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If someone is a Norwood 4 for example, and they get a hair transplant. Will it look natural compared to someone that has a Norwood 6 and got one?
Do Hair Transplants Look Real?( Opinions )
- Thread starter NoahArsenault23
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High quality surgeons can do a lot nowadays. The techniques have progressed from the 1980s when it looked pluggy and doll like. My barber said that he has cut the hair of some people with good hair transplants and that he couldn't tell until they asked him how it looked. High quality being the key word, so if you want the best results, be prepared to lay down a good amount of cash.
follicle2001
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Yes for sure. No doubt.
The color, caliber, direction, angle all have to match and the design has to make sense long term with the math adding up on paper first. Then since you are cutting out thousands of pieces of skin you are basically skin grafting moving those thousands of pieces into holes cut in the front and top of the scalp. Those holes most especially in the hairline need to be set with the grafts perfectly otherwise the skin will look distorted through the hair which is usually 50% original density. Many believe they can just go anywhere firstly local then maybe shop by price etc. They simply do not understand the procedure or the ramifications as many get caught up in the marketing including many of the screen names that cheer you on then when applicable dislike posts that are too truthful………..keep your eyeballs on them. Then ask yourself is it normal to go from post to post, forum to forum, day to day and constantly encourage young men to have cosmetic surgery which can be very risky without long contemplation. Is that normal? So watch the screen names and watch what they do by themselves and as a group as part of your research.
You don’t get second chances so if you decide to take the advice of a cheerleader then ask to meet up with them at the homestead. Meet the rest of the family too because it helps to keep people honest.
Most will use at least 50% of their total donor of about 5000 for their first procedure. If it’s not right you are done in most cases and there is no going back. You can maybe improve upon bad or ill advised work but it will become a burden to bear for the rest of your life. A life sentence with no parole. So yes it can look natural it all depends on who is doing the work but don't be fooled the number is very, very small. Is it from the handful who have DaVinci or Michelangelo type skill, or is Bob the painter. Because there are thousands and thousands of Bob the painters out there telling the world they are DaVinci. They do the morning talk show circuits, invent new names for old procedures, write the white papers, invent new procedures which are worse than the old ones, work more on marketing because they lack skill so dozens of endorsements are needed, etc. What they are missing are quality results over years and years of work. If you are not happy and your donor is used up some will suggest injecting ink into your head. If you end up with cancer because your lymph nodes are loaded with ink well then you need to prove it was because of the ink. Do you have the money to do that if not well maybe give it some further thought because the room for error is zero.
This is just my opinion many don't like my opinion ask yourself why before you dismiss it.
You don’t get second chances so if you decide to take the advice of a cheerleader then ask to meet up with them at the homestead. Meet the rest of the family too because it helps to keep people honest.
Most will use at least 50% of their total donor of about 5000 for their first procedure. If it’s not right you are done in most cases and there is no going back. You can maybe improve upon bad or ill advised work but it will become a burden to bear for the rest of your life. A life sentence with no parole. So yes it can look natural it all depends on who is doing the work but don't be fooled the number is very, very small. Is it from the handful who have DaVinci or Michelangelo type skill, or is Bob the painter. Because there are thousands and thousands of Bob the painters out there telling the world they are DaVinci. They do the morning talk show circuits, invent new names for old procedures, write the white papers, invent new procedures which are worse than the old ones, work more on marketing because they lack skill so dozens of endorsements are needed, etc. What they are missing are quality results over years and years of work. If you are not happy and your donor is used up some will suggest injecting ink into your head. If you end up with cancer because your lymph nodes are loaded with ink well then you need to prove it was because of the ink. Do you have the money to do that if not well maybe give it some further thought because the room for error is zero.
This is just my opinion many don't like my opinion ask yourself why before you dismiss it.
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follicle2001
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I think hair transplant can look real in the right hands and if the patient has the right expectations of what to ask for. I see a lot of VERY STRONG hairlines without a lot behind them that looks very artificial. I also think that temple point work (very much in vogue) can look very artificial if done badly.
