Hair Transplants-Postponing the Inevitable?

[Time to do something]

I've been told that donor hair from the 'safe zone' is susceptible to MPB like the hair on the top of the head eventually. This subject has probably been addressed at some point on the forum before but if anyone could revisit this I'd appreciate it. If that is the case it is worrisome that we go through all of this only to lose the hair again later in life. I'm also being told that even if one takes finasteride to protect the hair from further loss that it loses its effect after about ten years. If these statements are true then hair transplantation seems to be a temporary fix that just postpones the inevitable. Please someone prove this is all wrong.

[Maxxy]

Time to do something,

 

I've been told that donor hair from the 'safe zone' is susceptible to MPB like the hair on the top of the head eventually

 

This topic has been brought up a few times and where as it may be true, I personally don't believe so, there have been guys on this forum who have had work done in the 70's, 80's (Finasteride wasn't even around until 1992) and their work has stood the test of time.

 

I'm also being told that even if one takes finasteride to protect the hair from further loss that it loses its effect after about ten years.

 

Again, this may be true - at least for some, but there are guys who have been using it for more then 10 years with positive results.

 

EDIT: Having said that, the "safe zone" is rather subjective; my grandafather who is now in his 80s had a fair amount of hair in what I would have considered the "safe zone" in his 60s. However, he currently has a strip of hair around an inch wide.

[MikeTheDane]

I guess it varies. By the time you are 90, if you ever get to that point, there might be a chance that your safe zone has shrunk.

 

I don't know, but if I do make it to old age, hair is probably not on the top of my list.

[TC17]

I have an uncle (not blood related) who had a very nice donor area until he was about 70, but in the past 15 years it has thinned to the point where he couldn't undergo any type of transplant. In addition to his donor thinning, he went from a NW 4 to a NW 6 in the past 15 years. I don't know how common that is, but I do know that I see a lot more men that are NW 6's and 7's than I think any of us would like to admit. Who knows what the future may bring, but I highly doubt that I would be OK with a visible scar at ANY age.

 

Right now my dad is a NW 6.5, but he's only 58. I would say he is close to the patient that Dr. Panine just posted yesterday. His donor is absolutely fantastic, he has thick hair and it's pretty dense. But, his temple region and sides are thinner than the back, and he has lost hair from the neck up. Maybe he won't lose any more hair, maybe he will. If his sides keep thinning, and his back begins to thin, it would be disastrous for him to get a transplant. Only time will tell where his hair loss goes, and only time will tell whether I inherited his pattern. And FYI, he had hair in a NW 5 pattern up till his mid 40's, so his hair loss has been slow, steady, and progressive. Even if he had waited to his mid 30's or 40's to have a transplant (which is recommended by most physicians), he could have looked foolish if he had done ANYTHING to the crown, temple points, or anything other than what his current pattern would tolerate.

[Cam Simmons MD ABHRS]

1. I know some patients who have taken Propecia since 1997 (before they met me) who feel that they haven't lost more hair and some who have had a slow decline.

 

2. Some hair follicles in the donor area may be affected by DHT but most aren't, in most men. Take a look at the seniors you meet or pass in a day. In a few, you can see through their hair on the sides but not in most.

 

Some men can get generalized thinning of all of their hair in advanced age, called senile alopecia. That might be what affected TC17s uncle from age 70 to 85.

 

I just did a touch-up hair transplant for a 68 year-old man who had 4 sessions from 1976 to 1980 and the transplanted hair was still there. His hair was about 2 inches long and his rows and rows of punch graft scars did not show. The punch graft scars made up about half of his 9 mm wide, 30 cm long donor strip and we still got 1408 grafts and he still had about 60% 2s, 25% 3s, and 15% 1s.

 

Hair transplants look much more natural now but transplanted hair from decades ago has stood the test of time.

[windjc]

Originally posted by Dr. Cam Simmons:

1. I know some patients who have taken Propecia since 1997 (before they met me) who feel that they haven't lost more hair and some who have had a slow decline.

 

2. Some hair follicles in the donor area may be affected by DHT but most aren't, in most men. Take a look at the seniors you meet or pass in a day. In a few, you can see through their hair on the sides but not in most.

 

Some men can get generalized thinning of all of their hair in advanced age, called senile alopecia. That might be what affected TC17s uncle from age 70 to 85.

 

I just did a touch-up hair transplant for a 68 year-old man who had 4 sessions from 1976 to 1980 and the transplanted hair was still there. His hair was about 2 inches long and his rows and rows of punch graft scars did not show. The punch graft scars made up about half of his 9 mm wide, 30 cm long donor strip and we still got 1408 grafts and he still had about 60% 2s, 25% 3s, and 15% 1s.

 

Hair transplants look much more natural now but transplanted hair from decades ago has stood the test of time.

 

This is an interesting thread. I have wondered about late life hairloss (75+). I noticed in my grandfather who had a lot of hair at 75 (probably NW2), now at 97 he has severe diffuse thinning all over. Not many 95+ guys with a lot of hair.

 

Now I know its called senile alopecia.

 

That makes sense, I suppose.

[TC17]

I agree windjc, I think late life hair loss is A LOT more common than any of us would like to believe.

 

Thanks a lot for your insight Dr. Simmons. I had never heard the term senile alopecia until you used it.

 

On the other end of the spectrum are people like my grandfather, who is 90 years old and a super thick NW 2. I bet he could live to be 200 and never lose a hair.

[Al - Moderator]

I am currently 42 years old and have been thinning in the so called safe area since my early 20's, perhaps even before that. Anyone who thinks it doesn't ever happen until a late age is wrong. My current donor hair shaft thickness (both what still remains in the donor site and what has been transplanted) is thin and wispy and maybe only half the thickness they used to be... and those are the ones that haven't gone.

 

EDIT: I will add that my uncle back when he was in his early 40's who was NW 7 at the time had very thin see through hair on both sides of his head and only had some decent thickness at the very back. He was not old and did not have a HT that would have thinned it out.

[FUE2014]

Apologies for bumping an old thread, but I would be interested to hear whether anyone has experienced hair in their safe zone thinning over the years, even if on fin?

[Angelino]

This is an interesting topic. I'd still opt for a HT and for the the hair I have now and not worry about what might happen later. By that time, there could be new advances.