What is the current thinking about how to approach your hairloss

[bw77]

Hello everyone,

After a successful procedure in 2017 to fix my hairline I have decided to address the rest of my head. I’m interested to know what the current thinking is? I know it comes down to personal preference, but I’d like to know what the experts recommend to be the best approach to maximising “bang for your buck” given that the donor supply is limited. I’m guessing I’ve got maybe 4000 to 5000 left. Maybe less, I don’t really know.

I’d always wanted to be able to slick my hair back Donald Draper style but even after my HT I still feel my hairline is too high. One side is noticeably weaker than the other and so my style strategy covers my right side. 
 

So I’ve decided to go for round two but now I’m thinking it might not be the wisest move. So my questions are:

What is the current thinking with regards to hair restoration? Do I load up the front because it is frames the face or do I start looking at filling in the area behind the hairline and my crown?

You can see from my recovery pic that the area behind my hairline is sparse. My mid scalp is pretty good but my crown is thinning. Should I throw a few hundred at the weak side of the hairline and then hit the area behind? Or YOLO and go for a lower total hairline?

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated. 

 

[hairlossPA]

i would not lower the hairline at all in your situation if it was me. i looks strong. focus behind the hairline and reinforce as needed

[Sam818]

How old are you? I agree with hairlosspa...don’t lower your hairline any more reinforce it and add grafts in the mid scalp if you really want to but truthfully it looks good in that pic with you slicking it back 

[Melvin- Admin]

Your hair looks great, keep in mind that your hairline will always appear thinner when it is wet. Remember this is a marathon not a race. Chasing perfection with surgery is a risky proposition. 

In my opinion, front-loading is a mistake. You are admittedly losing more hair, particularly in the crown. I think a cohesive head of hair with evenly distributed density and coverage looks better than a front-loaded low hairline with very little or no hair behind it. You only have a finite donor supply, seeing your results now, I think it's a waste to lower your hairline. Trust me man, you will get a lot of 'anonymous' posters telling you to go to these 'Top Turkish clinics', and blow your entire donor supply. That is not in your best interest.

YOLO is for morons. Pardon my french, but it's the truth. Here I advise patients to take calculated risks, as we know hair transplant surgery, is just that a RISK. I don't see a problem with reinforcing the pre-existing hairline, preserve your donor. Can you post pics of your crown? It may not even be worth while addressing, it may be better to use non-surgical options such as microneedling, finasteride, minoxidil etc. 

Best wishes,

[bw77]

Thanks for these replies. They’re really helpful. My mid scalp is okay but the area behind my hairline and the crown could use work. I’ll upload some pics tonight, but generally speaking what is a normal number for that patch behind the hairline? My head is small to medium size? Can docs implant between existing hairs or do they just plant wherever if the exisiting hairs are miniaturising?

[Rolandas]

I've done only front part for myself as well (currently on week 6), but I'm NW5A, so will definitely need to fill up the gaps in mid & crown. While it might look appealing to make low and strong hairline and leave crown/mid scalp as it is and just slick back, but think about when you're in the pool. Would you like to have a long mop in the front with thin sparse mid & crown? What if someone moves your "combover" (that's essentialy what will be), will you be worried?

The reason I'm saying this because I myself was wearing a massive combover for 4-5 years (before HT, see my thread for more info). It was OK, but whenever stronger wind will blow, or rain, or swimming etc, it completely messes up my hairstyle and it was looking terrible! I was constantly thinking about it, what can I do to not to move my hair... I was moving around facing wind with my combed over side. Hilarious look!

I would suggest to consider putting lower density, but all around scalp, so it doesn't look too bad and if you are not 100% happy some of days, just sprinkle some hair fibres to make it "thicker".

Don't rush!

[bw77]

I hear ya Rolandas, thank you. I’m taking everyone’s advice, conserving grafts and focusing on addressing my crown and the area behind the hairline. 
 

I’d like to get this done and just move on with my life and I’m wondering, from a preventative perspective, can docs place grafts between hairs to reinforce an area or do they prefer to wait until balding/recession is significant? The area behind my hairline has hair, but it isn’t as think at the mid scalp. Would a doc go in between my hair to reinforce?

[Rolandas]

5 minutes ago, bw77 said:

I hear ya Rolandas, thank you. I’m taking everyone’s advice, conserving grafts and focusing on addressing my crown and the area behind the hairline. 
 

I’d like to get this done and just move on with my life and I’m wondering, from a preventative perspective, can docs place grafts between hairs to reinforce an area or do they prefer to wait until balding/recession is significant? The area behind my hairline has hair, but it isn’t as think at the mid scalp. Would a doc go in between my hair to reinforce?

Dr's can go in between existing hairs if the hair is healthy and strong enough. If the hair is miniaturised there's a strong chance of shockloss and even possibly permanent. So instead of reinforcing, they would just replace them. That's why good surgeon will always put you on Finasteride for at least 6 months before surgery.

[bw77]

Thanks Rolandas! Your progress looks awesome by the way. Your result will be a life changer!!

[Rolandas]

Thanks! I hope it will