I think you mean will it look natural, and that depends on too many things. First you have to have good donor grafts, without that the rest can't happen. Will the person go on finasteride? If not the chances of it remaining diminish. The difference between a 4 and a 6 is thousands of needed grafts, which the 6 probably doesn't have.
Berlusconni had his hair transplant in 2004 and being a billionaire of course he could afford the best. It looks okay with the concealer all depends on one’s expectations. Personally I don't care for it and would rather be bald but maybe some like it.
You have to view hair transplants in person pictures can be deceiving. Very often it can look good in low light then all of a sudden it changes and people might be staring. When viewing any type of work online closely observe the lighting and the background. If you play around with it you can avoid the see through look and that is why in person is a must.
You also have to remember the cheerleader/marketers can create enough fake social proof where you might think something looks better than it does as some get caught up in it. Bring someone with you when you are viewing work in person for another opinion and view multiple patients. Even online I read some of the praises for tattoo work that clearly looks bizarre as an example so the raving sometimes seems ridiculous but some buy into it I guess..............I'm not really sure what people are thinking.
View work in person and bring someone with you.
Same hair transplant different angle and light
You have to view hair transplants in person pictures can be deceiving. Very often it can look good in low light then all of a sudden it changes and people might be staring. When viewing any type of work online closely observe the lighting and the background. If you play around with it you can avoid the see through look and that is why in person is a must.
You also have to remember the cheerleader/marketers can create enough fake social proof where you might think something looks better than it does as some get caught up in it. Bring someone with you when you are viewing work in person for another opinion and view multiple patients. Even online I read some of the praises for tattoo work that clearly looks bizarre as an example so the raving sometimes seems ridiculous but some buy into it I guess..............I'm not really sure what people are thinking.
View work in person and bring someone with you.
Same hair transplant different angle and light
In the right ethical hands it can look real. Be very cautious of docs claiming to give you dense hairlines with lots of grafts over a cery small recipient surface area. You may might end up with multiple repairs and scarring.
Take a look at patients in person and see how natural it looks to you. Best thing is to use minimal grafts if you can and to pace this if you proceed with surgery. Best of luck.
Take a look at patients in person and see how natural it looks to you. Best thing is to use minimal grafts if you can and to pace this if you proceed with surgery. Best of luck.
hanginginthewire
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Yeah, I'm confused by the negativity in this thread. Not saying there aren't risks and variables but good work happens all the time I would think.
One must understand the math and that they are having grafts of skin surgically removed and placed into holes cut into the skin. The fact that this is skin grafting shines a different light on it all and should give those considering the procedure a better understanding along with a good reason not to take it lightly. The room for error is zero so you better be sure you know the procedure and the industry inside and out. Many of the posters are simply groomers so you must question everything you are reading.
This 3” square represents the area that 5000 grafts would cover if the density was the same as your donor and we will use 80fu/sq/cm. Removing that 3” square from the back of your head might apply to those that have very, very dense donor zones that are not going to thin as they get older. Some guys think that they can extract higher numbers even double that amount……….you can’t without suffering the consequences in time. You simply cannot remove a 3” X 6” rectangle from the back of your head even if it is spread out. So using 3000-4000 for the frontal zone might very well be a bad decision if you think you have more to spare.
The more you know the less risk there will be for a negative outcome. It’s a limited procedure and not really suitable for a young guy that wants a dense hairline.
This 3” square represents the area that 5000 grafts would cover if the density was the same as your donor and we will use 80fu/sq/cm. Removing that 3” square from the back of your head might apply to those that have very, very dense donor zones that are not going to thin as they get older. Some guys think that they can extract higher numbers even double that amount……….you can’t without suffering the consequences in time. You simply cannot remove a 3” X 6” rectangle from the back of your head even if it is spread out. So using 3000-4000 for the frontal zone might very well be a bad decision if you think you have more to spare.
The more you know the less risk there will be for a negative outcome. It’s a limited procedure and not really suitable for a young guy that wants a dense hairline.
follicle2001
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I think that there is a whole range of outcomes and pics on the web can often be misleading. Obviously there are all sorts of tricks of lighting and angle, etc, and these are very hard to defeat in the minds of potential hair transplant patients. You want to see good results so your mind glosses over the problems with the pics.
