s.a.f said:
Young + hairloss + not on meds + high Norwood genetics + nw1 hair transplant = spending 5figures and end up Looking like freak.
If you are a nw7 you cannot have a hair transplant period, there is simply not enough donor to do anything worthwhile. If you are nw6 you cant have a nw1 and full coverage for the same reason. hair transplant is all about the art of illusion if you have a high degree of loss you wont have anywhere near average density 120 -150cm2 more like 50 -90cm2.
I agree with your reasoning her saf but I do not think that the average natural graft density on a non balding Caucasian head is 120-150 cm2. I thought I've read in more than one place that the average non balding Caucasian has around 100 grafts per centimeter squared. Am I wrong here? If I'm not, and if it's also true that 70-80 g/cm2 is indistinguishable from 100 g/cm2 to the naked eye, then the issue here isn't the art of illusion, it's the fear that he will bald further.
If person was on finasteride or dutasteride for example and had succesfully at least maintained(if not regrown any) on the drug for a period of at least 3 years, I doubt that anyone on here would be concerned about throwing 2000 or 3000 grafts into his hair assuming he's got at least 6000 total to work with from donor supply. I was told by one of the doctors back when I was stupidly considering an hair transplant, and i can't remember which one told me this, but he estimated my total available donor at about 8000 grafts. If the average graft has 2.4 hairs, and the average non-balding Caucasian head has 100,000 hairs on it, then that means my donor supply if fully depleted could give me an additional 19,200 hairs to place where I want. In other words, an hair transplant for someone with 8000 total available grafts from strip(and depleting donor in the process, but who cares in this example) would enable them to cover around 20% of the area on their head where hair originally grew(like say age 13 as a juvenile, pre hair loss). Sorry for the convoluted sentence but I think you get where I'm going with this, saf. Also taking into account the fact that this hypothetical person who wanted to transplant 3,000 grafts had the thick donor area from which to get the 8000 grafts, obviously the grafts would not be need to transplanted into the back or sides. they'd all be available for the top, front, and crown.
what percentage would you estimate that the non-donor area of the hair grows(in other words, everywhere but the "safe zone) comprises? i'm trying to put this in easier words, but what i'm asking you is of ALL the area on the scalp where hair grows or once grew, what % of this does the average safe zone typically comprise?
PS- okay Saf, I found the claim I was referring to. It's from a book. Caucasian males average 100 follicular units per square centimeter and 200 hairs per square centimeter. Asian men also average 100 follicular units per square centimeter but only 100 hairs per square centimeter, because their hair is thinner on average. Black men average only 60 follicular units per square centimeter. This is because black hair is typically of a thicker quality. it didn't give the hairs per square centimeter average for black men. But yeah. Assuming person is a Caucasian male, he probably started with somewhere around 100,000 hairs on his head. If the average graft availability is 6000 grafts total, as I've read, and there are an average of 2.4 hairs per graft, as I've also read, then person might have around 15,000 hairs available for transplantation total. Maybe as few as ~10,000 or as many as ~20,000.
Ok final question that will clear things up for me and others reading it who are confused: Why does the average graft contain 2.4 hairs when the average Caucasian follicular unit contains only 2? I realize not every patient is Caucasian but why the difference? Is it just the surgeons pulling more 3 hair groupings out? Don't single hair grafts work better on the hairline?
Final point and you guys tell me what you think. According to this book "The Hair Replacement Revolution", the average human eye cannot tell the difference between 100 hairs per square centimeter and 200 hairs per square centimeter. It's when the density falls below 100 hairs per cm/2 that balding becomes visible.
Thanks
