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Best technique for very fine/thin hair

S

Saint4805

member
Hi everyone,

New to the forum and appreciate all the great content. I have very thin/fine hair and have been assessed as Norwood IIIv. I'd like to improve density of the frontal hairline (corners and temple area) and wondered if my thin/fine hair would mean that DHI would be better technique if more grafts could be implanted per cm2 in order to compensate for my thin hair? Or could FUE still potentially be an option?

If DHI is deemed to be the best technique then I'd be grateful for any clinic recommendations here in the UK or mainland EU.

Many thanks!
 
M

Mick From Farjo

Valued member
DHI is the implantation part of FUE.
All grafts are extracted using a punch of some sort for FUE, manual, motorised or robotic system - follicular unit extraction or follicular unit excision is what FUE translates to.
Once extracted, the grafts are placed with either an implanter pen (DHI) or by using forceps.
Incision sites are made with blades, then the grafts are placed into these sites by one of the aforementioned methods.
Alternatively, some clinics will use the implanter pen without premade incisions. The pen will punch into the scalp tissue and insert the graft.
There are many debates on which method produces the best density. How many round holes can you fit into a square as opposed to how many slits?
FUT is an option also.
Here is an older gentleman with fine hair as an example.
Hair transplant with fine hair
 
S

Saint4805

member
DHI is the implantation part of FUE.
All grafts are extracted using a punch of some sort for FUE, manual, motorised or robotic system - follicular unit extraction or follicular unit excision is what FUE translates to.
Once extracted, the grafts are placed with either an implanter pen (DHI) or by using forceps.
Incision sites are made with blades, then the grafts are placed into these sites by one of the aforementioned methods.
Alternatively, some clinics will use the implanter pen without premade incisions. The pen will punch into the scalp tissue and insert the graft.
There are many debates on which method produces the best density. How many round holes can you fit into a square as opposed to how many slits?
FUT is an option also.
Here is an older gentleman with fine hair as an example.
Hair transplant with fine hair

Many thanks for your reply which was most useful.

I have attached a couple of photos in order to show how thin my hair is and the corner areas that I would like improved. The recession isn't too bad when looking front on but you can appreciate it more from the side. I'm not too bothered about the crown or improving density on the top but would just prefer a similar density in these corner areas with perhaps a slight lowering of the hairline too. I would like to keep the option of having a buzz cut which would rule out FUT but FUE or DHI would seem to be viable. Do you know if grafts with multiple hairs can be identified in the donor area prior to extraction or is the number of hairs only determined after the graft has been extracted? I think targeting multi hair grafts would benefit me given how fine my hair is.


The example of you provided looks like an excellent result for someone with fine hair.

hair transplant with fine hair..jpg
 
Kevboy

Kevboy

Valued member
Your hair doesn`t look too fine to me and only one picture is showing. I`ve read loads about FUE while waiting to see how I get on with Finasteride. What I do know is there are only 2 types of surgery, one is FUE and the other is Strip. Like Mick has pointed out, DHI refers to the planting of grafts not the extraction. Your question should be which is better, FUE with a DHI type implanter pen or FUE with forceps implanters.
If the doctor uses high magnification to see your head they can select different groups of hairs for extraction.
 
S

Saint4805

member
Your hair doesn`t look too fine to me and only one picture is showing. I`ve read loads about FUE while waiting to see how I get on with Finasteride. What I do know is there are only 2 types of surgery, one is FUE and the other is Strip. Like Mick has pointed out, DHI refers to the planting of grafts not the extraction. Your question should be which is better, FUE with a DHI type implanter pen or FUE with forceps implanters.
If the doctor uses high magnification to see your head they can select different groups of hairs for extraction.

Thanks for your input. I attached the second photo to this reply. Maybe the photos don't highlight how fine my hair is but I have had people (including my hairdresser) comment on it. Good to know the doctor can target multi hair grafts prior to extraction. I think I would benefit from this as I suspect single hair grafts wouldn't provide great density at all but would be useful for the front of the hairline in order to avoid a pluggy look.

Hair transplant with finer hair.jpg
 
Kevboy

Kevboy

Valued member
Only single hair grafts should be used in the first 2 - 3 rows of hairs to give the natural look. Then the bigger groups are added and mixed in to create density. I`d be happy if I had your hair right now, the more that goes, the more people want back. You could probably walk into most qualified clinics and get what you want.
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
For selecting grafts the person extracting can see the groupings if they`re using high magnification.
In this image, you can see different groupings. Usually, the sides of the head produce finer singles.

3 hair follicular unit.jpg


This is what the grafts will look like once extracted.

Grafts-1024x956.jpg


Recipient sites are made using a custom cut blade, a needle, or a sapphire blade.
These are called canals in Turkey.

recipient sites for hair transplant.jpg


The incision is made at a certain angle to mimic the natural hair direction.
The graft is then carefully placed at that angle.

Hair transplant graft placement.jpg


Here you can see how grafts are transplanted using forceps.

hair transplant forceps.jpg


Here are the Choi implanter pens that are referred to as DHI

.
DHI implanter-pen-main.png



Each pen has to be loaded with forceps.
The grafts could be harmed during this process if not handled correctly.

choi implanter-pen.jpeg


The grafts are then inserted into a pre made incision/canal.
Or they are inserted directly into the scalp with the Choi type implanter as shown in this image.

Choi-Pen-0005-1024x341.jpg


I hope that clears up the debate about FUE or DHI.
It`s all FUE with different types of planting methods.
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
You could read Swirls journey and ask him questions. He has fine hair and documented his journey.
 
S

Saint4805

member
Hi everyone, I have had some dialogue with a couple of clinics in Turkey and both seem to recommend taking Finasteride post surgery which is a bit of a red line for me. I'm happy to take minoxidil but would rather avoid Finasteride due to possible side effects. Is it a bad idea to proceed with surgery with this in mind or could I agree on a more conservative hairline design which takes account of my not taking Finasteride and will not leave me with thinner areas behind the transplanted area?

I'm also a bit concerned with the itching after surgery. A friend suggested that anti-histamines help a lot with this. Has anyone experienced the same?

FWIW, I'm 47 years old and am exactly not craving for a great hairline for the rest of my days. I'd be happy to have a good hairline for the next 5-7 years and would probably be then happy to go for a short/buzz cut thereafter. You can see a couple of photos I shared further up this thread.

Many thanks
 
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