Surgeons tend to show their very best work on their pages (which is not unfair) and, with a few notable exceptions, they only show the final, FINAL result. I.e. if somebody has 3 surgeries over a 4 year period, they show you the result 2 years after the third of 3 surgeries, not surgery 1 and 2. So, maybe it took that guy 3 surgeries to get where he wanted to go, but all you saw was his final result. Looks great, right?
I always tell people that you are UNLIKELY to get a home run result or a bad result, but you are VERY LIKELY to get an AVERAGE result, as most pts get an average result. I.e. most people do not have a crazy dense donor, most people have an average donor density or something very close to it. Most surgeons do average size operations and not crazy megasessions. Most people need more than 1 surgery, with the average being about 2.
I think the docs that show a lot of results on their page give you a better sense of things in terms of realistic outcomes. I am always wary if all they show are 5-10 home runs and nothing else.
Here is a website for a Doctor I have never met and, based on some comments online, it appears he may actually be deceased. You can see him in the Hair Club infomercial to this day. Apparently he worked at a few places and one place he worked still hosts his before and after pics:
http://aestheticshairrestoration.com/before-after/
These, to me, are very typical real-life pics of what average hair transplant surgery results look like and to me these look good-I suspect the patients were happy with these results. These pics look very representative to me of how many hair transplants turn out.
Similarly, Bob Bernstein's before and after pics look very good and HONEST to me. No lighting tricks, multiple angles and images including immediately postop, and he gives info about hair density in the donor area, number of grafts, number of surgeries, etc:
https://www.bernsteinmedical.com/hair-transplant-photos/
So, yes, IMHO hair transplant results look real but don't think you are gonna get a hair transplant and end up looking like Taylor Lautner. Just not gonna happen for 99% of people.
Surgeons tend to show their very best work on their pages (which is not unfair) and, with a few notable exceptions, they only show the final, FINAL result. I.e. if somebody has 3 surgeries over a 4 year period, they show you the result 2 years after the third of 3 surgeries, not surgery 1 and 2. So, maybe it took that guy 3 surgeries to get where he wanted to go, but all you saw was his final result. Looks great, right?
I always tell people that you are UNLIKELY to get a home run result or a bad result, but you are VERY LIKELY to get an AVERAGE result, as most pts get an average result. I.e. most people do not have a crazy dense donor, most people have an average donor density or something very close to it. Most surgeons do average size operations and not crazy megasessions. Most people need more than 1 surgery, with the average being about 2.
I think the docs that show a lot of results on their page give you a better sense of things in terms of realistic outcomes. I am always wary if all they show are 5-10 home runs and nothing else.
Here is a website for a Doctor I have never met and, based on some comments online, it appears he may actually be deceased. You can see him in the Hair Club infomercial to this day. Apparently he worked at a few places and one place he worked still hosts his before and after pics:
http://aestheticshairrestoration.com/before-after/
These, to me, are very typical real-life pics of what average hair transplant surgery results look like and to me these look good-I suspect the patients were happy with these results. These pics look very representative to me of how many hair transplants turn out.
Similarly, Bob Bernstein's before and after pics look very good and HONEST to me. No lighting tricks, multiple angles and images including immediately postop, and he gives info about hair density in the donor area, number of grafts, number of surgeries, etc:
https://www.bernsteinmedical.com/hair-transplant-photos/
So, yes, IMHO hair transplant results look real but don't think you are gonna get a hair transplant and end up looking like Taylor Lautner. Just not gonna happen for 99% of people.
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Yes I agree............I'm not a fan of the robot but these are honest results with honest numbers. Go through the results and look at the numbers. It's donor management for the long term. Young boys like the poster Jean do not get it and these are the new suckers that end up believing that have more donor than they actually do long term.
