Forehead size

[Mood Swings]

Hey hey

 

so, how do you guys determine the ideal and most sustainable forehead size? I have seen people say right above forehead muscles, others are saying 1/3 of your face, and some mentioning some cm/in dimension from the eyebrow to the hairline.

[StillAlive]

There's a thing called the 'golden ratio' of facial proportions. Some HT surgeons will use that in planning the framing of your face. It's symmetrically pleasing but may not suit everyone's idea of ideal beauty. 
 

[Gatsby]

3 hours ago, Mood Swings said:

Hey hey

 

so, how do you guys determine the ideal and most sustainable forehead size? I have seen people say right above forehead muscles, others are saying 1/3 of your face, and some mentioning some cm/in dimension from the eyebrow to the hairline.

Every person is different. Ethnicity plays a part also along with aesthetic measuring goals.

[general-etwan]

The 1/3 of face rule is the aesthetic ideal, but not everyone has equal bottom and middle thirds of the head so it’s not always advisable to go off of that.

Generally 7-10 cm above the point at the top of the nose level with the start of your eyebrows is what is designed. More towards 7 cm if hair loss isn’t advanced, and as long as that low of a hairline will still look normal. A higher one up to 10 cm will look fine on a larger head or an older patient. 

Hairline should absolutely be above the forehead muscle ending. 

As an example, mine ended up being 7.5 cm above my brow, which is lower in that range, even though I had advanced hair loss and thought I went with a more conservative hairline…because my head isn’t as large as some other people. 

[Fue3361]

Mine was set at 6cm, and I think it would even look good at lower.  It really depends on your face proportions, how much projection forehead has, etc.

Now, how low SHOULD you go, it depends mainly on how much donor you have available.  

Ideal height depends on many factors, some of which are subjective.  

[NARMAK]

12 hours ago, Mood Swings said:

Hey hey

 

so, how do you guys determine the ideal and most sustainable forehead size? I have seen people say right above forehead muscles, others are saying 1/3 of your face, and some mentioning some cm/in dimension from the eyebrow to the hairline.

The frontalis muscle and donor supply are the biggest limiting factor imo but you also need to take facial aesthetics into account as others have mentioned. 

Some people can get away with a lower hairline because of their facial features, whilst some it may not suit. So there's quite a few factors to take into account but if unlimited donor grafts were a think, i genuinely think some people would be making some really silly design choices, and ignore doctor input. 

[Doron Harati]

It varies between every paitent which hairline is "the best" for him, but all paitents should have hairline above forehead muscle, every 1cm hairline requires around 1000-1200 single grafts, so why waste it unnaturally beneath the forehead muscle?

I see many cheap hair mills create unnatural hairlines beneath the muscle hairline, this is what happened to me on my 1st horrific experience by Arenamed clinic in Turkey, they lowered my natural hairline around 2cm from the original hairline and hurt my existing natural hair, I was in some way "lucky" that the transplanted grafts were killed and did not absorb over there, so on my 1st repair at HDC clinic, Dr. Maras had a strategy to make my repaired hairline looks natural and homogenous which I am very happy with, because some paitents with high absorb rate under the hairline can only consider punch out procedure which consists even more risks and complications.

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Doron Harati

[John1991]

Both the ideal height and the realistically achievable height varies person to person.  And "ideal" is also subjective.  What's wise is often different than what's ideal or potentially achievable.  One should lower as much as possible while also considering the possibility of future loss and understanding the importance of strong density.  Some people mistakenly think because they have no or little loss that they won't have any in the future.  One of my great grandfathers was a strong NW0/Reaganesque at 40 and by his late 60s when he passed he had lost most of his hair.  Another one was also a dense NW0 at 40 and basically stayed that way until he died in his mid 70s.  Not sure exactly when his loss occurred and obviously medications weren't available then, but it just goes to show that you never know for sure.  

[AhmadChaudhry]

There are many factors while reconstructing hairline. However, most of the clinic follow the rule of 4 fingers width ( patient's own four fingers) from the eyebrows to the hairline. The other method is 7.5 cm above the Glabella point , start of the hairline. 

Both methods will work in majority of the cases. 

[Fue3361]

4 hours ago, AhmadChaudhry said:

There are many factors while reconstructing hairline. However, most of the clinic follow the rule of 4 fingers width ( patient's own four fingers) from the eyebrows to the hairline. The other method is 7.5 cm above the Glabella point , start of the hairline. 

Both methods will work in majority of the cases. 

I've never heard of clinics using patient's own finger width for measurement.  That sounds silly and arbitrary.  

