniaturization before you obsess into believing that you are going bald.

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Another Procedure to Thicken the Hairline – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi. I have a few questions for you that I hope you can help with.

First off, I have had multiple transplants so I would ask you not to insult me by sending me advertisement-type answers. I found you by Google searching so I don’t know much about you.

As I stated I have had multiple transplants. Dr. X and then Dr. Y were the two physicians I met with. Dr. Y’s scars from the donor area are rather large, Dr. X’s less so. But I did have a problem with one large graft falling out that essentially left a small ‘holish’ scar on my bald spot in the back of my head. Something I am not happy about but it is not that bad.

My hair is thin. It always has been. I am 39 years old now. I do not think I have much hair left to give from my donor areas without the back of my head starting to look bald too. I am right at the brink of what is acceptable re-distribution of the hair from the back of my head to the front of it.

It seems like you are strictly a hair transplant outfit but I thought I would ask for your opinion anyway. I do not think of myself with a full head of hair, I just want enough up front and even on the bald spot to have a stronger looking hairline overall. What would you recommend? Thank you for your time.

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To address your question, you need to be evaluated directly. As you are local to Los Angeles, I ask you to please visit our open house on January 12 to meet some of the repair patients we have done. We have an open house event every month in our office if you can’t make this one. Read our repair articles published in respected medical journals, and get a private consultation to walk away educated with your options clearly defined. I will not insult you with propaganda and if you look at our website you will see that we are quite professional in the way we manage the medical hair restoration practice.

For more information about repairs, please read these articles:

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Hair Loss InformationFather and Son Hair Transplants (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

The photos below are of a father and son duo that I treated. The father had advanced balding with fine hair, while the son had early balding. The father got a nice result, but because he lost about 50,000 hairs over his lifetime and got back about 10,000 hairs from me, he could never have the same head of hair like his son. The son started on Propecia and with his average weight hair, he has had wonderful results. Hopefully, with Propecia continuing for years to come, he will hold on to the hair that his father lost in the pictures shown below. Click the photos below to enlarge.

The son’s before photos are here (the first photo was taken immediately after surgery):



The son’s after photos, which were taken after one procedure of 1,295 grafts, are here:



With the son’s use of Propecia, I believe that he will not follow in has father’s foot steps with regard to his hair. Since the son is in the family business, now the new leadership will be hairier than the old one.

The father’s before photos are here:



The father’s after photos, which were taken after two procedures totalling 4,879 grafts, are here:



Since male balding is genetic, it is not unusual that I work on family members, in fact many of our patients are from these extended families. Once I had the privilege of performing hair transplants on three generations of individuals in the same family. Usually, one member starts it off and when they are satisfied, other family members follow. I have done 17 members from one overseas family who flew here every few months after the patriarch was satisfied with his results. Usually, the father has it done first, then the son, followed by the uncles and grandfathers. However, I remember one particular movie producer who sent his son in for a hair transplant ‘test’ and he watched the change occur over the next year. When he saw how great his son’s finial results were, he felt it was safe for him to have the transplant so he came to surgery with the confidence he apparantly needed. We do offer family pricing when they come together, extending the hairy appearance into the balding clans, a few patients at a time and hair by hair.

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Hair Loss InformationFrontal Hair Loss and Propecia – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Doctor
Does Propecia help with the Frontal Hair loss. My Hair loss is more in the fronal top part of the forehead. My right and left side has no hair loss.

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Propecia slows or stops hair loss throughout the head. In some cases, it will reverse the hair loss. These select cases are often younger men, but on occasion we see return of hair in older men, mostly in the crown.

In answer to your question about frontal hair loss, Propecia slows or stops hair loss everywhere you are impacted by the genetic balding process. The reversal is less frequent in the frontal areas, however. On occasion, I have seen complete reversal of hair loss in the front, top, and crown area in some young men.

For photos of Propecia’s regrowth results, see past blog entries:

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Hair Loss InformationMegasession Results (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

What does a 3000 graft operation look like in a person with a Class 6 Norwood balding pattern, fine hair and moderate contrast between hair and skin color?

