Hi guys, a fellow disgruntled member was complaining that the Miniaturization analysis was not done on him prior to surgery. He was mentioning that nearly 50% of his native hair never grew back. Somehow i felt he blamed that the Miniaturization analysis was not done on him and he might not be a suitable HT candidate in the first place

This is the first time i heard of this Miniaturization analysis. Anyone care to shed some light on this?

thanks!

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View my hair loss website. Surgery done by Doc Pathomvanich from Bangkok http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com...asp?WebID=1730

It sure wasn't done on me, and I have never heard of it till today.

Me too. Haven heard of this until yesterday. However, another forum member Monkey said our doc did the test. It need not be a computer test. According to him, our doc Dr Pat did a close up inspection with those tiny manifying glasses.

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View my hair loss website. Surgery done by Doc Pathomvanich from Bangkok http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com...asp?WebID=1730

Hi guys, in case u want to know, i have received a reply from my HT doc, Dr Pathomvanich.

He uses a magnifying glass on the little glasses he used ( trust me he looks cute with that! ) and he will do a close inspection of your DONOR, not RECIPIENT.

If there is miniaturised hair, meaning the hair is baby-thin like, the surgery would probably not be successful as its obvious this kind of hair is at its last stage and they will drop off soon. Extracting it will nearly immediately terminate its life span. He used to reject patients who has donor hair with such characteristics.

However, he is surprised that someone has complained in forum that due to the doc not performing this test, he has gone from a NW 2 to nearly bald. At most, the HT would have failed and the transplanted hair drop off. If there is indeed such a case, it would be due to poor transplantation and not because of poor characteristics of donor hair.

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View my hair loss website. Surgery done by Doc Pathomvanich from Bangkok http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com...asp?WebID=1730

Hi wb280,

When inspecting/assessing your hair's characteristics physicians will look for miniaturized hairs in the recipient and donor regions. If the donor hair is miniaturizing, it will not last and should not be transplanted. Some clinics use magnifying loops or a Densitometer or a close-up camera. Dr Simmons inspects everyone's scalp personally with magnifying loops and/or a Microvid camera. The Microvid camera is a hand-held device that can be moved around one's scalp and the physician and patient can see the image on a computer monitor. The follicular groups can be easily seen as well as any miniaturization. If the hair is long enough to hide it, tiny patches can be trimmed to get a very close look at the donor hair.

I hope this was helpful.

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Louise
I am a hair transplant technician, employed by Dr. Cam Simmons at the Canadian Hair Transplant Centre.
Dr. Cam Simmons is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

Patients should be evaluated for miniturized hairs and DUPA ( Diffuse Unpatterened Alopecia ), These situations can make patients not good candidates for hair transplantation. Many physicians address these issues while evaluating the patient and do not bother mentioning them because they do not apply in their case.

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

Louise and Dr Charles, glad u guys could chip in !

Dr Charles, u r right. I actually did now know this test exist until a couple days ago. Dr Pat mentioned that he did not rake it up as it did not apply to me, and that as a layman, i would be more interested in the results than the actual science, which makes sense!

However, i am glad u guys cleared some air about it, so that those potential patients can understand more about it before deciding to go under the knife

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View my hair loss website. Surgery done by Doc Pathomvanich from Bangkok http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com...asp?WebID=1730

wb280,

I thought I'd add the following from Coalition member, Dr. Bill Rassman:

“Mapping measures the miniaturization and density on different areas on the scalp, providing us with a ‘roadmap of data’ to quantifiably measure the current health of the hair. When a medical treatment (such as finasteride or Propecia) is started we can document its effectiveness with the initial and periodic measurements for miniaturization.”

All the best,

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David (TakingThePlunge)
Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant

I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice.

View my Hair Loss Website

Thanks David! My point is even though we patients are more focused on the end results rather than various scientific facts, it bodes well for potential patients to understand more so that they can make better choices!

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View my hair loss website. Surgery done by Doc Pathomvanich from Bangkok http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com...asp?WebID=1730

can you give some examples when (in terms of percentage of miniaturised hair) patients are not good candidates for ht?