Importance of Going Conservative with the Hairline

When I first began working at Dr. Cole's office, it seemed every other patient was in for repair surgery of one type or another. These pictures provide a good example of why young men should resist the temptation of having a low hairline grafted in. The photo itself pretty much tells the story. A young man receives a low hairline that may very well look natural at first. As hair loss progresses, an unnatural appearing band of hair remains across the forehead. Fortunately for this patient, with longer hair and styling, he was able to conceal this band of hair. Realizing those days were numbered, he came to us for repair surgery. This is not an easy fix, so the best advice I can give is go conservative with the hairline.

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From the looks of it he hasn't progressed past the point where he couldn't have the balding area restored to a high standard. I agree that the hairline looks too low and also badly shaped at the temples.

Did this patient by chance also have a scalp reduction in his past?

Also, was removing some of the lower hairline grafts considered?

Hopefully this patient can have more work to help transition his frontal zone.

Best wishes to him and I could not agree more with a more conservative placement of any hairline.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gillenator

Did this patient by chance also have a scalp reduction in his past?

Also, was removing some of the lower hairline grafts considered?

Hopefully this patient can have more work to help transition his frontal zone.

Best wishes to him and I could not agree more with a more conservative placement of any hairline.

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Is removing hairline grafts possible without creating conspicuous scarring? I recently had a hairline procedure that's relatively low in the middle (sort of a prominent widow's peak), and I'm concerned about recession over the long-term.

win200,

Yes, it is possible to have some of the lower hairline grafts extracted with FUE without much visible scarring at all. It really depends on how well you heal, and if the punches are appropriate sizes. If a patient tends to heal with more visible scarring, than it's also possible to have those unwanted grafts "destroyed" with electroalysis.

The extracted FUE grafts could be potentially relocated within the recipient area and the repair patgient that was previewed can use all the grafts he can since he still could use more visual coverage in the frontal zone.

Before FUE, or surgeons who do repair work and do not perform FUE can only excise the unwanted grafts using incisions and even then can be a big improvement especially when the area being thinned out still has exisitng hair left behind to help with visual coverage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gillenator

win200,

Yes, it is possible to have some of the lower hairline grafts extracted with FUE without much visible scarring at all. It really depends on how well you heal, and if the punches are appropriate sizes. If a patient tends to heal with more visible scarring, than it's also possible to have those unwanted grafts "destroyed" with electroalysis.

The extracted FUE grafts could be potentially relocated within the recipient area and the repair patgient that was previewed can use all the grafts he can since he still could use more visual coverage in the frontal zone.

Before FUE, or surgeons who do repair work and do not perform FUE can only excise the unwanted grafts using incisions and even then can be a big improvement especially when the area being thinned out still has exisitng hair left behind to help with visual coverage.

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Great, thanks for the tip. My hairline looks great now, but I'm concerned about years down the line (I'm 30).

gillenator:
"Did this patient by chance also have a scalp reduction in his past?"

To my knowledge, this patient did not have a scalp reduction. The photo suggests that, but it's just his natural hair loss pattern.

After these pre-op photos were taken, the patient had the grafts down on his forehead removed and placed higher. Additional grafts were taken from his donor area to reinforce and add density to the new higher hairline and to help conceal his strip scar.

He's about 2 months post-op. He lives some distance from our office and hopefully he will send us some photos at the 8 month mark.

-34YrsAfter works at Dr. Cole's office