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The below patient is in his late 60s and had one hair transplant procedure of 3,164 grafts. The grafts were placed to cover the entire balding area. In helping you understand the issues related to fullness, the area covered placed about 6000 hairs (in 3,164 grafts) in an area that originally had 50,000 hairs. That means that what you are looking at about 12% of his original hair density (before he went bald). Clearly, the math points out that a return to his original fullness is not possible. Many times people ask me how many grafts one needs to get a full head of hair. The answer to that question depends upon the thickness of the hair shaft, the character of the hair (straight or wavy), the color contrast between hair and skin color (the lower the contrast the better) and the size of the bald area being treated. I have placed 3000 grafts into an area 1/4 the size of this man’s bald area and the results were a much fuller appearance.

There is a general misconception in the hair restoration community that one can tackle a man with this degree of balding and replace the fullness to his original look in one session with as few as 1500 grafts. Many unethical doctors make that representation and I find it difficult to ‘compete’ with a doctor who promises a full head of hair with half the number of grafts I showed here (probably at half the price because of fewer numbers and salesmen that promote such misconceptions). I try to show how important it is for today’s buyer to understand just what he is buying and what he can expect. Be careful when a doctor shows you just a single view of a result, places the photo in a shadow, and does not really cover the entire transplanted area. That is the reason we have open house events monthly and have been doing them for 14 years. Visitors can see and interview patients, examining just what they are going to get without tricks of photography or slick salesmen to tell you what you might want to hear, true or not. With that said, the man shown below felt transformed in just the one procedure. He wanted a second session to increase the fullness further and after these pictures were taken, a second procedure of 3000 more grafts were done with a similar distribution, though it is far too early to show the results of that procedure. Please click each photo to enlarge.

The 1st set (below) are the before photos.




 

The 2nd set (below), are the after photos, taken 10 months after one procedure.




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Hair Loss InformationUsing FUE to Touch-Up Straight Hairline – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman…
First of all, I want to thank you so much for creating balding blog, it gives us very valuable information from one of the top and best surgeon in the world. About five months ago, I had a 3000 graft transplant with Dr. XXXX in toronto to restore my hairline and part of my midscalp. growth is coming in good so far but I really dont like the hairline design. it is densly packed however the grafts follow and curve almost on a straight line letting everyone know its a transplant. I like the more jagged style where the hairline is kind distruped to give a more natural look like I have seen in some of NHI pictures. so I was wondering if you can probably FUE some areas on my hairline to give a more natural look, maybe 50-100 grafts depending on what you think is best just enough to distrupt the line pattern. Is there a minumum number of grafts needed for FUE procedures?? also is it okay to perform this procedure after six months of my initial transplant as I want to get this done ASAP. Thanks again Dr. Rassman

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The problem with straight lines is that they are too orderly, like Count Dracula’s appearance in the movies of the 1930’s. They accentuate a hairline when the hairline should be a zone of transition from a bald forehead to a thick head of hair. I fix these types of hairlines all of the time. Depending upon the color of your hair, it usually takes between 200-600 grafts in the frontal hairline to build a good transition zone. I wasn’t 100% sure by your email if you’d already had an FUE procedure or just wanted to use FUE for some “touch-up” work. If you have already had a strip procedure, it would be less expensive to do it with another strip procedure. An FUE procedure will work as well, but at twice the cost.

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Patients with Forward Hair Direction – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman,
I was curious after looking through all the before/after pictures on your website, and also on some others, why I can’t find any pictures of people with hair direction going from back to front. They all seem to have either a comb over, or a slicked straight back look. Is there some aspect of transplantation that makes these hair styles “work” in an aesthetic sense while hair that falls forward (like mine which just falls forward when i comb through it) will not look as good after a transplant?
Thanks.

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Hair normally grows forward and that is how it is transplanted. Patients use styling to accomplish their goals, whatever they are. I have seen men go from spiked styling to side combing all in a week. Some people feel that once their hairlines are fixed, they must show them off, so the photos that you see in our patient galleries reflect what the patient wants his hair to look like. Plus, when we photograph these patients, the hair is usually combed back just to show the status of the hairline.