donor question

[Spanker]

I know that this will sound funny, and it is not a complaint, but it seems like the hair on top is much thicker than my hair on the side.

 

I have been told I have good donor, but the area that I see scalp when I part my donor region is much larger than, say, if I were to part my hair down the middle. Does this make sense? My donor part may look like it is a half an inch wide or more, and my hair parted down the center may only be a quarter on an inch. I will see my doc sometime this summer and talk to him about it, but until then, I was wondering if this is normal at all. It just seems like my donor is thinner than my non donor, or I could be OCD and over analyzing things. Any thoughts.

[rev3]

HT can never recreate the natural density or "closeness" of hair follicles

 

though it can give that illusion...in your case a very good illusion

 

so parting the hair (to make a straight-line part) in the recipient area (i'm thinking you meant recipient area, the place in which donor hair was transplanted) will show more skin than the straight-line part made in the non-recipient of donor hair region (in your case, down the center)

 

now this scalp show is probably not a concern if you comb the region forward or even straight back or styling without a noticeable straight line part

 

but only when styling to get an exposed scalp with a straight-line part (like in the early 60's, aka MAD MEN)

[Spanker]

No, I meant the opposite. I hair on top, not transplanted, seems much thicker than the donor.

[Spanker]

So I am asking, for those that have a decent head of natural hair, is this the case with them, is this normal? My sides seem less dense the the top, even in transplanted areas. The hair seems a bit finer as well.

[1978matt]

I guess you mean the sides of your head, i.e. above the ears. This I believe is always less dense than right at the back of the donor so I'm not surprised it is less dense than on top.

[Cant decide]

I think this is not abnormal. Sides are almost always of a lower density than the rest of the head.

[David Taylor]

Yes it is not abnormal. But many times I seen that many people have dense hair at the middle of the head as well as back side of head. Yes, sides have less dense part of hair. Last year I almost lost my hair. My consultant suggested me to take minoxidil 10. I don't know how safe is this.

[ej]

Hi Spanker

 

Have you got any pictures as it would be interesting to see this. Is the thinning around the donor scar? I believe that the hair can thin above and below the strip extraction site.

 

If the procedure was FUE then it does decrease density throughout the donor area.

 

 

May just be OCD as you say though!

 

All the best.

 

ejj

[Dr. William Lindsey]

I'd guess than in 40% of the strip cases we do that the hair is noticably thinner on one or both of the sides than in the middle or up higher on the head. Then throw in a guy with salt and pepper hair...and it can really get dicey as to how many grafts you'll get from a typical strip.

 

So you might think, as I did last week, well let's go up a little higher and get better hair...then you start to worry...what if this guy is the one guy in the family who will lose a LOT of hair, and the hair you harvest now..might be going. So I always end up with the strip at the normal area...and I try to make sure we get enough hair to do the job. If we wind up with a few extra...good for the patient. (We don't up the price for extra hair outside of the goal graft number--however on really large cases where we're trying to get as much as possible, then of course the price can be affected, but that is not a surprise to the patient since he's expecting us to get as much as we can)

 

And occasionally, older white haired, very fair skinned guys, and really dense haired middle easterners can really throw us off. The white haired guys end up with fewer than we expect simply because of the color match with fair skin, and the really densely packed donor areas of some middle easterners just seem to have hair out the wazoo! There is an example of a guy like this who posted on the forum recently about me giving him a lot of free hair. As I responded to him...I'm not that great of a guy...he just had a TON of hair from a standard smaller strip. That donor area should be a great resource for him as he ages as he is likely to lose more up front later on.

 

So it sounds like your head is in the normal range Spanker.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA