HAIR TRANSPLANT FORUM

I have a question for forhair and fitlocks, what do you guys consider as the ideal candidate for hair transplant surgery?
considering these factors:
hair color
hair diameter
hair texture
follicular groups
age
medicals reactions
norwood class

thanks!

The best candidates are European

Eurostar,

When we look at hair color we like to see a limited contrast with skin color. So, for example blond or white hair against fair skin will give a nice illusion of coverage due to the minimal contrast.

In regards to hair diameter, course hair is obviously going to cover better than fine hair. It should be noted, however, that fine hair in single units is a beautiful source for hairline work.

Hair wave is a big deal too. The waver the hair the better in terms of coverage.

In the donor area we like to see high density and high calculated density (hairs per graft). In patients with high density we can get more grafts. In patient with high calculated density we will average more hairs per graft. So if you have high density and high calculate density, you might be able to get a lot hair to the top of your head!

It is hard to comment on the ideal age for HT. Many times surgical intervention on patient under the age of 25 is ill-advised due to the great potential for future loss. In your late twenties is good time to begin to consider work if need be.

We treat a lot of Norwood 3s and 5s at this clinic. That is sort of the “sweet spot”. A 4 is a less common pattern but very treatable. We also treat Norwood 6s and 7s, but these patients will often need lowered expectations and/or exceptional hair characteristics/donor supply.

What did you mean by medical reactions, Euro? Do you mean medical therapy? If so, being on Propecia, Minoxidil, Nizoral and/or anything else to halt your hair loss is a good thing.

So, Euro, I hope you are a 40-year-old Norwood 3 with wavy blond hair, fair skin, robust donor hair, and a prescription for propecia.

I think one of ideal cases for transplant are some people i see , with good
hairline , good center and totally empty crown . This case in my opinion
shouts 'why dont you do a translant? ' . Because , there is no shock loss danger as the area is empty as there are no of very few surounding hair ,
and there is zero risk .So if the doctor ,and luck helps , they can return
to a full head of hair or almost .
So if age is apropriate (over 35 for example) , these people , are ideal
in my opinion .Generally i think people with one area hairloss are better
candidates.

Thanks fitlocks, that was also my idea about the perfect candidate, but how come i see so many superb results from patients with black stright hair on fair skin?
for example:
http://www.forhair.com/gallery.htm

drop the "medical issues" question...i am not sure what i was trying to say

apgr, i agree with you that balder people have more need for work but the crown can be a very hard area to cover because of the hair orientation.

Apgr,

Working inside an empty crown (with an otherwise non-balding scalp) is low risk in terms of shock loss. This phenomenon is just not an issue when planting in areas with little or no hair.

There is an advantage to treating patients that have isolated frontal loss versus isolated crown loss though. One cannot lose hair in the front of their hair line, therefore, future loss is easy to plan for when treating the frontal area. Crown loss, on the other hand, can expand in surface area. HT surgeons must plan carefully when treating this region.

Voice,

Yes, Norwood 2’s are good candidates particularly if they are older with stable loss. Better to treat this with FIT or FUE rather than Strip. It is hard to justify an excision for a small number of grafts.

Euro,

Patients with average or even poor donor hair characteristic can be treated successfully with FIT. We simply need to explain to them that their donor hair does not cover as well as other types of donor hair.

If one has isolated loss over a small surface area (and no ominous signs of tremendous future loss) this can be treated with less than ideal donor characteristics. The patient simply needs to realize that it will take more grafts to get the same result as a person with great donor characteristics.

If one has a larger area of loss and less than ideal donor hair, they can be treated as well. They simply to realize that the result is going to be thinner or they will need to focus donor reserves on one area of balding and leave another area largely untreated.