Spotting miniaturization

[HarryHonolulu]

Hey all

Some questions that have crossed my mind...

- can a doctor determine whether a follicular unit shows signs of miniaturization/DHT before transplanting it? In other words can they look at the hairs during the operation and pick the best, healthiest looking follicular units ? 

- do miniaturized hairs usually grow in the same area of the scalp, and if so would harvesting ANY hair from that area present a risk ? Eg if you have a thinner area on the sides and the doctor harvests from that area, how likely is it that the transplanted grafts also show signs of miniaturization? 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

When doctors are performing extractions they have on high magnification glasses, this enables them to choose the healthiest hair for transplantation. 

Not sure what you mean by the second question, if thinning hairs are extracted and transplanted, there is a risk of them thinning. 

[home1212]

donor hairs used for transplantation are extracted from the "safe zone" on the back of the head where they are not susceptible to DHT and therefore should not miniaturize and die off ..  

[HarryHonolulu]

24 minutes ago, home1212 said:

donor hairs used for transplantation are extracted from the "safe zone" on the back of the head where they are not susceptible to DHT and therefore should not miniaturize and die off ..  

They are also extracted from the side 

[wheretogo]

How surgeons decide if native hair in a transplanted area should "stay" and not replaced by new hair?

[Kiwi Guy]

Going to a clinic with all the necessary tools is important I think. The best in the business have the high magnification microscopes and also magnifiers on their foreheads during the operation so they can extract the best grafts, I'd say this is especially so during an FUE with the top surgeons.

[LonelyGraft]

Some doctors will try to analyze your donor before the operation to look for signs of dupa (diffuse unpatterned alopecia) which would affect the “safe zone” as they call it. If they see some miniaturization going on then at the minimum they need to ensure you stay on medications. If there is too much miniaturized hairs then you are not a suitable candidate.

 

the other thing to do is look at family history to see how the males on both sides of your family lost hair over time and if there was donor thinning.

 

i think even with all the precautions there is still some risk but that’s the chance we all gotta take

[HarryHonolulu]

On 1/26/2019 at 3:26 PM, Melvin-Moderator said:

When doctors are performing extractions they have on high magnification glasses, this enables them to choose the healthiest hair for transplantation. 

Not sure what you mean by the second question, if thinning hairs are extracted and transplanted, there is a risk of them thinning. 

Here is what I meant. Let’s say you have visible miniaturization in a specific part of your scalp - the sides. Would all the hairs in that area also suffer from miniaturization or is it a “hair by hair” situation?

and if the hairs are all indeed affected by miniaturization, then should that area be avoided altogether as a potential harvesting site ?

[Melvin- Admin]

5 hours ago, HarryHonolulu said:

Here is what I meant. Let’s say you have visible miniaturization in a specific part of your scalp - the sides. Would all the hairs in that area also suffer from miniaturization or is it a “hair by hair” situation?

and if the hairs are all indeed affected by miniaturization, then should that area be avoided altogether as a potential harvesting site ?

Ok I understand now. It would be very rare that all of the hair on the sides would be miniaturized. This would mean you’d be an extreme norwood 7. I would say its more likely that a small amount of hairs are miniaturized. 

[HarryHonolulu]

14 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Ok I understand now. It would be very rare that all of the hair on the sides would be miniaturized. This would mean you’d be an extreme norwood 7. I would say its more likely that a small amount of hairs are miniaturized. 

thanks Melvin.

are miniaturization and DHT hair loss the same thing?

[Melvin- Admin]

9 hours ago, HarryHonolulu said:

thanks Melvin.

are miniaturization and DHT hair loss the same thing?

Yea, miniaturization is the process of the hair follicle shrinking because of the effects of DHT.

[Dr. Sethi & Dr. Bansal]

On 1/27/2019 at 12:15 AM, HarryHonolulu said:

Hey all

Some questions that have crossed my mind...

- can a doctor determine whether a follicular unit shows signs of miniaturization/DHT before transplanting it? In other words can they look at the hairs during the operation and pick the best, healthiest looking follicular units ? 

- do miniaturized hairs usually grow in the same area of the scalp, and if so would harvesting ANY hair from that area present a risk ? Eg if you have a thinner area on the sides and the doctor harvests from that area, how likely is it that the transplanted grafts also show signs of miniaturization? 

 

It's difficult to differentiate Telogen hair from miniaturized hair. A good surgeon cherry picks the good healthy grafts for best results 

If the surgeon harvests miniaturized hair then the transplanted hair will also look miniaturized after growth But on the sides of the scalp (temporal area) the hair caliber is thin in everyone. It can't be labelled as miniaturized hair.

[gillenator]

The sides of the scalp or the parietal zones are considered secondary donor sources, not primary like the occipital zone.

Still, one of the main advantages of FUE is enabling the surgeon to cherry pick the best FUs for transplantation.

If the surgeon is finding too many FUs that show signs of miniaturization such as the sides, then that's probably not a good area to be harvesting from.

Wherever terminal hair is growing should show jus that, "terminal hair" or DHT resistant hair.

[Poseidon]

Is there a machine that can be used to help select the thick ones from the thin ones? 

[gillenator]

There are several scopes that can be used and connected to a monitor.

The surgeons use high empowered glasses during the surgery.