Hair Characteristics based on Race/Ethnicity

[azn_guy]

I've been a big advocate of trying to get more information on hair characteristics based on race and I stumbled across a document that I believe is new, it was actually at the top of the list when I did a search

 

Hair Characteristics based on Race/Ethnicity

 

Regarding the Asian Characteristics, here are the main points I got from the document

 

- Most Asians has coarse hair which leads to very good Hair Transplants

- If Coarse hair is "too" coarse, bottom of the hair follicle can be removed

- Hair Shaft diameter is larger making HT's "illusion effect" more successful

- On Average, Follicular Units contain 2 hairs

- Asians total number of hairs per area is less, which averages 170/cm2 versus caucasians which averages 210/cm2

- Asian hair's sits more perpendicular to the skin

- Because of the angle of the hair, if the hair grows long, it creates a "bowed" affect which helps with the illusion of more hair

- Because of the angle of the hair, if the hair is short, you can see through the hair and more scalp is seen

- Doctor MUST replicate the angle correctly

- Low Tension Closure must be performed in the donor area since the HT strip scar will be more visible with a short haircut

 

While all of this is easy to read, I find it helpful to spell it out here, and it allows others on the site to simply do a quick search.

 

It's nice to have a summary of this in one document

 

 

oh, and according to the document, hispanic decent is one of the best candidates for HT. Not only do they have darker skin, they also have thicker, coarser, wavier hair. There is a small paragraph at he bottom of the document

[azn_guy]

I also stole the following information from Dr. Wong from another thread. I figured it would be nice to have it all together

 

According to Dr. Wong

 

1.) Asian hair follicles are more fragile than non-Asian follicles so it is easier for them to be damaged during a procedure.

 

2.) The direction of growth for multi-hair groupings (two,three or more hairs in a follicular bundle) is more apt to be divergent in the fatty tissue. In other words, once the hair disappears below the tissue surface the direction of growth can look more like the legs of a coffee table splayed out. This makes the dissection process more laborious and time consuming.

 

3. Asian follicles are on average longer than non-Asian follicles so the chance of vascular damage is a bit higher. This is due to the need for slightly deeper incisions when matching the depth of the incision to the length of the graft and because the follicles tend to diverge more (see #2) the incision will be on average slightly larger for Asian multi-hair follicular units than for the corresponding size non-Asian multi-hair units.

[mmhce]

azn_guy_001

 

Good post!

[azn_guy]

not sure it belongs in the questions and answers section though

 

if anyone has any cool information or url's feel free to post here...

[moosehead]

By Asian, do you mean "Oriental" asian such as Chinese, Korean, etc. OR "South" asian such as Indian/Pakistani? I have been told that Oriental asians have lower hair density while South Asians have high densities.

[azn_guy]

In this case, this is for Chinese/Korean/Japanese/etc...

 

Not Indian/Pakistani

[gillenator]

By Asian, do you mean "Oriental" asian such as Chinese, Korean, etc. OR "South" asian such as Indian/Pakistani? I have been told that Oriental asians have lower hair density while South Asians have high densities.

 

Good point of distinction moosehead. I have found this to be true over the years in my own observations as well. Overall, not only have I found that people of South Asian descent have higher levels of density than say, Asian Islanders, but they also tend to have a higher degree of coarseness to their hair shafts. Many of them also have a nice slight wave characteristic. Obviously there are exceptions in every class of people.

[MrJobi]

Good post - At the end of the day, your doctor will determine your situation as every person is different. Other factors also play a major role in restoring your hair such as

 

- head size

- scalp laxity

- degree of loss/ future loss

- repsonse to med ( if applicable)

- hair curliness

 

It seems for every rule there are some exceptions based on the individual

 

Good luck!!