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Are Hair Transplants Permanent?

Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
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Are Hair Transplants Permanent?.

This subject was discussed by numerous doctors at the conference - in times gone by it had been assumed the answer was yes providing the grafts were extracted from the safe zone however more doctors are recognising that this may not be the case for every patient.

This picture illustrates the area commonly known as the Safe Donor Area.



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The reason it may not be permanent is lots of peoples hair will thin out over time, including hair from the so called safe zone. If these hairs were to be used for transplanting they will be lost over time causing the transplanted recipient area to look thinner after the initial transplant.

The patient may also naturally progress to a higher Norwood level due to MPB, even with the use of meds they could possibly still lose these hairs.



These pictures illustrate a thinning donor area.



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Most doctors are now referring to the "Safe Donor Zone" as the "Safer Donor Zone"

I feel it is important that patients are aware of the possible risk of losing transplanted hairs. Lots of doctors recognised this phenomenon as they discussed patients who had a great hair transplant result only to return at a later date having lost a good proportion of the transplanted grafts.



This picture illustrates how the patient is progressing to a high Norwood level with the possibility of losing most of the hair from the traditional safe zone.



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Having your donor area checked for miniaturization is vital before having an HT which most doctors will do. However, this does not guarantee your hair will stay the same over time.

I`d like to say a Hair Transplant could be permanent or it may just prolong the balding process, hopefully for a long time.



Regards Bm.

 
bullitnut

bullitnut

4 awesome repairs with SMG
Good post BM, did the doctors have any figures as to roughly what percentage of people this happens to dude?
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Sorry for the very late reply. I`m collecting data from a number of physicians which will provide a rough idea how often this occurs.
 
Sparky

Sparky

Valued member
From the head represented in this I'd say don't do it, but on the whole, ht's do work, you just have to accept that you won't get a nw1 hairline, you could achieve Brad Pitt for a few years, but it will go. Plan a mature head of hair for life.
 
Felixe

Felixe

valued member
Hmm, this is worrisome if you fall into this group. I too would like to see the percentages when they`re available. What Sparky say`s about planning and having a mature hairline makes sense.
 
K

kaberaglobal247

Guest
The transplanted hair will remain lifelong. FUE hair transplant let transplant hair follicle from one area to another and preserve the growth physiology and anatomy of the follicles. Each follicle transplanted will remain truly natural and lifelong appearance. Hair transplant result performed by the experienced surgeon is permanent. Younger men may require multiple procedures because you will still keep loosing your existing hair, but not the transplanted ones.
 
Pete from Farjo

Pete from Farjo

Valued member
Shows the absolute importance of long-term planning, and how the current trend of 'celebrities' getting 3000 grafts dense packed into a slightly receded hairline could be inviting trouble years down the line. A 'quick fix' is almost never the answer with hair transplantation.
 
M

mania

member
Yeah transplant is the permanent solution for hair loss you don't need to worry about it..
 
Cosmedica Clinic

Cosmedica Clinic

Cosmedica UK
Good post BM. Patients need to know all the facts before having any type of surgery.
 
Dr. A s Clinic

Dr. A s Clinic

Valued member
An excellent post. A few more points though.
If hair are transplanted from the safe donor area (scalp/body), they will stay till ripe old age barring certain conditions
1. Hormonal changes in future.. thyroid, diabetes, PCOD etc
2.Autoimmune disorders like alopecia areata - the transplanted hair can also be lost.
3. Hairloss is possible in case patient undergoes chemotherapy, radiotherapy etc.
 
F

FUE3800Graftshead

member
To be honest, I don't think I will care that much if I started balding 'again' in my 50s and beyond.

The thing that's making me apprehensive is future health complications arising from having the transplant. FUE is a relatively new method, no?

Therefore, do we know what the long term implications of this? Would be absolutely sickening if doctors, years from now, discover a health risk associated with hair transplants.
 
JoeTillman

JoeTillman

Valued member
This is a tremendously important thread as it highlights the reversal of the idea that there is a "permanent" donor zone. This may be the case still for the majority of patients but we've been seeing that it does not apply to everyone. One thing not noted here is how an otherwise healthy looking donor can have susceptibility to DHT over time. My own case touches on this as my donor improved in the first year after my first repair procedure in 2002 through the use of finasteride.

Unfortunately a few of the comments in this thread are flat out wrong, even in the face of the obvious information presented. Dr. Krisha Naroroa, Mania, and kaberaglobal247, how can you say the exact opposite is true? How long have you been in the industry?

FUE3800Graftshead, no one stops caring just because of their age. I've worked with patients that are up to 90 years of age that wanted to look better. If one stops caring about their personal appearance, there are deeper issues going on. I'm about to turn 50 myself and I care what my own hair looks like no less than I did ten or twenty years ago. FUE is not new, it has been in North America for sixteen years and was started in Australia in 1989. In fact, hair transplantation has been around in some for or another for a very long time and we know what the long term issues are and are not. If there is any problem it usually arrives in the short term but the long term effects have to do with the original subject of this thread, long term survival of transplanted hair due to various issues as mentioned by myself, BM and Dr. Poswal, but for your health there is no known long term issue that has been observed.
 
bullitnut

bullitnut

4 awesome repairs with SMG
I'm nearing 50 I suppose (46) and I'm still as concerned about loosing my hair as I was at 21 so believe me if your concerned now you will be at 50 dude.
 
Pete from Farjo

Pete from Farjo

Valued member
One of the biggest myths with hairloss is the idea that we'll not care how our hair looks at 40..50..60 and beyond. I was guilty of it myself in my twenties. Seems there's a few of us of a similar age here - I'm 50 next year (hell, I just scared myself seeing that in writing!), and like Joe and BN, I care about it as much now as I did back in the day.
 
T

Todd

member
I always thought hair taken from the donor zone was safe. Reading this I'm now understanding how donor zones do thin out with age whilst some people may lose all the hair in the donor zone over time. It makes sense when looking at men with just a little rim of hair left. I know Joe Rogan shaved his head years after having a hair transplant. I wonder if it was for these reasons.
All things considered, its not so straight forward. I`ll be taking my time.
 
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