Are hairs on the back really immune to DHT?

[chongmet]

Hey fellows,
This is something I've been thinking about all the time - are the hairs on the back of the scalp (and sides) really dht-resistent? Or maybe the amount of DHT on these sides is just far less significant than on the usually balding areas (crown, top-mid scalp and front +temples) ?

[JoeTillman]

Hey fellows,
This is something I've been thinking about all the time - are the hairs on the back of the scalp (and sides) really dht-resistent? Or maybe the amount of DHT on these sides is just far less significant than on the usually balding areas (crown, top-mid scalp and front +temples) ?

Evidence has shown over history that the safe donor zone is not entirely "safe" as it once was thought to be. It is not AS susceptible to DHT as the hair in the traditional loss patterns but it can in some cases be susceptible enough to cause a cosmetic impact. It can manifest as retrograde alopecia, DUPA (diffused unpatterned alopecia) and other maladies. That is why prevention is important to consider as well as understanding your family history.

[oldschoolplaya]

Evidence has shown over history that the safe donor zone is not entirely "safe" as it once was thought to be. It is not AS susceptible to DHT as the hair in the traditional loss patterns but it can in some cases be susceptible enough to cause a cosmetic impact. It can manifest as retrograde alopecia, DUPA (diffused unpatterned alopecia) and other maladies. That is why prevention is important to consider as well as understanding your family history.

Joe, I've read in another post you created that finasteride should be used with a hair transplant. I cannot take finasteride due to bad side affects. Is there a risk that the "safe zone" transplanted hair could now fall out due to it moved into an area that is more susceptible to DHT? If so, then I would never consider a hair transplant.

[JoeTillman]

Joe, I've read in another post you created that finasteride should be used with a hair transplant. I cannot take finasteride due to bad side affects. Is there a risk that the "safe zone" transplanted hair could now fall out due to it moved into an area that is more susceptible to DHT? If so, then I would never consider a hair transplant.

The classic idea is that the area where the hair lives does not influence how it lives. In other words, the "theory of donor dominance" states that the hair determines the life of the hair, not the area where it resides so it has been generally assumed that if you take hair from an area that is considered to be safe for the long term then it will continue to be safe regardless of where it is placed. What you are talking about however is that the area the hair is placed influences the life of the hair which is the opposite of what the hair restoration field has based itself off of for sixty years. The truth is that we know the recpient area CAN in fact influence how hair grows. We have seen some examples where chest hair is placed on the scalp and it grows much longer than when it was on the chest and I've seen a case where head hair was transplanted to a leg and the hair never grow longer than a few inches for fifteen years! This proves the possibility of recipient influenced growth characteristics.

What you are talking about however is different. In general, the hair transplanted from the traditional donor zone will continue to grow as it would had it been left in the donor zone. This means that it should continue to grow fine for the rest of your life BUT if it is susceptible to DHT, which is rare but possible, then it too will be affected but I think it is safe to say that you wouldn't lose all of the hair but rather the hair may miniaturize. There is also the possibility with senile alopecia where, again, the hair simply reduces in diamter and doens't actually fall out. I don't know the statistics on this happening to transplanted hair and I'm fairly certain there is no statistic from any known study on the matter but I think it would be found to be very rare, or at least very rare to the point of it causing a significant cosmetic impact to the final result.

I hope this helps.