Hair Transplant Confusion

[Folirexic]

This has always been something I have been confused about and apologies in advance if this seems like a dumb question but I am an aggressive balder and see multiple hair transplants in my future

Anyway...with regard to donor area. What i've never understood is the whole "getting a hair transplant too young and not having enough donor hair left for future procedures" argument. Once the hair is removed from the back to the top, why does the donor zone diminish? Doesn't that hair (on the back and sides) grow back right where it was once it heals following a procedure? Clearly I misunderstand this...maybe it has something to do with scar tissue? Idk...either way all clarity is appreciated...

My father didn't lose hair until early 40s but is Norwood 4.5 - 5 now and my grandfather (maternal) is full blown NW7 and his hair was gone by 30. Paternal grandfather had hair till he died and no blood uncles for comparison. I started losing at 20 and am NW2.5 to 3 now (age 22) so looking like a NW7 is in my future...

Cheers

 

[arfy]

You're physically moving skin grafts (which happen to have hair follicles contained within) from the back to the top. There is no way the follicle will grow back, it's been surgically removed and then placed on the top of your head (into a fresh wound - a slit usually made with a small scalpel). It's surgery. If it's FUE surgery then the skin grafts are tiny to begin with, and harvested one by one. There will be a small gap where that harvested graft used to be (hopefully unnoticeable). More commonly, a large strip of scalp is sliced from the back of the scalp, the strip is dissected under magnification into tiny skin grafts, then the hair-bearing skin grafts are placed into the balding area. Any leftover scalp tissue that doesn't contain hair follicles is thrown in the trash. The large wound on the back of the scalp where the donor strip was surgically excised from is pulled together with force and sewed shut with sutures, or stapled together (which can be removed after a week or so).

It's surgery. If you don't have a clear understanding of the actual procedure, it is essential that you understand how it works before you seriously consider getting the surgery done.

There's a limited donor supply because once you use up a certain amount of grafts (whether strip surgery or FUE) the donor area begins to look "see-through" if it's over-harvested (especially a problem with strip surgery, which leaves a long, tell-tale linear scar). Hair transplants don't create any new hair, they just distribute hair from one area to another.