Articles from The Insider

        In the last fifteen years hair transplants have come along way. The discovery of the follicular unit revolutionized hair transplants. Hair grows in bundles that come as one, two  , or three hair grafts (follicular units). If you remove the hair from the donor area and preserve the anatomical structure of the follicular unit, then you have eliminated the “pluggy” look of older transplants. Today, hair transplant doctors place these grafts delicately into very small incisions. The results can be spectacular and almost indistinguishable from your hair that has always been there.

        So far , so good. The hair transplant is a very technical procedure which requires skill, patience and concentration. In reality, what defines the true artist with a passion for hair transplants is how he or she creates a hairline. It is the first thing people see and it frames the face. Some transplants look pretty good overall but I find that many have a hairline that ”betrays” the rest of the good work. I have seen many hair transplant doctors who have hair transplants themselves. I am surprised how often I think their own hairlines do not look very natural!

I recently was at a hair transplant conference attended by hundreds of hair transplant doctors who have had hair transplant themselves. I can’t help but notice how often the transplanted hairlines look too obvious to me. A very nice female hair transplant doctor, who has been in the field for seven years, came to me and started showing off the transplant she did on her husband. He is a physician as well. I thought his hairline looked awful! Of course I was polite and congratulated her on an otherwise good transplant. Later I sent her pictures of some of my patient’s transplanted hairlines. She sent back an email saying she was very grateful.

What does it take to produce beautiful hairlines? Firstly, you must be a student of nature. You must constantly look at “real” untransplanted hairlines and observe the natural patterns of nature. Secondly, you must be a student of science. There is a difference in what nature does and how well technology can replicate nature’s designs. Fore example, a painter has a two dimensional canvas to paint on – it’s flat. The world is not flat. It’s three dimensional. A painter has to use artistic “tricks” to make a two dimensional painting look three dimensional – to give it depth. Great masters understand their limitations and then use various strategies to get around these limitations.

A natural hairline usually has very fine, soft single hair grafts. A real hairline is never straight! It has irregularities, ins and outs and it has a “structured randomness”.  Often hair transplant doctors refer to this as “clusters” and “mounds”. However, a beautifully transplanted hairline is more than just single hair grafts with a few man made irregularities. You need to take into account that the frontal hairline should have a very steep exit angle from the scalp. Also, if you create a hairline where the hair points out like the spokes of a wheel (radially), this often does not look good. Even if some “real hairlines” have hairs that point radially, generally the transplanted hairline will not look as good if done this way. You have to angle the hairs down and forward so they lay quite flat and point in one direction for a soft “sweeping” effect. It’s like tall grass that falls gently on itself in the breeze. It creates “layering “effect instead sticking straight up. Natural and transplanted hairlines are less dense then the hair behind the hairline. Hair transplant doctors also need to take this into account.

I think one of the challenges in producing a natural and beautiful transplanted hairline is to understand your own limitations and perspective. For example, when creating a hairline during a transplant, the doctor is about six inches form the patient’s head. This is a distorted perspective. At this distance, a little “randomness” and a few “irregularities” in the hairline may seem quite pronounced.   However, people interact with each other from six feet away not six inches away! What looks beautiful and natural from six inches away may still be too straight or not random enough from six feet away. A doctor has to learn to overcome his/her own tendencies to view the transplant from the distance of working on the patient. Often the doctor needs to slightly exaggerate what is seen from six inches away so that is looks natural at six feet away. Furthermore, I think a “true artist” is never really happy with their work! It means that the doctor/artist always looks and considers how to improve already excellent work.

When considering a hair transplant, look at pictures of the hairline. I think it is best to evaluate how good a hairline looks on a patient who was totally bald in the area of the transplant. A little hair can add a lot to a transplant. You should be able to be see exactly how good a transplanted hairline looks on its own.

I include before and after pictures of a patient who had a pluggy transplant done with old technology. Note how his hairline uses old grafts that are not single hairs; the hairline is too straight and round. The angles are too straight up and down and the hairline is too flat. This is repair work. I also include a picture of a transplanted hairline on a previously bald head.

Plugs from previous hair transplant        Plugs repaired by Dr. Nelson Ferreira

SEE THE HIGH QUALITY IMAGES OF THIS HAIR TRANSPLANT REPAIR BY CLICKING HERE (SEARCH PHOTO GALLERY FOR DR NELSON FERREIRA WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT THE GALLERY PAGE)

Dr. Ferreira. Sure Hair International

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