Obviously Hair Transplants Work. Why don't more people have them?

[pkipling]

Hair transplants are a lot more complicated than getting braces/invisalign to straighten your teeth - and the reasons for getting (or not getting) any cosmetic procedure vary from person to person.

Off the top of my head, this is what comes to mind in terms of their not being a universal alignment in regards to every man with MPB pursuing a hair transplant:

*Not every man with MPB cares enough about it to address it. They are perfectly fine with the state of their hair and have no interest in restoring their hair. (It's hard for a lot of guys on this forum to grasp that some men simply aren't bothered by their hair loss, but it's true.)
*Hair transplants are generally more expensive than dental work, which some insurance plans cover.
*HTs are also less formulaic than dental work, and the risks involved are far greater.
*There are a lot of plastic surgeons (especially with the advance in technology - i.e. ARTAS) who think they're qualified to perform HTs. This simply isn't the case. It's an art form in its own right, and between some surgeons not understanding this and a lot of patients not understanding this, you have less than stellar results walking around because people are simply misinformed.
*As much as we all know about HTs, it really isn't mainstream and the majority of the population doesn't even see it as a viable option. To this day, I find myself talking to people about my HT who are in complete awe with the way it all works and that it's even a viable option.

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My opinions/comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

[hairtodaygt]

I heard they can cause scarring.

[balding1983]

Provided the procedure is done by a skilled surgeon and you're a good candidate then the outcome can be incredible. My concern regarding HTs is that it is a Permanent solution to a Progressive problem.

Even now, we don't know enough about MPB to say that if there is a family history of high Norwood loss taking Propecia will prevent that. We know that follicles that are being lost have a genetic predisposition for being oversensitive to DHT. But, what if these same follicles are also genetically predisposed to have fewer hair cycles than those in the safe zone. Essentially, taking Finasteride doesn't really change the end-outcome at all but only delays it.

[smitasharma54]

I could see myself getting it done one day and it's not about insecurity. Is it insecure for you to style your hair or shape your physique? it's just taking care of yourself.

[CIT_Girl]

Sure, except that if you have to go back to get more grafts once you've lost more hair -- which is always almost the case - you're left with only the grafts that contain less hairs. So in the end, it's a wash isn't it!?!?

This is a good question...

If you assume that a donor area has predominantly 1- and 2-hair grafts with a handful of 3+, you’d be correct, because once you took out all of the 3-, 4-, 5- and occasional 6-hair grafts, you’d be left with only 1- or 2-hair units. However, unless you have a very low density, and a very low calculated density (average number of hairs per follicular unit), you are not going to have many natural single-hair follicular units (probably no more than 10% in most donor areas). Therefore, cherry-picking grafts certainly will not clear out all acceptable grafts in one pass: there will be plenty of multi-hair units left if subsequent procedures are necessary.

The fact is, if you select the better grafts in the first procedure, you’re giving your patient better coverage from the very beginning. What hair transplant patients want is to achieve an acceptable level of density in as few procedures as possible, and for as little money as possible. By selecting grafts containing more hair from the first procedure, the person will get significantly, if not exponentially, more hair with a FUE procedure.

In an ideal transplant, you want to achieve an overall appearance whereby the density on top of the head is similar to the back. FUE is the perfect means to do this as you are thinning out the back subtly while improving density on top and up front. With a strip procedure, you’re clearing out a center section of scalp but leaving a dense section of hair above and below the scar. To me, this doesn’t look as natural as thinning out the donor region slightly so as to achieve an equal appearance in density throughout.

[ebutterg]

hairleaving, in response to your question, I would actually contend that FUE can provide more coverage with less grafts. With FUE, the surgeon can cherry-pick the "best" follicular units (rather than being limited to just the follicular units found in the strip removed via FUT). Therefore, the surgeon can purposefully harvest grafts that contain more hairs. With the CIT method, Dr. Cole averages 2.9 hairs per grafts, versus typical strip surgeons' 2.0 hairs per graft. This equates to almost 30% more hair in each graft, or almost 1 hair extra per graft. Thus, a FUE surgeon transplanting just 2,000 grafts might appear comparable in density to 2,900 grafts performed by a strip surgeon.

Sure, except that if you have to go back to get more grafts once you've lost more hair -- which is always almost the case - you're left with only the grafts that contain less hairs. So in the end, it's a wash isn't it!?!?

