Balding Blog

That is a lot of grafts for the balding area. At nine months, I would expect to see 90 percent of the growth already out. I doubt that many more grafts will come in but waiting a full year is a good idea. If you are still concerned at one year, go back and see your doctor and discuss your expectations and your doctor’s expectations for what was done. With 5,400 grafts, the team of technicians must be very efficient and fast, not leaving the grafts open to the hair for more than a few seconds in placing them or they will die and you will get dead grafts placed.

Note that in this photo, the neck hair in this man has already started to disappear. This is a genetic trait that is different from general Male Patterned Genetic Balding. For this reason, I never transplant the neck hair into the recipient area because this hair, in some men, is not permanent hair. Note the transition between the neck hair and the scalp hair at are about the occipital notch (base of the skull).

This is a problem when the direction was placed in the wrong angle. You may have to get FUE on those hairs that are misplaced and then re-implant them in the proper direction. ?

I have a Class 3 balding pattern (just corner loss) and I went to a hair transplant doctor who offered to perform 2000 grafts in the front to address the balding area. It seemed to me that I was thinning outside of my frontal balding area. The doctor who offered me the surgery never looked at my hair under a microscope. I am a 24 year old male and I purchased a hand microscope as you suggested on Amazon. When I looked at my donor area, this is what I saw in different parts of the donor area. How would you interpret the hand microscope pictures I have attached here?

This is clearly Diffuse Unpatterned Alpopecia (DUPA) which I originally wrote about in 1997 (see here: https://baldingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/mp-1997-evaluation.pdf). The view of your donor area shows very significant miniaturization of the donor area which means you are not a candidate for a hair transplant because it will fail. The hairs that get transplanted will look like these hairs and not have much bulk to them. The doctor who recommended 2000 grafts just wanted your money and probably never read about DUPA. You seem too smart for that doctor. The drug finasteride sometimes helps.

Does diffuse thinning only happen at the crown? Or can it happen all over the head (sides and back)? Also, if you are diffuse thinning or balding in general, can the sides and back become softer (individual hair becoming weaker and not as thick)? Or should the back and sides not be affected at all (at all as in should be as thick as when you were a kid/ teen)?

For men, thinning and balding occurs in patterns. For some men, crown thinning and balding is a pattern of hair loss, one that I personally had and transplanted it. If it is diffuse (all over the scalp) then there is a condition called Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (DUPA) something we originally defined in the medical literature in the 1990s which is a real problem for those who have it and these men are never candidates for hair transplantation. Diffuse hair thinning occurs in women but it does not occur in pattern and the causes for this are too many to list here.

Hair transplant for diffuse hair loss from tressless

In a recent question you write: “A 25 year old man already showing thinning in the Norwood Class 7 pattern will not benefit from Propecia unless it is caught early and still it may not do much more than stop the loss from occurring.”

Is there any difference between “thinning in the Norwood Class 7 pattern” and “diffuse pattern alopecia?”

And what’s a good way to determine if you are catching your thinning early? If you have hair all over your head, but your scalp is starting to be seen in the mirror, is that early? Or ?

Let me clarify things a bit. If you are 25 years old and already a Norwood class 7 (it does happen), you will not benefit from Propecia because there is no hair left to save. If you still have some hair, and show signs of Norwood 7 with significant miniaturization present in that pattern, then Propecia would help hold on to the hair longer. Norwood 7 has a definite pattern to thinning of hair loss. A diffuse pattern is just as it states — you are thinning all over (even in the sides and back of the scalp).

A good way to determine if you are thinning early is to have your scalp hair examined for signs of miniaturization. Get the scalp mapped, then have it done again in 6 months to compare the results.

hi doctor, i’d like to apologize’ first because i dont have good progress pics to post but i’d still like to get some advice

i’m a diffuse thinner and i’ve been using minox for 9 months and finasteride for about 7 month. was losing 100+ strands of hair daily when i shower but since last month the hair loss has gone down to around 50+ strands, should be a good thing right? but the problem is that my hair density and volume are way below baseline and it worries me a lot

what should i do, are there any other options? keep it up and just wait and see how it goes? i’m worried that my hair loss didn’t actually “improve” and i’m losing fewer hairs simply because i dont have as much hair to lose now compared to before, if you get what i mean.

There are thickening agents you can buy which will make your hair look much better. These medications will hold the hair you have and not regrow new hair. You need to see a doctor and get a Personalized Master Plan for your hair both short term and long term, knowing where you are going will be helpful for your future planning.