Norwood 7 - transplant suitability

[cj1234]

G'day

 

I am at stage 7 Norwood with my hair loss. It started in my late teens and I'm now in my mid-thirties.

I'm looking at getting a hair transplant at the Dermalife clinic in India. I have been advised that they can transplant 9000 units in three sessions. 7000 units would be transplanted over two consecutive days and 3000 units on a return visit three months later.

The transplant would be a mixture of beard, chest and head hair.

In the first two sessions I've been advised that they can take 4,500 to 5000 from my head and 1,000 to 1,500 from my beard.

I then advised that I have a reasonably thick chest covering and was told that this can be used as well.

I've attached pictures of my hair and beard.

I'd be interested to hear any opinions on whether this is a realistic assessment of my condition.

 

Many thanks,

 

Charlie

[cj1234]

A couple more pics with my hair grown out slightly longer.

[dan26]

Gotta be honest mate you aren't the best candidate.

 

IF you are going to even attempt to go the HT route there are prob only a couple DRs I'd trust with a case like yours.

 

What is your budget? What kind of expectations do you have?

[cj1234]

This is what the surgeon advised, before we discussed chest hair. He said we could extract 500 units from my chest as well.

[cj1234]

I'm not concerned with the cost at this stage. If I went ahead with the treatment I would want to be sure I could generate the 9,000 units that I understand is what is required to give my head a reasonable coverage. I'm ok to use beard hair from around my neck and possibly under my chin but don't wish to have any facial beard hair removed (I like my beard).

Also happy to use chest hair and any other body hair that can assist the procedure.

If this isn't feasible then I won't proceed with the surgery.

Any advice members can provide will be appreciated.

[mikeyhwk]

9000 grafts is a lot, your best bet is to get in front of a hair transplant surgeon locally for a consult and let them tell you how many available donors you have from scalp alone via whatever method will get you the most grafts which may be a combo of both fut and fue. If you can get to the 4k+ range you've got a shot at hitting 9k grafts by digging into your beard and chest as well, but getting a real number will tell you if you should bother pursuing the bodyhair route. If you can get enough via your scalp...then look into Eugenix in India, they've done some work for forum members and you can reach out to them for feedback but works looked impressive and they were able to extract some serious grafts, Harin got 9k grafts and had under 4k scalp so they seem to extract huge amounts of beard grafts and get growth. Black Panther I believe also got a ton of beard grafts extracted which grew well. Being that it's also in India, prices should be reasonable as well.

[MayiraP0chu]

I second Mikey on all counts. Harin is the benchmark for high Norwoods, at least from India. He should be a great guy to talk to. Since you are saying money is no object, you can always consider the top boys in the field around the world, after you get an in person consult with Eugenix to know the ground reality.

[gambler]

I'd be interested to hear any opinions on whether this is a realistic assessment of my condition.

 

Yes, it is a realistic assessment of your condition but I think the percentage scalp hair will be less than proposed and the percentage beard hair will need to be increased.

 

You have enough beard hair there to cover any contingency requirements.

[Shera]

Hi CJ,

 

Just a thought, have you considered SMP, you seen to have the ideal head shape for it and there are some fantastic results recently posted on this forum. I suppose you could give it a bash prior to any hair transplant surgery. You might be pleasantly surprised by the outcome and knock surgery on the head altogether.

 

If you still decide to go for surgery then the SMP will help create the illusion of a denser scalp once your new implants start to grow.

 

With regards to surgery, your case is a challenging one and as mentioned you will not have that much left at the back so there will be a trade off. If you go down the FUT route you will find it difficult to hide the scar once you have had the proposed follow up surgery(s).

 

As for body hair, the beard and chest are proven to work best. The pubic area is also an option. Generally these grafts are used as filler in areas behind your hairline usually in a 4:1 ratio alongside scalp grafts to help create more density.

[Pete-from-Farjo]

Hi CJ,

 

Just a thought, have you considered SMP, you seen to have the ideal head shape for it and there are some fantastic results recently posted on this forum. I suppose you could give it a bash prior to any hair transplant surgery. You might be pleasantly surprised by the outcome and knock surgery on the head altogether.

 

If you still decide to go for surgery then the SMP will help create the illusion of a denser scalp once your new implants start to grow.

 

I was about to suggest the same. There is an SMP result on a NW7 guy in the SMP section which is so impressive. I definitely recommend you check it out cj.

[Djlazerblue]

You need to forget a transplant, your not a candidate In my opinion your donor is small and weak I don’t think much of it would survive the trauma of a FUE surgery, even with your beard chest hair which is only used on the crown in most cases you will have no degree of density whatsoever, if you can’t accept your baldness then SMP would be an option for you

[budhair]

Hi CJ,

 

Just a thought, have you considered SMP, you seen to have the ideal head shape for it and there are some fantastic results recently posted on this forum. I suppose you could give it a bash prior to any hair transplant surgery. You might be pleasantly surprised by the outcome and knock surgery on the head altogether.

