Balding Crown

I have followed your work for years, and believe me when the time comes, you are the one I will be going to. How come the crown continues to be so challenging? Most photos seem to show sparse coverage. I have taken proscar for several years, and my crown has filled in nicely. The front filled in a bit with rogaine but not at the density I would like. I am intrigued by the FOX and Mega sessions, but is the donor area so large that you gain hair in one area and lose it in the other? What happens in the large donor area?

Everyone is different. I try to imagine and plan for the worst case hair loss. Depending upon age and family history, I can often make a reasonable intellectual guess on what the worst case hair loss pattern will be. With Propecia, the worst case is usually ‘less’ worse. The crown is usually slower to bald for many people so Propecia works better because it is usually started before the crown goes bald enough to notice.

The size of the donor area is determined by the density of your donor hair, your scalp laxity and the size of the non-balding area. You are correct, that once you move most of the available donor hair, then there may not be enough hair available for future hair loss. If you have good scalp laxity and your density is high, then there could be enough hair to cover the entire head, even for the baldest of men. A good surgeon will make sure that the donor area is the appropriate size and take into consideration future balding and how the donor scar can be hidden by existing hair (if it should scar). I would have to see you to determine where you are in the balding process and where you might lose more hair. As you are in Los Angeles, a free visit to my office will help. We also hold monthly open houses, so you might want to come and see patients for yourself, watch a surgery and let us examine you all at the same time. In fact, our next open house even will be held next Thursday, July 7, at our LA office. Please see the NHI Events page for more details.