Doubles in hairline - how to fix? (photos)

[Patriot34]

My clinic said they would not use doubles in the hairline. They claim there are no doubles in my hairline. These pics show what I would consider doubles in the hairline. I don't think it looks good and catches my eye.

 

What are your thoughts? Is plucking the "doubles" too drastic? I have heard of people doing this occasionally. This is not my hair style, just trying to get a close up of the follicles.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Patriot34

[tacolinowest]

and what clinic was this?

[Mickey85]

Who was your surgeon? There are clearly doubles in the hairline. You could pluck them but would have to keep going back every few weeks.

[agenteye]

If your clinic told you that they wouldn't use doubles and then they did....I would certainly bring up your dissatisfaction with them. I agree that there are clearly some doubles in that. Your hairline is still a bit thin. Were you planning on having any more restorative work done, and if so.....why not leave those grafts alone until singles are placed in there to blend everything together. Once your hairline is recreated with a more dense recipient area....you won't be able to even notice. Right now, they stick out like a sore-thumb just because of your current coverage.

 

Let us know what the clinic says. It's really not as bad as you think it is, but I would be frustrated if I made a request and my clinic hadn't honored it!!

 

Best,

 

Mike

[Patriot34]

I will be doing another at some point. I can't do it for quite some time so I am trying to think of a more temporary fix. Plucking a couple of them that stick out in my mind feels like a good approach, but I don't want to be drastic.

 

I didn't put the clinic's name in the post because the rules on the forums suggest that I confront the doctor with concerns first. I have, and they have been trying to fix the issue along with a poor scar. They are very hesitant to say that there are doubles in the hairline even though we both know the truth. I don't have any time off that I can use to do the surgery so basically I am just waiting. Even though the clinic would do a fix for free I am reluctant to go back after such poor communication that resulted in doubles in a hairline in the first place. But that's besides the point here - I just want to know how to temporarily roll with the situation.

[tacolinowest]

I see,, well how bad is the scar? Have u measured it in mm?

[greatjob]

How many grafts did you have? When did you have this procedure done? Do you have any pre op pics and immediately post op pics showing graft placement? Aside from the doubles it looks like the work is extremely sparse.

[Slickers]

I will be doing another at some point. I can't do it for quite some time so I am trying to think of a more temporary fix. Plucking a couple of them that stick out in my mind feels like a good approach, but I don't want to be drastic.

 

I didn't put the clinic's name in the post because the rules on the forums suggest that I confront the doctor with concerns first. I have, and they have been trying to fix the issue along with a poor scar. They are very hesitant to say that there are doubles in the hairline even though we both know the truth. I don't have any time off that I can use to do the surgery so basically I am just waiting. Even though the clinic would do a fix for free I am reluctant to go back after such poor communication that resulted in doubles in a hairline in the first place. But that's besides the point here - I just want to know how to temporarily roll with the situation.

 

You can't post the name of the clinic? What, Bill?

 

Is it a coalition doctor/ clinic? I certainly wouldn't be going back there. It's 2013 ffs, who is still putting doubles in hairlines. They can be 'hesitant' about it all they like but your hairline says otherwise. How many grafts did you get (or pay for)?

[Patriot34]

I paid for 1500 grafts and was told I received 1600.

 

Thanks for your confirmation that they are in fact "doubles". So until I can get this fixed is it okay to pluck the ones that draw attention?

 

As far as my previous condition I was probably a NW 3.

[1978matt]

Agree with Mike.

 

The lack of density is more of a problem thanthe doubles. I actually have a couple of natural doubles in my hairline believe it or not!

 

I sure hope this wasn't the work of a HTN clinic.

[Mickey85]

Doubles can and often are unknowingly implanted into the hairline by any doctor. Why would this happen? Explanation:

 

-When a multi-hair graft(2,3,4) is in the dormant(sleeping) phase, not all the hairs contained in the graft are necessarily dormant. One hair of a 3-hair graft may be dormant, 2 hairs out of a 4-hair graft may be dormant or 2 hairs out of a 2-hair graft etc. This can be misleading and cannot be detected even under powerful microscopes. So a 2-hair graft can appear as a single hair graft, and placed into the hairline.

