Grafts Per Square CM?

[Mike75]

I had a consultation and belive the area I would like to address is approximately 2 to 3 square centimeters. Just to be clear, there was never hair in this area and I would like to even out my hair line. How many hairs usually grow in an area this size? How many should a top surgeon be able to place in an area this size? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Mike

[Mike75]

I had a consultation and belive the area I would like to address is approximately 2 to 3 square centimeters. Just to be clear, there was never hair in this area and I would like to even out my hair line. How many hairs usually grow in an area this size? How many should a top surgeon be able to place in an area this size? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Mike

[Bill - Seemiller]

Mike75,

 

I'm not quite clear what you are asking, but I'll try to help. If indeed you are trying to fill only 2 or 3 cm2, you won't need a lot of grafts. The average person in the donor area (and recipient before hairloss) has been 75 to 100 grafts per cm2. If you are only trying to fill 2 or 3 cm, you would only need approximately 200 or 300 grafts from a good surgeon who is well known for successful dense packing.

 

But I have some questions for you

 

1. How old are you?

2. Have you lost any hair at this point?

4. have you tried any medication (finasteride in form of Propecia or Proscar AND/OR Minoxodil)?

5. What is your family pattern of hairloss on both your mother's and father's side.

 

My word of caution for you is...if you are young, don't get an HT YET just to lower the hairline. Because in the event that you DO start to lose your hair, you will have to continue to get surgeries to fill in the area behind the hairline. In the event that you lose a LOT of hair, you do not want to have a low hairline...because this will take away from density that can be used on the rest of your scalp with your donor area.

 

Bill

[nobuzz4me]

Mike,

 

Listen to the Billmaster, He is the voice of reason in this hairy jungle.

 

I am also under the impression you may be fairly young to be concerned about such a small area.

 

Then again if it bothers you and your hairloss is under control do your research and proceed with caution.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Listen to the Billmaster, He is the voice of reason in this hairy jungle.

 

LOL...that was hilarious. And I'll take that as a compliment...lol. So thanks

 

Bill

[nobuzz4me]

Yes it was meant that way, after that Dr. Gallagher thread, I am ready for Judge Judy to come on and post!

[Mike75]

Bill,

Thanks for the reply. The area I am interested in ia at the point of a nautuaral widow's peak. One side is noticably off center .I believe it is the result of an accident I had as a child. I would just like to center my hairline to naturally frame my face. I do have a little thinning. It is mostly in the temple area. My family history suggest that this pattern should continue. I wear a very short haircut due to my occupation. I wear a motorcycle helmet often and was wondering if this could damage the new hair?

 

Thanks for the help,

Mike

[hairbank]

Mike75-

 

It's hard to say what is best without seeing pics of your situation and getting a little more detail. If you're in your early twenties and thinning already, you may be losing much more hair in the future thus you need to plan accordingly because you have a finite number of donor grafts available. If you don't mind sharing, how old are you?

 

Bill has some good advice, if you're thinning and are not doing so, you may want to start doing something for loss prevention. Consider Propecia, Minoxidil and a good scalp and hair care regimen like Nioxion and Nizoral.

 

As for the motorcycle helmet..............IF you have transplanted hair it'll be just like your native hair (except it won't be susceptible to Male Pattern Baldness). So, if your native hair isn't bothered by the helmet, the HT hair won't be either.

 

Before you do anything, I'd get a few consultations with some of the Coalition Surgeons recommended here. You can do this my emailing pics then consult by phone....it's easy.

Hope this helps!

[Bill - Seemiller]

yeah, that Dr. Gallagher post was interesting...we'll leave it at that .

 

Mike...I agree with hairbank...without photos, we can't offer too much advice, however, if your family pattern of hairloss suggests you will lose more hair, you probably don't want to jump into an HT yet until you try the medication.

 

Though age is not the primary factor in determining getting an HT, it should be a factor. Often times, when people start losing hair at an early age, it's an indicator that you will lose a LOT of hair. That's not to alarm you...but it's something you should be aware of. I worry for really young people who just start losing their hair, while in panic, go out and get a densely packed hair transplant in the small area they are losing hair and then lose a lot more hair. You will have to play catch up with grafts from the donor area if you want to regain that hair...BUT, since people who are younger are pretty insistent that they try to keep their high school hair, they will continue to densely pack and very soon run out of the finite supply of donor hair. So any further loss after the donor supply is gone will remain bald leaving you with an unnatural looking HT with unnatural patches. BUT...any ethical surgeon should and would also advise the same as I am...to wait on HTs until you've 1) tried medication and/or 2) gotten your hairloss under control. It's important to look at the big picture. If you are 20 now and losing hair for example, how much more hair will you lose by 30? If you only plan on getting ONE HT (which is unlikely, but a lot of newbies think one HT will do it even with a lot of hairloss), and you lose more hair, you'd be left with a nice thick hairline and a gap of scalp between your hairline and your mid/crown area (if your hair continued to receed).

 

Hope this helps you think about the long term.

 

Bill

 

Bill

[Mike75]

Thanks so much for the responses,

 

I am 31 and I am not so much concerned with thinning as I am the shape of my natural hairline. It has always been noticably off-center. I would just like to even it out.

 

Thanks so much

Mike