[AhmadChaudhry]

4 hours ago, Fue3361 said:

I've never heard of clinics using patient's own finger width for measurement.  That sounds silly and arbitrary.  

Hi, thank you for your understanding. However, hair restoration field doctors and experts know this 4 fingers rule. If you want to know more in detail you may cut/copy/paste and read the full article. 

https://shapiromedical.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/article_hairline-design.pdf

After reading hopefully you will come to know whole science of silly and arbitrary !

[Fue3361]

13 hours ago, AhmadChaudhry said:

Hi, thank you for your understanding. However, hair restoration field doctors and experts know this 4 fingers rule. If you want to know more in detail you may cut/copy/paste and read the full article. 

https://shapiromedical.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/article_hairline-design.pdf

After reading hopefully you will come to know whole science of silly and arbitrary !

You’re spreading misinformation.  The article you sent me LITERALLY says that the 4 finger rule should NOT be used:

[AhmadChaudhry]

Hi, Here author is saying finger breath rule vary from person to person. I said to you fingers should be of the same person undergoing for the procedure. As his fingers will be as per his facial feature and body. Therefore, it is not the only criteria doctors are following. There are many other points to consider for hairline. This will give an idea to the doctor where it should be. I can't put my 4 fingers to the person undergoing hair transplant procedure. 

[BaldReaper]

On 10/27/2022 at 3:24 PM, general-etwan said:

The 1/3 of face rule is the aesthetic ideal, but not everyone has equal bottom and middle thirds of the head so it’s not always advisable to go off of that.

Generally 7-10 cm above the point at the top of the nose level with the start of your eyebrows is what is designed. More towards 7 cm if hair loss isn’t advanced, and as long as that low of a hairline will still look normal. A higher one up to 10 cm will look fine on a larger head or an older patient. 

Hairline should absolutely be above the forehead muscle ending. 

As an example, mine ended up being 7.5 cm above my brow, which is lower in that range, even though I had advanced hair loss and thought I went with a more conservative hairline…because my head isn’t as large as some other people. 

10cm is too much, I think the absolute max should be like 8.5cm, otherwise it still looks like you are balding

[BaldReaper]

The ideal is 1/3 of total face length

[Xanadu]

On 10/27/2022 at 3:24 PM, general-etwan said:

The 1/3 of face rule is the aesthetic ideal, but not everyone has equal bottom and middle thirds of the head so it’s not always advisable to go off of that.

Generally 7-10 cm above the point at the top of the nose level with the start of your eyebrows is what is designed. More towards 7 cm if hair loss isn’t advanced, and as long as that low of a hairline will still look normal. A higher one up to 10 cm will look fine on a larger head or an older patient. 

Hairline should absolutely be above the forehead muscle ending. 

As an example, mine ended up being 7.5 cm above my brow, which is lower in that range, even though I had advanced hair loss and thought I went with a more conservative hairline…because my head isn’t as large as some other people. 

This is correct. 8 or even 9cm could look unnatural on a very large head. Hence why 10cm is sometimes the correct choice.

[Fue3361]

5 hours ago, AhmadChaudhry said:

Hi, Here author is saying finger breath rule vary from person to person. I said to you fingers should be of the same person undergoing for the procedure. As his fingers will be as per his facial feature and body. Therefore, it is not the only criteria doctors are following. There are many other points to consider for hairline. This will give an idea to the doctor where it should be. I can't put my 4 fingers to the person undergoing hair transplant procedure. 

Are you purposely not reading?  It says "4 finger rule should NOT be used".  It says it's a bad rule.  I don't know how to argue past this point.  You're reading it wrong.

[general-etwan]

14 hours ago, BaldV said:

10cm is too much, I think the absolute max should be like 8.5cm, otherwise it still looks like you are balding

The goal of many high Norwood cases is to get to a point where they look like they’re balding. Sometimes a lower hairline is too unrealistic and aggressive based on donor supply. And it has to be based on the size of head. Someone with a larger head can go more towards 10 cm and still have it look fine. Proportions are based on patient characteristics. 

[BaldReaper]

18 hours ago, general-etwan said:

The goal of many high Norwood cases is to get to a point where they look like they’re balding. Sometimes a lower hairline is too unrealistic and aggressive based on donor supply. And it has to be based on the size of head. Someone with a larger head can go more towards 10 cm and still have it look fine. Proportions are based on patient characteristics. 

I’d rather shave my head than having a 10cm hairline

[general-etwan]

3 hours ago, BaldV said:

I’d rather shave my head than having a 10cm hairline

Maybe you would but not everyone shares your view. 10 cm on a large head really isn’t that high at all and no one in public is measuring hairline heights. It depends on individual characteristics of person what will look acceptable.