You have to work with what is available long term and if a doctor does not do this and does not advise the patient he is not only being unethical but could probably be sued for deceptive marketing simply for leaving out information that was necessary to make an informed decision as a consumer.
follicle2001
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Also, remember that every surgeon, even the very best ones, have a bunch of terrible results to their credit that they do NOT show on their before and after page.
Of course nobody has perfect work 100% of the time in any field during a lifetime. It is absolutely impossible even more so when you are depending on a team. Not everyone puts in 100% effort 100% of the time. Some think it’s okay to do less for whatever reason and all one can do is constantly monitor and make changes as the go then add in that each patient is unique and the difficulty only increases.
This is also why young men need to consider whether the risk is worth it. You are cutting out thousands and thousands of pieces of skin very often with a small coring device and then you are cutting out thousands and thousands of holes at the front of the head that are going to be in clear view of each and every person you have a close conversation with. All that skin better match up and all those hairs better look like they belong there otherwise you will get stares and the stares will be normal. Skin most especially that looks distorted elicits a repulse response in humans. It is often a sign of disease so most will keep a distance until they can figure out what is going on with your head.
People often end up with horrific scarring from acne and cutting out all that skin with a hair transplant procedure takes it to a new level. The room for error is zero and the procedure is very limited. Only a few have truly mastered it and in the end the odds are going to be against most because they simply do not understand the nature of the procedure. Easy for young guys to get caught up in all this with marketers constantly working the online world. Best for most to just observe and start using logic. It's too easy for young guys to make a decision based on emotion and that is what much of the industry relies on. This is why many can tell you not to have a procedure and not worry that you will follow the advice.
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Even though Sting hasn't had a transplant to my knowledge, I point to his level of hair loss and hair quality as indicative of a best case scenario. This means that his fringe hair is still very nice looking and has the ability to grow long and he wouldn't have much surface area to cover. People like this can, if everything turns out right, have fantastic undetectable results. But for diffuse thinners, like I was, I don't think that they are likely to turn out well. One key, again, is to have essentially perfect and very high fringe.
The downsides: Often, doctors don't know about one's scarring potential as this can vary greatly. On some people, it can be hard to even find the donor area while for others, this area can remain red and scarred indefinitely with itching and a lot of sensitivity to combs. Microneedling is essential for people who scar easily and it has saved huge amounts of surface area by healing grafts that didn't take and by helping to heal and make smaller, the hundreds of transplant scars. It can reduce all but entirely any cobblestoned plugs which are pretty common, as are grafts that shift and have hair pointing in the wrong directions.
Transferred plugs/grafts appear to have a limited life span for diffuse thinners so having a completely bald scalp on top can occur over time even after transplants. Here the conundrum appears to be that plugs often take better and are quicker and easier to place but they also often are a different shade of color from the skin on top, which is darker and any cobblestoning is much more noticeable. Some plugs/grafts will only partially take, creating a strong sort of strange looking hair placement and some times also cause the dreaded "baby doll hair" effct. Now mine goes back to 1989 but then again, skin grafts have been around for a long time as a surgical technique.
Looking towards transplants, perhaps especially for younger guys is not a good idea if the person thinks that it will get them off minoxiil and finasteride. If a person gets botched or has poor results like I did, the feeling is similar to doubling down on disaster. Thank Goddess for microneedling as it has greatly helped my grafts to look much, much nicer and for those those that didn't take at all, microneedling appears to create new viable follicle tissue. I have posted many crown pics where grafts that have just stopped being productive are apparent, dating from about two years ago over on my thread:
Best,
Janey
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Einstein
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Yes, if you see the right surgeon who has
1) excellent yield rates
2) creates undetectable natural looking hairlines,
3) has the decency and ethics to use common sense in considering future hair loss progression therefore leaving an abundance of donor hairs for future use
4) can achieve a dense look with lesser grafts
Stay away from Dr Alvi Armani trained and affiliates such as Dr Baubac and any and ALL body hair-hair transplants (only shills and BS artists would say otherwise - so go ahead and expose yourselves)
With all the treatments available today one would be foolish not to exhaust all avenues with treatments first prior to undergoing a hair transplant