Hi doctor Rassman, can you please tell me what norwood class pattern this is? This guy is a pro hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3, Photo 4, Photo 5

in your opinion do you think this is just a mature hairline? do you think he should take propecia or not?

Based on the photos, he appears to have an advanced Norwood class 3 pattern of balding. It is hard to see if his central hairline is impacted as well.

I have a widow peak much similar to actor Colin Farrell (as can be seen here). Since my hairline has receded a lot already the widow peak makes my receding hairline a lot more noticeable. And personally, I have never liked it either.

How can I get this removed for good? I was considering electrolysis but I am not 100% sure whether it is really safe?! I was also thinking if FUE could be used to move this hair over to cover some of my receding hairline?! However, I reckon there would be some scars left?!

You can easily remove the widows peak with electrolysis or laser hair removal. It is safe, but be careful what you wish for.

I had a patient who had successfully removed his widow’s peak, only to regret his decision several years later. He became my patient when he came in to have a hair transplant to re-add the peak.

Hi, I am 20 years old and i am worried i might be losing hair at my temples; but am not sure if it actually is at the temples and not the corners which could be a mature hairline and nothing more. the front of my hair makes and has always made a widow’s peak and the top of my head is still normal and thick. How would i know if my temples are receding, and it isn’t just the development of a ‘mature’ hairline?

Everyone is different in the way their hairline matures. The balding process impacts that process as well. Send me some good pictures with your eyebrows lifted high so that your forehead shows creases (reference this post in your email). From these, I can tell you what I think.

Consider allowing me to share the photos you send with the BaldingBlog audience by letting me know if I have permission to post them (I will block out your face and only show the area from above the eyebrows to the hairline that you want me to discuss).

What’s up with comic book legend Stan Lee’s hairline? I’ve been watching a show he hosts on History Channel and his hairline is bugging me. Is it a flap or something? It looks like there’s a white line right around the edge of it. It’s a very unusual shape, but if it was a flap wouldn’t the color on top be the same as on the sides? I guess he could dye it though. What do you think?

Years ago, there were a variety of surgeries that produced many deformities in people that wanted to get hair. They were courageous enough to “lead the pack” of people getting hair transplants, but the worst of the deformities were the old plugs (pencil size grouping of hairs put into corn rows that looked like doll’s hair).

Since I entered the hair restoration field 20 year ago, I have treated many men who had these procedures in the 1950s – 1990s. Most of these men sought a fix-it solution, with the two most effective being:

1. Excision of the grafts where the hair in these big plugs was removed and then divided into follicular units and then re-transplanted
2. Camouflage the plugs with natural hair placed in front to hide and bury the grafts if the plugs were high on the head

Fortunately, many of the old plugs did not have even a 50% survival of the hairs, so the impact was benefited from the poor techniques of those original transplants. Despite this, the skin from the transplanted grafts lived, creating a cobblestone effect on the scalp that added to the ‘dolls head’ deformities. These unfortunate pioneer recipients of hair transplants suffered ridicule by everyone — their friends talked behind their backs, and those who were in the public eye were tagged with not-so-pleasant names. One celebrity that comes to mind told me that comedians were very cruel with their jokes about his hair plugs. In the first 10 years of my practice in this business, I performed hair restoration repairs on many men, making great friends along the way, including this one particular celebrity whose nightmare ended after the transplants grew.

Based on some photos I’ve seen using Google Image Search, I believe that Stan Lee had some corrective surgery to fix what might have been the old type of plugs. There’s a high-resolution photo here. The scar in front on the left side and the imbalance between the two sides suggest this to me. If I were to see him and could find enough hair still present, I would excise the plugs that remain and rebuild a new hairline in the normal position. With his white hair, this should be relatively easy.