[CIT_Girl]

@ hairleaving

hairleaving, in response to your question, I would actually contend that FUE can provide more coverage with less grafts. With FUE, the surgeon can cherry-pick the "best" follicular units (rather than being limited to just the follicular units found in the strip removed via FUT). Therefore, the surgeon can purposefully harvest grafts that contain more hairs. With the CIT method, Dr. Cole averages 2.9 hairs per grafts, versus typical strip surgeons' 2.0 hairs per graft. This equates to almost 30% more hair in each graft, or almost 1 hair extra per graft. Thus, a FUE surgeon transplanting just 2,000 grafts might appear comparable in density to 2,900 grafts performed by a strip surgeon.

[KeepTheHair]

More people dont have them simply because...

They are very, very expensive.

You don't know who to trust in this world...a lot of people have been screwed over.

Kinda embarrassing to admit you had cosmetic surgery.

You have to travel and make time for this. You have to hide it once you got it.

You don't really have a clue whats really going to happen...

And some people think it will look weird later in life or in later months.



I definitely will get a hairtransplant some time during my lifetime...

I would absolutely HATE LIFE if I was bald. It would SUCK.

[Winston]

other than no scar does fue cover the head better than strip ht's meaning does it take less fue grafts over strip?

The grafts are the same. FUE is only a method of removing them.

[hair leaving]

other than no scar does fue cover the head better than strip ht's meaning does it take less fue grafts over strip?

[Fixed by 35]

I think the reason that a lot of men do not have hair transplants is because they're not suitable candidates or they're too bald already. Much as it pains me to say it, I've never seen a hair transplant on a Norwood 7 that doesn't look like a comb over of sorts. That's not a slur on the physician, he just did the best he could with what he had available. It also seems unlikely that a Norwood 6 could get a satisfactory result.

Also, when you embark on a hair transplant, you could be storing up future costs to make it look natural and acceptable if you lose more hair later on and need further procedures. You might run out of doner hair and have a weird look at the end of it too.

My advice to anyone losing their hair is fight, fight, fight. Don't be one of those pillocks who accept their hair loss and wallow away their life at the gym or shaving their head at the sink. Remember, whilst they claim to be accepting their hair loss, they're simultaneously dedicating the rest of their lives to spending hours on their personal appearance to make themselves acceptable to society. Surely the person who really accepts hair loss is the one who just does nothing about it and has a messy, patchy scalp?

The joke will be on those who accept their hair loss now, because they will probably always be bald. I always say the more hair you can keep, the faster it will be to restore when a real growth treatment is released. If products are released that stop hair loss in its tracks but do not promote regrowth of what is lost, if you've retained hair you can also have a better transplant. It might be that the new product can work on live hair follicles which are miniturised, but not dead ones. You never know what's coming next, so for gods sake keep what you have so you have a fighting chance.

[PayDay]

Thanks to everyone for responding to my poll and posting your answers. Like I said, this place is Awesome!
So far it looks like about 94% of you guys think hair transplants look natural. Your responses make a lot of sense.

[Lefty76]

Amazing post TeeJay, thanks for that.

Payday, I'm in the same boat as you. The first question I asked was why everyone doesn't get this done if its so good. I think it's a normal reaction when thinking about taking a big step or making a big decision.

I think the biggest one is that people usually end up shaving their head and accepting it. If you're married and really not that concerned you're definitely not going to spend $ or take the time, or any of the other inconveniences a HT provides. I also think that in the big picture, getting a sweet HT is relatively new, the technology has come a long way just in the last 10 years, I dont know of any doctors doing this surgery even 20 years ago, and at a medical level that is not very long ago.

I'm 32 and seriously considering a HT. I just started taking Propecia and I really hope I can have great results. I will be posting along my journey because I consider myself an average guy and I'm sure there are 1000's of people in my circumstance.

Hope it all works out for you

[SpencerKobren]

You Guys Are Correct!

FUE IS SURGERY, and all surgery carries its share of potential complications. There's no doubt that FUE can be an easier ride for some, as far as discomfort and donor healing, but in the end you are still being cut, and scaring, even if imperceptible, will occur.

There is no such thing as a scarless or a non surgical hair transplant! Cosmetic surgery of any kind will leave scaring. The key is to minimize this scaring. In the best case scenario, not even your barber will detect a hair transplant scar, and believe me I have found myself having to comb through many patient's hair to find some of the better hair transplant scars.

Check out This Video of IAHRS member Dr. Robert Bernstein on Oprah. It clearly illustrates how imperceptible a clean HT scar can be.

http://www.thebaldtruth.com/featured-hair-loss/hair-transplant-oprah-winfrey-robert-bernstein/

[bigmac]

Thats very true Spex and the no scarring is not exactly the truth.