Am I Norwood 6 or 7?

[singlefollicle]

I'm 38 and have advanced hair loss. I think I might have followed the anterior pattern of hair loss rather than the standard MPB pattern. I can't figure our what Norwood I am though. My crown does not seem as bad as some of the later stage Norwood pictures I see. I'm currently wearing a hair system so my hair is long around the sides but shaved off on top, this picture is of 2 weeks growth just before I have it trimmed. I would just like to know if I'm a Norwood 6 or a Norwood 7. Thanks for any help.



 

[jjalay]

You look like NW 5 heading to NW 6.

[BackFromTheBrink]

I'd say 6 - the bridge is all but gone but the sides and back are still relatively high.

[singlefollicle]

2 hours ago, BackFromTheBrink said:

I'd say 6 - the bridge is all but gone but the sides and back are still relatively high.

Yeah, I suspected as much. Although I don't think I really developed a "bridge" as I believe I had anterior pattern hair loss. One thing that confuses me though is my crown, the balding does not seem as bad as most NW6 pictures I see? Or am I imagining it?

 

[BackFromTheBrink]

Yes, agreed. it’s an imperfect measurement system too - what really matters is the area to be covered through a transplant. 

It’s also difficult with people who wear systems since it tends to make the hair look worse than it actually is.

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by BackFromTheBrink

[Stewie]

you got any photos from back or side on?

[Doron Harati]

Norwood 5 that will be 6, but we don't see your donor

[singlefollicle]

On 12/12/2023 at 10:06 PM, Stewie said:

you got any photos from back or side on?

I have since put my hair system back on. I do have this picture I took from before though.

[Stewie]

The hair towards the humps looks quite strong still, I would agree in NW5 going to a 6, definitely not as bald as I was ha

[singlefollicle]

So would I be in need of 10k+ grafts to get a decent result?

[singlefollicle]

On 12/13/2023 at 7:46 AM, Doron Harati said:

Norwood 5 that will be 6, but we don't see your donor

You can see the side of my head in my previous comment.

As for the back of my head, here is a picture of me watching a video of a man with similar balding  . You can see my donor area is pretty terrible (my nape looks thin). This is what makes me think I am not a good candidate for a hair transplant. From what I have researched on the internet, I believe  am going to need 10k+ grafts for a good result, and I doubt I have that. I'm currently taking fin + oral minox to try and improve my donor, but I don't have high hopes.

Edited January 12 by singlefollicle
added second pic

[Eli_Avdikian]

In my opinion your are a Norwood 6. I agree that you might need 10+k grafts for full coverage but it looks like you have a strong donor.

[Maorizio]

You’re 6 but as others said the donor seems to be impressive.

A top tier surgeon will manage your case perfectly, but do know it won’t be impressive like hair systems.

[wembley]

You are a norwood 5 progressing to norwood 6. So you are basically norwood 6. You need many grafts to achieve a decent coverage which will be much less than your current hair system. So you have to think if it worth it or not.

[Melvin- Admin]

On 12/19/2023 at 6:19 AM, singlefollicle said:

So would I be in need of 10k+ grafts to get a decent result?

Yes, look at @Digs49 similar hair loss pattern, he required around 10k

[Digs49]

Even at a NW6, I agree that your donor seems strong plus you appear to have decent beard hair (on the neck). I had advanced loss & also on fin and minox. We have similar start points so, for reference, I needed over 10k grafts as Melvin said. With the combination of beard neck hair, I had one procedure done by Dr Pittella. Feel free to check out my experience for comparison.

[mr_peanutbutter]

you are a good candidate for ht

 

reminds me a bit of the guy who went to mwamba and now rocks amazing hair

 

 

 

[singlefollicle]

10 hours ago, Digs49 said:

Even at a NW6, I agree that your donor seems strong plus you appear to have decent beard hair (on the neck). I had advanced loss & also on fin and minox. We have similar start points so, for reference, I needed over 10k grafts as Melvin said. With the combination of beard neck hair, I had one procedure done by Dr Pittella. Feel free to check out my experience for comparison.

Sounds promising. My main concern about using beard hair is the colour. My head hair is brown (and turns blonde in the summer) but my beard hair is ginger! Also my head hair is very soft but my beard is coarse. I'm not sure how much of a problem this would be, I guess I could always just dye it? BTW did you go for the most expensive package with Dr Pittella?  Don't think I could afford that. Was thinking about Dr @Kongkiat Laorwang. Although the only NW6 I could find from him was a 5k graft using FUT, so I'm not sure he normally does high NW like Pittella.

Anyway, I have a lot more research to do, my plan is to spend a year on meds anyway (been on for 3 months now) just to get back whatever I can (probably not much). Looking forward to the day I don't wear a hair system though.