 

If you still decide to go for surgery then the SMP will help create the illusion of a denser scalp once your new implants start to grow.

 

With regards to surgery, your case is a challenging one and as mentioned you will not have that much left at the back so there will be a trade off. If you go down the FUT route you will find it difficult to hide the scar once you have had the proposed follow up surgery(s).

 

As for body hair, the beard and chest are proven to work best. The pubic area is also an option. Generally these grafts are used as filler in areas behind your hairline usually in a 4:1 ratio alongside scalp grafts to help create more density.

 

can anyone suggest good SMP center in India?

Thanks

[MayiraP0chu]

SMP is still fairly in it's nascent stages in India. I don't think 99 percent of the general public even know what it is. It is much like the 'ages of the plugs' of the 90 s. I don't know if it is wise to be the lab rat.

 

But, to answer you, AK clinic does it. It's run by Kapil Dua, a recommended surgeon here. DHI India seems to be on the forefront as well.

Edited October 21, 2017 by MayiraP0chu

[Cheddar]

You’re not a candidate with such fine hair, high hair/scalp contrast and small safe zone. You MIGHT be able to restore your frontal third, but the coverage won’t be dense.

 

The honesty in this thread may sound harsh, but I’m sure you came here for truthful opinions.

[cj1234]

Thank you all very much for your advice. I received several confirmations from some of the larger clinics in India that I was a suitable candidate. I did receive two outright rejections.

I was ready to book my flights when I decided to post in this forum.

Thank you for your advice and for saving me what I assume would have been a slow, painful realisation that I had made a mistake with pursuing a transplant.

[Djlazerblue]

That's why we are here I'm glad You have listened it's the absolute right decision, the clinics that rejected you deserve respect, it shows they had your best I lntrests at heart, go on holiday with your money man enjoy life

[Louisjams]

I think you could have a HT and have a good outcome with the following caveats:

1) Forget about the crown.

2) 9000 grafts is going to be a big stretch for you by any route (scalp/beard/body).

3) If you just focused on the creation of a mature frontal hairline and filled in your top you could get a good outcome that would look age appropriate and would last you a long time.

4) You need to pick your surgeon very, very, VERY carefully. Only the most experienced and well respected docs should be on your short list.

5) Recognize that a case like your carries a disproportionate risk of a bad or poor outcome. You look bald but totally NORMAL now and you may be jeopardizing that for a very unnatural look down the road if things do not turn out very well.

 

I understand the stress you are under and the pain of hair loss, but PLEASE be very careful before you agree to any surgery by anybody.

[Sultsay]

You will need anything in the range of 10 to 12k to cover the bald area. This can be achieved if your donor has good density and you have good beard and chest hair.

I was NW7 and so far had 3 HTs. In my opinion you need to consider FUT first followed by FUEs. You will certainly need at least 4 HTs to provide you with some result.

I had 7k scalp hair, 2700 beard and 2500 chest hair and still quite thin on the crown. Still have another 1 to 1500 from scalp and can have 1k from beard and chest to increase the density on the crown.

Discuss your case with BHR and opt for a combination of FUT and FUE plus body hair pending your budget. Eugenix is another option but they do not perform FUT.

 

Good luck

[un13]

Only if you can collect good amount of body hair grafts. You can get ~4K grafts from the head max.. Rest should be body hair

[ArochaAngel4247]

Howdy Charlie,

 

It is a tough decision. You are correct to question your candidacy. You are well aware of your donor deficit. If a good candidate means you can do a hair transplant then you are a good candidate. If a good candidate means patient satisfaction, which remains for the rest of your life, well then you must have a crystal ball. It's a weighty decision.

 

Think of yourself as a limited candidate. You know you must have appropriate and realistic expectations of course. If you sincerely do, then go for it, and if you find yourself asking for a lower hairline, or to fill-in the crown then you have sold yourself on something which will always bite at you. It will feel like it is never just done. Everyone wants the "one and done" result. Your donor and the optimistic graft counts make me nervous.

 

Did you notice the robust hair in your beard is stronger than the hair in your donor area?

In the long run- which ones will last longer?

How will the hairs be distributed from all the different donor areas?

 

I would expect you to loose some of the hair in your donor area. With aggressive graft counts you will be harvesting some on the fringe of your donor area, so those may not last as long. The caliber of the hair from your donor area could also suffer in the long run. Maybe not your beard hair. So hopefully strategic decisions will be considered.

 

The SMP option is wonderful. I am glad you are not only aware of it, but you question the skillset.

 

Of course, most on this forum would want hair in place of SMP. However, for a limited candidate they can compliment each other very well. Some feel SMP first, then hair. My feeling with your circumstances is I would not want my surgeon feeling like they must alter their plan due to a improper SMP.

 

After reading this, I wanted to refine it. I am watching the World Series, so I must yell at the television. GO ASTROS!

 

ArochaAngel4247

Edited November 1, 2017 by ArochaAngel4247
Gramatical errors, spelling and it is the 9th inning