What are my options to treat my high, broad forehead and receding hairline? (Photo)

Question

I am a male in my mid-twenties. I've always had a high, broad forehead but as I have gotten older and began receding it has increased and I feel like it makes my face out of proportion. I take propecia and rogaine but I feel rogaine will not fix things. There is a 9cm space from the lowest hair peak from my eyebrows. My hair is light brown and fine, but quite thick at the crown and back, would I be a good candidate for a hair transplant as it really makes me unhappy.

Jae Pak, MD · Answer

Rogaine or Propecia will not restore front hair line.  Hair transplant surgery is an option to restore your front hairline.

Adam Saad, MD · Answer

It is difficult to tell from your pictures but you appear to have very early hair loss.  There is a classification called the norwood scale, of which you would be a 2 or 3.  Transplant is usually more effective for stage 4 and above.  This is because hair loss is generally progressive and will likely continue.  If you just fill in the areas that are missing you may end up with islands of hair in the future.  Make an appointment with a board certified plastic surgeon for a full evaluation.  Good luck!

Rashid M. Rashid, PhD, MD · Answer

To be evaluated for a hair transplant, it is important to go into a clinic and meet with an actual physician.  Most healthy patients can be candidates but you do need an in person consult.  Also, make sure you know your options from FUT to FUE.  You can find lots of other stuff marketed on the internet but usually the only well proven hair loss options are finasteride/propecia, rogaine/minoxidil, and hair transplants. The consults are often free, so its more a matter of finding the time.

Sara Wasserbauer, MD - Account Suspended · Answer

A hair transplant is your only option to lower your hairline. You should continue using Propecia to help slow down the loss thus not creating gaps where your native hairline is now.

William Rassman, MD (retired) · Answer

Hair transplants are the only way to solve your problem. If you look at our gallery you will see 1000 patients, mostly men, who have had similar problems to you.

Michael Meshkin, MD - Account Suspended · Answer

Hair transplantation is the best option to lower your hair line. From looking at your pictures, you are a grade two on the Norwood scale of hair loss and with around 1500 grafts, you can get a good coverage to lower your hair line.  There is many factors involved to make it look natural such as the size of the grafts, the direction and the orientation. therefore it is best to contact a doctor with many years of experience before you make your decision.

Amiya Prasad, MD - Account Suspended · Answer

I've also made a video answering your question on YouTube titled "Why a Hair Transplant Won't Stop Male Pattern Baldness, and a Non-Surgical Hair Loss Treatment".Hair loss in your 20s puts you in the minority relative to
your contemporaries. In hair restoration, we use the Rule of Decades: in your
20s, only 20% of your contemporaries will have hair loss, while 80% will have a
lot of hair. It’s very natural for you to be concerned about the receding
hairline. Hair loss is related to family history and this is your family’s
history of male pattern hair loss where you to tend to recede from the front.
You may also have some thinning in the crown.

In the United States, there are two drugs that are used for
male pattern hair loss: finasteride which is a 1 milligram tablet that is taken
daily by prescription and minoxidil which is a topical solution or foam that is
applied nightly. Finasteride is based on the concept and understanding that a
substance in your blood called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) can cause hair
follicles to thin and to disappear. The drug blocks the enzyme called 5-alpha
reductase which converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone.

Unfortunately, in my clinical experience, a lot of younger
males who have the frontal receding hair loss tend to not respond very well to
finasteride. It may slow down hair loss in a small degree, but I have seen
people who took finasteride religiously and still lost hair. On the other hand,
minoxidil is not likely to make a significant difference for you as well.

In the past several years, we have committed to helping our
patients with a material derived from pig bladder called extracellular matrix
(ECM). Extracellular matrix was discovered serendipitously when it was applied
for a wound healing process for a hair transplant. Hair transplantation is the
movement of hair follicles from the back of the scalp called permanent zone or
the donor area. Hair follicles are taken by a strip method or follicular unit
extraction and planting them in areas where there’s lacking hair. When
extracellular matrix was used, it resulted not only in wound healing in that
area, but also the thinning hair became thicker.

In our practice, we have developed formulation, method,
delivery technique that has helped people who come to us from all over the
world. We combine extracellular matrix with platelet-rich plasma (PRP).
Platelet-rich plasma is derived from your own blood. It is a concentration of
your own platelets in a serum which has growth factors that help the wound
healing process. Although we don’t exactly know why it works, the clinical data
supports its tremendous success. Thinning hair becomes thicker, progression of
hair loss appears to be stopped, and it helped a lot of our patients especially
those in their 20s and 30s. This has changed how we practice in our office. We
used to do a lot of hair transplantations but now we changed the approach.
Presently, we will now treat with Hair Regeneration and restore the hair that
was thinning. We can’t bring back hair that was gone. But if it’s thinning, we
can reverse that thinning and get the hair to be thicker.

When you undergo microscopic examination of the scalp, you’ll
find a lot hair that is thinning. Hair doesn’t just fall off. It actually goes
into a growth cycle. There’s a normal amount of 50 to a hundred hairs that’s
shed per day. When those hairs grow back after the Catagen and telogen phases
of hair growth which is about 3-5 months, those hairs come back looking thinner.
With our treatment, we have observed that the hair that is shed comes back
thicker. Over 5 years of data, a handful of patients consider this injection. It
seems to be a real tremendous benefit for people, men and women with thinning
hair.

I would discourage you to do transplantation because you
could still lose hair. When you look at someone who has bad transplants, it’s
because their hair was fine with the existing hair with the transplants. But
once the hair thinned and disappeared, all that was left was the transplants
and that created the pluggy look that everyone recognizes.

My suggestion for you is to get a proper diagnosis. This may
mean visiting a dermatologist, getting some microscopy done in the top of the
scalp to learn if you are having significant miniaturization of the hairs and
learn about the options. You may want to try taking finasteride first or using
minoxidil. Understand and investigate your options such as medical and Hair
Regeneration and pursue whatever you think is right for you after consultation
with qualified physicians. I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of
luck, and thank you for your question.

Sheldon S. Kabaker, MD FACS (retired) · Answer

If you are losing hair in your mid twenties you can expect to continue to do so unless your heredity is such that the hair stabilizes at this level in the men. On occasion, a hairline lowerin/forehead reduction surgery can be considered for a male with a high hairline . This operation is done mostly on women who have no hair loss but only a high hairline . The result is virtually instantaneous but if the front hair is balding, the result will be lost and a scar could show. Hair transplants can be done but there has to be  good planning by the surgeon and reasonable expectations by yourself.

What are my options to treat my high, broad forehead and receding hairline? (Photo)

Answers (8)

More Hair Transplant Questions

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Answers (8)

More Hair Transplant Questions

After 4 months, my transplanted hair is still falling out. Is that normal? (photo)

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is it possible that the grafts are not safe or (came out) after one month?

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