Safe donor area for retrograde alopecia patients

[lucldh]

I want to know whether the people who have male pattern baldness and also suffer from retrograde alopecia have any safe donor area or not. Are there examples of HT here where people who had MPB and retrograde alopecia have undergone hair transplant using head donor?

 

You can have a look of my bald scalp and donor area in my album.

[lucldh]

Any update ever on this?

[gillenator]

lucldh,

 

Retro alopecia is a phenomenon not very well understood.

 

But here's the deal. Whether there are visible signs of retro or not, every patient dealing with MPB needs to have their entire scalps microscopically evaluated before ever enrolling for a HT procedure.

 

This evaluation will afford the surgeon to see exactly where there is miniaturization going on including the donor zones. If the doctor finds confirmation of compromised hair shaft diameter, then that hair is DHT receptive and should not be considered for transplantation.

 

I do know of several guys who had this and still went ahead with their procedure knowing the hair that was just transplanted could be lost in the future.

 

So depending on how severe the retro thinning is, will in most cases determine the final decision.

 

Another good barometer is to look at other male family members who have retro as well and see what their donor zones look like in their upper years of age.

 

As far as we know, retro alopecia is not curable but possibly treatable. Still, whether certain areas of scalp are DHT receptive or not, it is a genetic program unique to each and every individual. So our genetic program varies even between blood relatives including siblings.

[hairweare]

I started to experience thinning and minituration of the center of my nape hair line in my mid fifties and have had four HTs with 7000 grafts as a NW6. I am inclined to try minoxidil on the area as I have nothing to lose but there is not much reported on the net regarding it's efficacy.

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

Having Retrograde Alopecia does not necessarily eliminate a patient from being a candidate for a HT. However, it would definitely reduce the size of the available donor area and limit the number of follicular unit grafts that could be harvested for transplantation.

[lucldh]

Yeah I am thinking that at least I can have some minimal HT with head and beard donor that can help me frame my face at least.

[Mickey85]

Whenever I see an individual with signs of retrograde alopecia I automatically try and dissuade them from undergoing any form of hair restoration. Why? Because not only will there be a possibility of the linear scar from strip(and scarring from FUE) being much much more evident if the alopecia progresses, but the transplanted hairs will also wither away if they were taken from an area in which the alopecia progressed to. The potential benefit is far outweighed by the potential ramifications when it comes to retrograde alopecia in my opinion.

[gillenator]

And it can be very difficult to determine if and/or where the loss will infiltrate in the years ahead. Some only experience mild forms of it and others it continues on. This is very different from donor zone thinning or DPMPB.

 

Recently I was at my three month follow-up with my PCP and she showed me her alopecia areata and I had no idea that she had this as she was wearing a variety of hair extensions and clips to hide it. Her hair length is long so I was somewhat surprised to learn how long she had been experiencing that type of alopecia. She was curious if I thought a topical steroid might stimulate some hair growth.

 

I highly recommended that she see a dermatologist experienced in treating this type of disorder. Obviously I cannot give her any advice as a lay person.

 

My guess is because she has no other symptoms that trouble her, she never took the time off to see a derm.