 

This is often the reason why we see multi-hair grafts in the hairline. I have a triple hair graft which I pluck right at the very front. However clinic negligibility can also be a factor. Who is to say a tech wasn't busy thinking about their marital problems whilst separating the 1s from the 2-hair grafts for even 5 seconds? Truth is we will never really know which reason it is.

[Slickers]

Doubles can and often are unknowingly implanted into the hairline by any doctor. Why would this happen? Explanation:

 

-When a multi-hair graft(2,3,4) is in the dormant(sleeping) phase, not all the hairs contained in the graft are necessarily dormant. One hair of a 3-hair graft may be dormant, 2 hairs out of a 4-hair graft may be dormant or 2 hairs out of a 2-hair graft etc. This can be misleading and cannot be detected even under powerful microscopes. So a 2-hair graft can appear as a single hair graft, and placed into the hairline.

 

This is often the reason why we see multi-hair grafts in the hairline. I have a triple hair graft which I pluck right at the very front. However clinic negligibility can also be a factor. Who is to say a tech wasn't busy thinking about their marital problems whilst separating the 1s from the 2-hair grafts for even 5 seconds? Truth is we will never really know which reason it is.

 

I think this sounds plausible, I don't know about it happening often though. I don't see many results these days, very few in fact where there are obvious doubles in the hairline. It might be easier to accept this is what could've happened if there was a good yield, but combined with the obvious spareness, a seemingly poor scar to boot, the overall conclusion just seems to be poor quality work.

 

It's funny you say about the human element though, this is obviously crucial but frequently overlooked. I thought about this a lot when I was booking my surgery. Even in my own work place I just thought of how differently motivated people can be on Mondays (sometimes poorly, BBQ's on sunday maybe, drinking, hungover from family events) and on Fridays, looking forward to the weekend, mind elsewhere perhaps.

 

This is why I elected to have my surgery on a Wednesday. My thinking was on the balance of probability people are fully into their working week, nobody really does anything on a Tuesday night so *hopefully I'm getting everyone at their peak performance. Somewhat OCD perhaps, who knows but the logic appealed to me.

[Mickey85]

Hehe even i thought about what day mine should be on. I didnt want a friday because most people are dying to go home and rush things and i didnt want a monday because most people are down from the weekend.

[HARIRI]

Go with an exclusive top FUE surgeon to have them removed. I removed around 50 double grafts out of 200 from my hairline with Dr. Hakan Doganay. It looks great now and scars are almost invisible. Just make sure he is an exclusive FUE doctor who practices this method 100%. It needs patience and super talent.

[Slickers]

Hehe even i thought about what day mine should be on. I didnt want a friday because most people are dying to go home and rush things and i didnt want a monday because most people are down from the weekend.

 

Glad I'm not only one

[Slickers]

Go with an exclusive top FUE surgeon to have them removed. I removed around 50 double grafts out of 200 from my hairline with Dr. Hakan Doganay. It looks great now and scars are almost invisible. Just make sure he is an exclusive FUE doctor who practices this method 100%. It needs patience and super talent.

 

Hariri did you get them re-implanted, and if so did they grow ok? Really interested in this as I have a random outliers from my Armani HT. I didn't want to complicate matters by getting Rahal to extract them but something I would consider down the line....

[Mickey85]

Go with an exclusive top FUE surgeon to have them removed. I removed around 50 double grafts out of 200 from my hairline with Dr. Hakan Doganay. It looks great now and scars are almost invisible. Just make sure he is an exclusive FUE doctor who practices this method 100%. It needs patience and super talent.

 

If I were the OP I would actually have another procedure to add much more density to camouflage the doubles, rather than remove them. Unless his hairline is too low like yours was, you chose the best option in your situation Hariri.

