Asian Hair Cowlick

[Qneedhair]

I am an Asian male 49 yrs old and I want to have a hair transplant to restore my crown but there is a delima. I have two cowlicks I dislike having but the physicians that I have consulted with think it would be best to re-create the whorl pattern.

 

My question is, why not do away with the cowlicks and just have the hairs arranged so the hairs will lie without a swirl pattern? I'm not bald yet just thin on the vertex. What do you think is the best plan of attack to fix this? Doctors can recreate hairlines without a cowlick...why not vertexes? :confused:

Edited June 29, 2016 by Qneedhair

[ArochaHair]

Are you saying you have a double whorl pattern in your crown? This is rare but if you were bald in the crown or just very thin then a single whorl pattern could be recreated. If you are only mildly thinning then it would be destroying hair you have to build a new custom whorl pattern which is counterproductive to surgical hair restoration. In addition, the final result would likely look like a mess due to the varying angles and directions that would be fighting with your natural angles and directions.

 

Are you on medication to stop your loss? If not then you may want to consider it to prevent further loss but to also maybe thicken what you have as that may be all you need to do.

[Dr. David Josephitis]

Qneedhair,

 

 

Cowlicks or swirls in the vertex of the scalp are actually quite necessary. I understand you didn't "want" them growing up, but they are really just a natural pattern that has to be reproduced in a hair transplant. The best way to understand why I am saying this is to look at a young boy's head and really study the cowlick. If you look carefully, it is really just a slowly changing direction of the hair. Hair in the front of the head is forward facing and hair on the back and sides is downwards facing. Those directions cannot be changed. The only way for the hairs in the front to transition into hairs facing downwards on the sides and back is to have this swirl. The swirl allows the hair to change direction.

 

 

Don't get me wrong. If it were possible to reconstruct a vertex without a swirl, all hair surgeons would do it. Swirls, even when transplanted, still give a thinner look. If there was a way to lay the hair down flat in the vertex like in the frontal area (and still look natural), the density would appear higher. If you look at that same young boy, you may even see scalp at the center of the swirl. He is not balding there; it is natural. The hairs point straight up and out in the swirl and do not give a maximum density.

 

 

With regards to your double swirl issue, there may be some options. Sometimes, if one swirl is stronger than the other in my patients, I will try to just recreate the stronger one and forget about the other. With the growth of the new transplant and the slow loss of native hair, the secondary swirl will no longer be important. I am not sure if this is possible with you but it might be worth asking your hair transplant physician.

[Qneedhair]

Thanks Dr. Josephitis,

 

I can see the importance now and this shouldn't be an issue with my decision in the future. And yes you are correct, one cowlick is more dominant than the other and I will ask my future surgeon if only one cowlick be restored and disregarding the other. Thanks again for your input.

[Qneedhair]

Dr. Josephitis,

 

I had a consultation with Dr. Rosanelli in SF and he says that he can reconstruct the dominant cowlick and do away with the smaller one like you mentioned in your post.

 

I was actually pleased with the doctor as he answered all of my concerns and assured me that I am a good candidate. On a previous consultation with another hair restoration clinic, a representative spoke to me only rather than the Dr. and I was a little off-put by this situation and it raised a red flag for me!

 

2000-2400 is what he quoted to fix my vertex and I hope this does the trick. I want the back to match my juvenile looking hairline. I feel he is the one I want to perform my procedure as he comes highly recommended in this forum. Should I start taking vitamin C supplements to help in healing post op? Or for that matter, what supplements do you think will help?

Edited July 4, 2016 by Qneedhair

[MrGio-WHTCClinic]

Only one whorl is necessary to reconstruct a natural-looking crown. How much hair density is there in your crown?

[Qneedhair]

I am not skin bald but have a diffused thinning on the vertex. Concealer covers very well and makes me appear to have a full head of hair but alas, I know the truth and frankly it bothers me sometimes that I have to use concealers.

 

I want to ditch the concealer and have the transplant to ensure that it's my hair and not a cover-up to make it look like I have hair. I hope people here on this forum can relate?

[Dr. David Josephitis]

Dr. Josephitis,

 

I had a consultation with Dr. Rosanelli in SF and he says that he can reconstruct the dominant cowlick and do away with the smaller one like you mentioned in your post.

 

I was actually pleased with the doctor as he answered all of my concerns and assured me that I am a good candidate. On a previous consultation with another hair restoration clinic, a representative spoke to me only rather than the Dr. and I was a little off-put by this situation and it raised a red flag for me!

 

2000-2400 is what he quoted to fix my vertex and I hope this does the trick. I want the back to match my juvenile looking hairline. I feel he is the one I want to perform my procedure as he comes highly recommended in this forum. Should I start taking vitamin C supplements to help in healing post op? Or for that matter, what supplements do you think will help?

 

 

 

I am happy to hear that you have found a physician and are comfortable with the surgical plan to correct your thinning vertex. You must keep in mind that the vertex is a challenging area to transplant and that the future hair loss in that area is quite uncertain. Depending on your age and rate of hair loss, much more hair can be lost in this area creating a real need to have to do more surgery in the area. Because of the limited amount of donor in the area and the potential additional need in the front of the scalp, I would be careful how much of the donor you dedicate to the vertex. I am sure you have already considered or started prevenative meds. These are very helpful in maintaining the vertex for the future.

 

 

Vitamin supplements are largely unneccessary for most of the population. The Western diet although unhealthy in many other respects, contains all or most of what it takes to develop healthy hair and nails. If for some reason, you note brittle hair and nails and your hair tends to fray or break off, you may have a deficit. In this society though, more common issues are thyroid deficiencies, hormonal imbalances or anemia that can cause structural hair problems. For these, you should see your primary care physician. Otherwise, if you desire, a simple multivitamin should be fine.