Hi all,

I am wondering, how often do patients ask the docs to take hair from the back that is considered unsafe and could be susceptible to the effects of DHT and use that for the front? Is this common at all? Thanks!

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My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Wong

In my experience this is not very common. Most patients trust the doctor to only take donor from an area that is most likely permanant. If a patients is already having hair loss or thinning of hair and the doctor feels that it is due to Male Pattern Baldness, it would not make sense to take donor tissue from an area that may be lost later.

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Dr. Glenn Charles is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

I look at this in a different way.

If someone wanted a more aggressive hairline they could use this hair that "may" be susceptible to loss as you age.

If you lose that lower hairline, at an older age, that is a normal part of hair loss anyways and it will look normal for your age.

If someone has the money and is willing to take the chance of using this hair in a lower
hairline I say go for it.

Just don't use that hair behind the hairline.


It could be a waste of money, but that would be an informed risk the patient takes.

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1st Transplant: 5,485 grafts with Dr Jerry Wong

2nd Transplant: 3,100 grafts with Dr Jerry Wong

My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Wong

I agree w/ Drew 100%. I have always intuitively felt this way, but he articulated very well the circumstance where it could be quite appropriate -- and effective - to the patient.

This is actually one of the "extreme" HT ideas I have that I seriously plan on exploring if/when I need to.

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*A Follicles Dying Wish To Clinics*

1 top-down, 1 portrait, 1 side-shot, 1 hairline....4 photos. No flash.

Follicles have asked for centuries, in ten languages, as many times so as to confuse a mathematician.

Enough is enough! Give me documentation or give me death!

I guess if you want temporary coverage it would be ok.

I doubt my HT doctor would have done it though. Knowing him, he would have laughed and said "okey dokey" and not done it.

I am glad to learn that I am not the only baldie thinking about extreme and "outside the box" solutions to deal with my hair loss in the event that I become a 6 or 7.

I had considered the solution proposed in this thread as a potential option. Afterall, some years of having a lower hairline with non-permanent donor hair is better than none, especially since when the hairs fall out, it would progress into a maturing hairline, as is a common natural occurence.

After thinking about it, I stumbled upon a major potential problem which creates a great risk for this solution: what if you take hair from a semi-permanent zone? Some people go partially bald in an area, so in other words, they lose some but not all hair in the area in question. While this looks like natural when it is part of a balding pattern, it would look very unnatural if it appeared in a hairline. Imagine having random hairs all around the lower hairline.....it would not look very good.

I have some other extreme, outside the box solutions that I will share someday when I feel like typing up the thread, two of which I am seriously considering.

After looking at a lot of FUE results, it seems there are times when the donor area is utilized a lot more aggressively then what I would feel comfortable with.

FUE Possible strip however would leave an exposed scar.

If it took someone 10-15 years to become a NW2 is it reasonable to assume hair transplanted from the unsafe zone would follow the same course, when loss started? Say, in the worst case scenario, Fin and Minox have no effect and you start to lose the hair - taking the above example would it take another 15 years to become a NW2 (once lost started) or would the loss be more aggressive?

Would the hair survive until it was due to be lost, had it not been moved?

Would the hair recede or would it be lost from random areas?

Could the hair be placed in such a manner that the hairline would recede? - Could the grafts be taken from the start of the unsafe zone to be placed in the front hairline and further into safe zone for behind the hairline - would this give you a better chance of the hairline receding more naturally?

I don't think I'd knowingly take grafts from such an area but if I was to, the above are the questions that I would be asking.

If you end up having aggressive MPB, "temporary" could mean months to a year - personally, I wouldn't risk it.

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Dec. 2004 - 1938 Grafts via Strip
Feb. 2009 - 1002 Grafts via FUE