hairpiece

[arpma]

i'm going to get a hairpice. For that i have to

save my existing hairs. I have to change it every

4 weeks. Now my question i'm very scared that

my existing hairs on top get destroyed from wearing the hairpice for many years. sorry about

my englisch i'm from switzerland.

[arpma]

i'm going to get a hairpice. For that i have to

save my existing hairs. I have to change it every

4 weeks. Now my question i'm very scared that

my existing hairs on top get destroyed from wearing the hairpice for many years. sorry about

my englisch i'm from switzerland.

[arfy]

Hi Arpma

You should post this question in the forum called Post your questions for Hair Transplant surgeons here

 

You will probably get some good responses from some doctors there, who have experience in this. Even though it is not exactly about hair transplants, they sometimes see patients who wear hair pieces, and will hopefully have some advice.

 

Good luck.

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

Dear Arpma,

The strategy you should adopt depends a lot on two things: first and foremost, your age; and second, how much "fringe hair" you have. If you are relatively young (under 35), you can be sure that your male pattern baldness pattern is going to increase. If you are over 40 and your side fringes have been stable for some years, then you are likely to end up relatively close to where you are now, except probably for some further droppage in the rear vertex border. If you are in the younger group, then Propecia will essentially "halt your heredity" for about 9-12 years, according to the projections of the recent 5-year studies that were done. You will get an increase in "hair mass" (ie: the wispy thin, short hairs will become longer and thicker) for around 4 years or so, and then there will be a very gradual decline - much more gradual than if you were not taking it - for 6-7 years, with the end result that you will end up back in 10 years where you start out. There is another type of hair loss called "senescent alopecia" which most men experience to some degree, and this is the gradual thinning of all of the hair on the side fringe areas. If you come across a man who is 80-95, you will generally notice considerable thinning of all of his hair on the sides, whether he balded on top or not. It has not been proven, to my knowledge, that Propecia halts or slows down this process. However, I take Propecia in relatively small doses with the hope that this is perhaps true.

So, besides taking Propecia (myself, and a lot of hair surgeons, use it in far smaller doses than the company recommends. Most of my patients take a half tablet either daily or every other day, or Proscar 5mg as a quarter tablet every other day - works out to around 20-25 cents a day) you have the problem of what kind of hairpiece to get and how to attach it. I am sure you have already figured out that you should get a human hair one, not a synthetic one. That's a "no-brainer" if you want to even have a chance of it looking natural. My advice is, if you are committed to wearing the hairpiece for the rest of your life, to use the "glue on" method, which means that every 4-6 weeks your salon stylist will shave down a "U-shaped" area of your scalp (or perhaps, if you are bald enough, this doesn't need to be done!) and then connects it with an adhesive, leaving the front to be attached with two-sided tape, which you can lift up daily to shower and shampoo in and gain access to your scalp and hair. The great advantage of this method, compared to clips, weave attachments, etc. is that you avoid the "traction alopecia" complication, which is very common after a year or two of using any method of attachment that puts a "tug" on your existing hair. This is especially true, it seems, in men who have fine hair on the sides. It is particularly hard for us when these men, who have these little bald circles on the side from traction alopecia with the hairpiece, want to switch to a hair transplant, because we not only have to transplant the top of their head with a pattern that makes sense, but we also have to transplant these little circles. I hope the above covers your question for you.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[Guest]

this thread is 2 months old so I thought I'd add something to it. For one thing I don't see myself going bald. I'd rather get a hairpiece than show off my NW7 scalp. I guess I just wouldn't have the courage to look bald.

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke