Am I candidate for a HT

[nm76]

Hi All,

I'm 32 now, balding since, since I was about 19. I have a shot of myself when I had buzzed my hair. I will attach a few more in a bit. I would appreciate any input as to how i fare as a candidate for a HT

[nm76]

Hi All,

I'm 32 now, balding since, since I was about 19. I have a shot of myself when I had buzzed my hair. I will attach a few more in a bit. I would appreciate any input as to how i fare as a candidate for a HT

[nm76]

Buzzed, bright lights above.

[nm76]

no buzz - do note that my camera is not the best quality so the hair might not appear to be as bad as it looks here

[nm76]

I'm just unsure if i should wait for a bit longer or get it done sometime this year. Again, what may not be evident from the second picture is, if i am outside and its windy, the parts of my scalp you can see in the first shot become visible - at least from the front.

[nm76]

I'm just unsure if i should wait for a bit longer or get it done sometime this year. Again, what may not be evident from the second picture is, if i am outside and its

[nm76]

another one

[nm76]

left temporal area which is slightly worse than the right side

[HK500]

Your pictures are low quality so it's a little hard to see. In one picture (very short) it looks like you could have diffused hair loss, on one other your hair looks longer and very dense... The first thing to do is to get better pictures IMO. Go to this great link, it has Jotronic's expert advice:

http://hairtransplantmentor.com/hair-loss-photo-tips.htm

[Dewayne]

If you do get a transplant, I'd predict you would have great results with your dark, course looking hair.

 

But, it might be something finasteride could help with. Like HK says, get some good pics and send them to a coalition doc; then report the pics and what he/she says and then we'll give you our expert opinion.....

 

But, at 32 your certainly more of a candidate than a 22 year old. Also, let the doc know your family history, etc.

[nm76]

thanks guys I appreciate the response. I'll try and get some better pics - Its a real pain in the a** having your picture taken when your hair is on its way out..

[nm76]

Dewayne - is having dark hair generally supposed to be factor (of course among many other things) that contribute towards a successful transplant? If so, why is that?

[Dewayne]

Originally posted by nm76:

Dewayne - is having dark hair generally supposed to be factor (of course among many other things) that contribute towards a successful transplant? If so, why is that?

 

I think so, but maybe one of the real experts will weigh in. Just from looking at his head, and thinking of some other pics I've seen on here of transplants, he looks to have good characteristics in my opinion.

[Bill - Seemiller]

mm76,

 

Welcome to our forum.

 

Hair color won't impact whether or not the transplanted hair grows, but hair color can impact the illusion of hair density.

 

Typically those with lesser contrast between the color of their scalp and hair (assuming the other hair characteristics are the same) typically make for a denser look.

 

Of course, hair shaft thickness, number of grafts and hair counts also play a significant role in determining the outcome of the hair transplant result.

 

I hope this helps

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Dr. Timothy Carman]

NM76-

Regarding whether your hair characteristics (Dark Hair) contribute to a successful transplant;

As per Bill, the contrast between your hair and skin colour is the more important concept to appreciate when examining "dark" or "light" hair. The lower the contrast, the more "forgiving" is the appearance of hair which exists at lower densities. Hence, a gentleman with light hair and light complexion may appear to have a fuller head of hair than, say, a gentleman with light skin and jet black hair, even though the second gentleman (light skin dark hair) may in fact even have more hair density than the first. This is what we refer to as optical density. It is one of the concepts utilized by your hair restoration surgeon as you plan your hair restoration strategy.

As per Dewayne, it would appear from the first photo that you are experiencing a diffuse hair loss, in all likelihood a result of androgenic alopecia. The other photos appear more dense than your hair probably is- that's one of the shortcomings about making an assessment based on photos....

It does appear that you have coarse (large caliber per shaft) hair-is that correct?

If so, I don't know if you are currently attempting to manage your hair loss medically (finasteride, rogaine), but you should know that individuals with coarse (large caliber per shaft) hair respond the most favorably over other types of hair with regard to the efficacy (how well it works) of propecia.

And finally, yes, better pics in general will help forum members get a better idea of your hair loss situation.

Hope that helps-

[nm76]

Thanks for the replies.

.

No I am not currently doing anything to manage my hair loss. The most I do are scalp exercises.

That said, I went down to a local hair transplant clinic today.

My hair was examined to see if I was a suitable candidate for a hair transplant. What I was told was the quality of my hair is good - not excellent, just good - that had me pretty bummed out.

