Guest Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 I have been thinking, perhaps too much, about the whole hair transplant thing. I am baffled by the following prospect: The area (sq. cm.) of bald head never decreases despite the number of grafts. Case in point: Let's say a slick-bald NW6 has 5000 grafts placed on top. Each graft removed from the donor area has a certain surface area of skin. The recipient area holes or slits are made, and the graft is inserted. So, the graft which has a surface area is placed into a hole which has no surface area. Now, there is actually more scalp on the top of the head than before. By adding 5000 grafts, it seems this phenomenon would create a significantly larger surface area of scalp on the top of the man's head. Further, there has been no reduction of bald scalp. The man still has exactly the same sq. cm. of bald scalp he had before the transplant, but now he has 5000 grafts which have additional surface area randomly added in. It seems we can never achieve a full head of hair unless the bald scalp is REPLACED with grafts. I know I must be missing something, like a person's physiology will force the scalp back to it's original surface area, but I don't know this to be the case. Anyone have some insight to this? http://www.hairlosshelp.com/websites/jcwhair/ JCW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 I have been thinking, perhaps too much, about the whole hair transplant thing. I am baffled by the following prospect: The area (sq. cm.) of bald head never decreases despite the number of grafts. Case in point: Let's say a slick-bald NW6 has 5000 grafts placed on top. Each graft removed from the donor area has a certain surface area of skin. The recipient area holes or slits are made, and the graft is inserted. So, the graft which has a surface area is placed into a hole which has no surface area. Now, there is actually more scalp on the top of the head than before. By adding 5000 grafts, it seems this phenomenon would create a significantly larger surface area of scalp on the top of the man's head. Further, there has been no reduction of bald scalp. The man still has exactly the same sq. cm. of bald scalp he had before the transplant, but now he has 5000 grafts which have additional surface area randomly added in. It seems we can never achieve a full head of hair unless the bald scalp is REPLACED with grafts. I know I must be missing something, like a person's physiology will force the scalp back to it's original surface area, but I don't know this to be the case. Anyone have some insight to this? http://www.hairlosshelp.com/websites/jcwhair/ JCW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>The recipient area holes or slits are made, and the graft is inserted. So, the graft which has a surface area is placed into a hole which has no surface area. Now, there is actually more scalp on the top of the head than before. Does the graft not fill in the gap from the slit? Hence, there is neither more or less scalp on the top of the head after a HT? <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> It seems we can never achieve a full head of hair unless the bald scalp is REPLACED with grafts. Is this not in fact what is being done during a HT? I believe the reason a NW6 cannot achieve a full head of hair (read: same density as before) is because of the difference in size between the donor and recipient areas. Unless I'm not getting your definition of "full head of hair"? CanEHdian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 when a hole is created, nothing is removed, just a hole is made. Therefore, when a graft is inserted into the void, more scalp is present than before. As for the NW6 getting a full head of hair: Let's assume for a moment that donor hair was limitless (i.e. Hair Mult.). Based on my story above, you could still never achieve anything close to a full head of hair with so much bald scalp still present (i.e between the grafts) No? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Shed Harris Posted January 1, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted January 1, 2004 Quantifying Hair Transplant Improvement After reading it you might feel like you just walked out of a math final. If that's the case, shot's of tequila usually put things in a better perspective. Chaos, panic and disorder...my work here is done. Chaos, panic and disorder...my work here is done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 JCWHair, You are correct in that none of the scalp is actually removed. Most of the holes are angled slits. Therefore the hair grows out with a small amount of scalp tucked under the hair and a small amount overlapping. I think they refer to this as a shingling effect. So technically you are correct there is still the same amount of bald area even after the transplant. Cam Cam's Transplant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 A hair transplant only gives the illusion of having a full(er) head of hair. I believe there's been methods in the past where the doctor removed a small chunk of scalp and put the grafts inside the hole. I don't recall the name of this technique, but it was unsuccessful. I think the less disruption to the scalp's surface, the better. (less scarring) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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