Category: Uncategorized

This patient came today at the age of 44. He start to lose hair just 3 years ago, an came because he wanted a hair transplant. His hair is black, medium weight and it has a good wave to it. He is of Italian heritage which gives him a terrific hair character. I measured his hair bulk with the HAIRCHECK instrument and found that he lost 66% of the hair in the front and 55% of his hair in the crown. Considering that is hair is black and his skin is light, he still have good coverage in the front of his head which shows something very important, that you really only need 33% of your hair when the quality is there to have a reasonably full look. This is the type of look to generally achieve in a single hair transplant in a bald man.

Snippet from the article:

Most everyone plays mindlessly with their hair from time to time. But for some people it becomes such an uncontrollable compulsion that they end up with bald patches or eyebrows plucked bare (called Trichotillomania).

If it’s any comfort, animals too suffer from “grooming compulsions.”

Though the behavior is documented in the Bible and ancient medical texts, treatment for hair-pulling has not been studied much. But now a University of Minnesota researcher might have found an answer in a common, over-the-counter nutritional supplement that costs about $15 for 100 pills.

Read the rest — Pill could end urge to pull your hair out

If this is true, it would be a great, inexpensive way to treat this obsessive behavior. I’ll wait for the larger study to be complete, but the small 50 person study is promising.

I have performed a HAIRCHECK test on this now 24 year old male with a receding hairline last year and then again today. His hair has shown stability and very little loss as the drug finasteride seems to be helping him hold onto his hair. I told him to return in a year for another HAIRCHECK test and to see if his corner frontal recession bothers him. A hair transplant is a viable option.

We have known for some time that smoking reduces skin circulation, particularly in the scalp. These articles do connect the dots between smoking and acceleration of hair loss in those individuals who are genetically prone to it. Of interest, there is a clear suggestion in these reference articles to the original research, which show that Asian men have a lesser incidence of balding.

• Reuters – Smoking accelerates men’s hair loss: study
• ScienceDaily – Asian Men Who Smoke May Have Increased Risk For Hair Loss

At your age, you might find that you could lose some of your existing native hair following the transplant. From the pictures, I see a low crown balding area which suggests that you might develop an advanced balding pattern in the long term. The use of the drug finasteride reduces this risk, but balding in men is progressive. Ask your doctor where your balding pattern might end up. Find out what your donor density is, so that some calculations of your reserve donor hair can be made now, before you start your transplants. Keep the hair transplants to the frontal area only, because if it goes into the crown, then you will be caught in a conundrum with patches of hair transplants in the front and in the crown will leaving you not normal looking. These steps will be the best approach to minimizing the risk of getting into multiple hair transplant surgeries as you lose more hair, which you should expect to happen. Your goal should be that just a single surgery will stand on its own and that is why I am suggesting that you only transplant the frontal area at this time.

Is it worth getting a HT? from tressless