 

Dr Carman, I'm not so sure my hair is coarse - i thought coarse hair would be bad? i.e inferior quality - my hair is thin, so i assume it to therefore be coarse. But then large caliber per shaft, sounds like good quality hair (i suppose I am confused, among other things).

 

I asked the doctor to give me an example of excellent hair compared to my good hair quality, and he showed me one patient and said, his one hair is equal to about 2 of yours.

 

That sucks.

[Dewayne]

Originally posted by nm76:

Thanks for the replies.

.

No I am not currently doing anything to manage my hair loss. The most I do are scalp exercises.

That said, I went down to a local hair transplant clinic today.

My hair was examined to see if I was a suitable candidate for a hair transplant. What I was told was the quality of my hair is good - not excellent, just good - that had me pretty bummed out.

 

Dr Carman, I'm not so sure my hair is coarse - i thought coarse hair would be bad? i.e inferior quality - my hair is thin, so i assume it to therefore be coarse. But then large caliber per shaft, sounds like good quality hair (i suppose I am confused, among other things).

 

I asked the doctor to give me an example of excellent hair compared to my good hair quality, and he showed me one patient and said, his one hair is equal to about 2 of yours.

 

That sucks.

 

nm76;

 

You might have gone to see the best hair transplant surgeon in the world for all I know, but I will say that I believe only about 1% of the hair transplant doctors in the world do good enough to touch my head. So, I wouldn't take the research of a physician lightly. I had a substandard transplant almost 20 years ago and was never happy with it. In fact, most of the time I was trying to hide it.

 

Where is local? If you share that, you will get some excellent suggestions for a "second opinion".

[nm76]

local is pakistan - from (link removed)

[nm76]

1% thats depressing....not having excellent hair is even worse...you can't even win with a transplant....i guess thats the reality of it, though.

[Bill - Seemiller]

mm76,

 

You have to remember that there are a lot of hair transplant surgeons in the world. I don't know about 1% however, at the Hair Transplant Network, we only recommend those who have met our high level of standards.

 

Learn how we recommend hair transplant physicians.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Dewayne]

Originally posted by nm76:

1% thats depressing....not having excellent hair is even worse...you can't even win with a transplant....i guess thats the reality of it, though.

 

You can win! My point is there's not a lot of regulation in the USA so I'm sure it's the same in other countries. You want to go to a surgeon who has a reputation of consistent results.

 

Personally, I would go to about 10 without hesitation. So, if there are 1,000 surgeons in the world I'd go with the top 1%. That's not anything "official" just based on what I've learned personally.

[nm76]

I do agree with what you all say. My concern is that my donor area was diagnosed as good as opposed to excellent. I'm not sure what that means ,really, in the hair transplant world. To me it just means I am not in the top percentile for having the best results. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to make it sound like a competition. I just want to strengthen my existing hairline and get some density, so that when the wind blows my hair doesn't look like it will get carried away with it.

Would being diagnosed as having good donor hair (as opposed to excellent) allow me to achieve that *shrugs*...

[Dewayne]

Originally posted by nm76:

I do agree with what you all say. My concern is that my donor area was diagnosed as good as opposed to excellent. I'm not sure what that means ,really, in the hair transplant world. To me it just means I am not in the top percentile for having the best results. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to make it sound like a competition. I just want to strengthen my existing hairline and get some density, so that when the wind blows my hair doesn't look like it will get carried away with it.

Would being diagnosed as having good donor hair (as opposed to excellent) allow me to achieve that *shrugs*...

 

"Good" donor area is, well, good.... I had a previous procedure; and I went to a coalition doc about 3 years ago who classified my donor area as like a 7 on a scale of 1-10. By most grading systems, that would be below your "good".

 

So, with that, I just had a procedure that yielded 2,750 grafts and Dr. Cooley predicted I could get another 3,000 later. Include in that the 300 "mini-grafts" I got back in '91 and I'd say that will pretty much give me a good head of hair.

 

Just from my knowledge, without seeing it, it would seem a "good" donor area would yield between 6,000 - 7,000 grafts; which is a lot of grafts. Particularly since your problem doesn't look on the 'extreme' side.

 

So, I wouldn't let that bother me too much because a 3,000 graft session looks from the pics like it would have you set for a while. I do know how it feels to be deflated a little, because I was too.

[nm76]

Thanks, Your post raises some more questions...Guess I'll post them in a new topic.

Thanks once again.