[jjalay]

31 minutes ago, singlefollicle said:

Sounds promising. My main concern about using beard hair is the colour. My head hair is brown (and turns blonde in the summer) but my beard hair is ginger! Also my head hair is very soft but my beard is coarse. I'm not sure how much of a problem this would be, I guess I could always just dye it? BTW did you go for the most expensive package with Dr Pittella?  Don't think I could afford that. Was thinking about Dr @Kongkiat Laorwang. Although the only NW6 I could find from him was a 5k graft using FUT, so I'm not sure he normally does high NW like Pittella.

Anyway, I have a lot more research to do, my plan is to spend a year on meds anyway (been on for 3 months now) just to get back whatever I can (probably not much). Looking forward to the day I don't wear a hair system though.

You are a NW 5 to 6 with good density on the donor area and thick hair. Also your lateral humps seem to be intact and with good density. You will need around 6000 grafts maximum to get a great result. You definitely dont need 10000 grafts, thats insane. In you case i would look at doctors like Hasson and Wong and Hattingen hair for an fut megasession if you dont mind about the scar. Other option for fue are doctors like couto, pinto, bisanga, zarev. Beard grafts in your cae i believe should not be at the table for your surgery.

[singlefollicle]

4 minutes ago, jjalay said:

You are a NW 5 to 6 with good density on the donor area and thick hair. Also your lateral humps seem to be intact and with good density. You will need around 6000 grafts maximum to get a great result. You definitely dont need 10000 grafts, thats insane. In you case i would look at doctors like Hasson and Wong and Hattingen hair for an fut megasession if you dont mind about the scar. Other option for fue are doctors like couto, pinto, bisanga, zarev. Beard grafts in your cae i believe should not be at the table for your surgery.

Really? Just about everyone else has said I will need 10k, even @Melvin- Admin . I agree about the beard hair though, it's so incredibly different to my scalp hair, however without it I doubt I will get to 10k, so 6k would probably be the max. I would prefer FUE OFC, but if FUT is the only way to get the grafts needed, I would go that route. If I did go the FUT route I would probably choose Dr Laorwang.

[jjalay]

26 minutes ago, singlefollicle said:

Really? Just about everyone else has said I will need 10k, even @Melvin- Admin . I agree about the beard hair though, it's so incredibly different to my scalp hair, however without it I doubt I will get to 10k, so 6k would probably be the max. I would prefer FUE OFC, but if FUT is the only way to get the grafts needed, I would go that route. If I did go the FUT route I would probably choose Dr Laorwang.

Check out these cases for example:

These are all NW 6 cases with lower density and hair thickness on the donor area compared to your case. They all achieved full density with 6000 grafts. You really dont need 10000 grafts to achieve your goals, this is crazy. Dr pathomvanich in thailand and dr laorwong are also performin fut, yes.

[singlefollicle]

On 1/13/2024 at 12:17 PM, jjalay said:

Check out these cases for example:

These are all NW 6 cases with lower density and hair thickness on the donor area compared to your case. They all achieved full density with 6000 grafts. You really dont need 10000 grafts to achieve your goals, this is crazy. Dr pathomvanich in thailand and dr laorwong are also performin fut, yes.

The guy in the first video had less balding than me, the other 2 are interesting. But if you look at this Norwood 5a guy with thick black hair, I think his balding is less severe than mine and he had 8300 grafts but still looks thin (why he wants another transplant).

 

 

[Al - Moderator]

58 minutes ago, singlefollicle said:

The guy in the first video had less balding than me, the other 2 are interesting. But if you look at this Norwood 5a guy with thick black hair, I think his balding is less severe than mine and he had 8300 grafts but still looks thin (why he wants another transplant).

 

 

 

This guy seems to have a much more aggressive hairline than the others. If you want a low hairline, then it's going to take an extra 1000 to 2000 or more grafts. If you stay conservatively high with the hairline then you can get better coverage throughout the rest of your balding area. It all depends on what you want.

 

 

 

 

[jjalay]

2 hours ago, singlefollicle said:

The guy in the first video had less balding than me, the other 2 are interesting. But if you look at this Norwood 5a guy with thick black hair, I think his balding is less severe than mine and he had 8300 grafts but still looks thin (why he wants another transplant).

 

 

As stated above it also depends of going for an aggressive low hairline. And the most important, it depends on the survival rate of the grafts used. ASMED is ASMED....

[BackFromTheBrink]

7 minutes ago, jjalay said:

As stated above it also depends of going for an aggressive low hairline. And the most important, it depends on the survival rate of the grafts used. ASMED is ASMED....

There's intelligent placement also - some doctors seems to be far more economical with grafts than others.

I am amazed by the number of grafts possible with modern surgical techniques. However, I do look at some of the estimates and wonder why they're so much larger that I've had, especially as I started in largely the same position.