[Fue123]

I would be more concerned about the lack of density but obviously there should not be doubles in the hairline.

 

Agreed. Can you give more details of the case. How far along are you post op? Is it possible more singles will come through in front of this?

 

If you really wanted to permanently get rid of that graft with minimal/no scarring you could use electrolysis to remove it permanently.

[nathaniel]

Dr. Cooley has written in another post that doubles in the hairline should be rather rare:

 

If follicular unit grafts are created under microscopic dissection, they can be accurately separated into 1, 2, and 3 hair grafts. The size incision I make for 1 hair grafts usually won't accept 2 hair grafts and my placers know to be careful about this. Occasionally, we might see a 2 hair graft at the hairline and it is thought that sometimes a practically invisible telogen follicle can be 'hiding' in what appears to be a 1 hair graft. We don't see this very often though...

 

The techniques I use to repair and correct hairlines would include using 1) FUE to remove grafts at the hairline or 2) electrolysis, which often works well to turn 2 and 3 hair grafts into one hair. It just depends on the situation. I've heard of some doctors using laser hair removal to correct hairlines but I have never done this.

 

 

See the thread below:

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/170902-dr-cooley-2-312-grafts-prp-acell.html

[Patriot34]

Thanks for your feedback.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Patriot34
Clinic owned up to the mistake

[nathaniel]

Hi, Patriot34,

 

I know you don't want to name your doctor, but do you feel comfortable telling us if your doctor is a "Recommended" or "Coalition" Hair Restoration Network doctor?

 

I agree that your outcome is nothing at all to be satisfied with. Dr. Cooley's statement about the relative rarity of a follicle being in an undetectable telogen phase during microscopic dissection suggests at a minimum poor quality control at your clinic. When taken in conjunction with the lack of density, it suggests to me someone who was totally unqualified performing your procedure. Were you awake during the procedure? Do you know who performed it - the doctor and/or assistants?

 

I think you should get a piece of paper and a pencil with which to mark tallies; then sit at a mirror with magnification and use a nail file to part all the doubles you see in the hairline and mark a tally on the paper each time you split a double. Then report the number of doubles to your clinic, and tell them you'll be happy to come in with your magnified mirror and "split hairs" with them to reaffirm your count if their continued denial is problematic. If it's still a problem, record it all with an iphone and e-mail the count to them - if they have difficulty opening the e-mail, explain that you'll be happy to post it on youtube where they can more easily view it.

 

Just my thoughts on the matter...

 

All the best,

 

Nathaniel

[greatjob]

I am well over 12 months so there is no hope of singles popping up. I will have another procedure to fix it, especially because my scar is very wide and difficult to hide with even a #4. I think the most concerning thing is that you all see how sparse it is and when the procedure was over one of the employees told me that they had "extra" so they put it back further near the crown. After looking at their final product I can't help ask myself what they considered extra because I see a hairline that is far from complete.

How many grafts did you have?

[TakingThePlunge]

Patriot34,

 

I have to agree that the overall lack of density appears to be of greater concern than the doubles. It would be interesting to see your pre-op and post-op pics for comparison but this certainly seems like a subpar result.

 

I didn't put the clinic's name in the post because the rules on the forums suggest that I confront the doctor with concerns first.

 

Our Terms of Service do not require members to keep their physician's identity a secret when sharing a negative experience. Members are free to discuss their experiences, good or bad, with any clinic. However, in the interest of maintaining a fair and balanced community, once a member has named a physician in a critical post we do require that member to privately identify himself to his doctor and allow that doctor to present his or her perspective on the result.

 

If your physician is recommended, I would be more than happy to assist you in communicating your concerns privately if you prefer.

[Patriot34]

Thanks for your feedback.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Patriot34
Clinic owned up to the mistake

[Nick153452]

Well if they don't place doubles, they for sure didn't place singles either, because that is some sparce hair. You should just get another transplant with a goood clinic