Hello Dr. Rassman,

How did the holidays treat you and your staff?

I had a question about keeping up with hair loss. Have you ever had a young or middle aged patient run out of donor hair? I saw this picture of Nicholas Cage and shuddered. I don’t mean to pile on the Cage/Hair issue but I think it helps illustrate what poor planning can lead to. He had some work done and now, despite his fame and fortune, he is a prisoner in his own body.

Will the equipment that NHI uses to calculate future hair loss (miniaturization mapping, hair bulk analyzer) pick up on advanced patterns like this one?

Thanks and enjoy your day!

There’s been rumors circulating for years in the gossip rags that Nicolas Cage had a hair transplant, but until he comes out and says one way or the other, it’s just speculation. I honestly don’t know when his loss started, how it progressed, or what his goals are/were. Actors will commonly have high end hairpieces/wigs used in their movies (depending on what the role calls for), so creating a timeline to note his hair loss progression is sketchy.

It may seem to you or others that his hair restoration process was due to poor planning, but to others and (himself) it may be what he wanted. Without good pictures, it is impossible to tell just where is hair loss is and what he had done. You also don’t realize maybe he may continue on with another hair transplant to seek more fullness. I do not know! It is all speculation.

Looking at the photo at right (full size here), his hairline is high… too high for a normal look. It should be located in the mature position, and if it were so located, it would not look transplanted.

As for the miniaturization mapping or bulk analyzer tool, neither will predict the future, but both do help us keep track of hair loss and the treatment progress. They’re just tools we use to come up with our Master Plan for each individual.

And to answer your first question… the holiday season was nice. Thanks for writing!

Hi Doctor, I was wondering if you think actor Neil Patrick Harris is balding or not…

I had the same rounded hairline as he had as a child (when he played doogie howser)and dont know many people who had that shape. Now he has a very high receded hairline, his temples have moved back and he has recessed corners. I seem to be moving in that direction as well but probably beyond it. If my recession stops where his is i would be thrilled but i’m not holding my breath since i seem to see miniaturization. anyways, let me know what you think!

I used Google Image Search to try to find some recent photos, but his hairline is not clearly shown in his current hairstyle (at least not that I could find). I suspect that his hairline has moved upward beyond maturing. Here’s photos of Neil Patrick Harris as an adult and as a child. The hairline seen in the childhood photo is a fairly typical juvenile hairline.

The best way to determine your hairline location is to measure the center from the highest crease of your wrinkled brow. If the height is more than one finger breadth above that crease, then your hairline is moving back. You might find a picture that shows what I am talking about or ask Doogie yourself.

I was born with an irregular hairline. Toward the center, it takes a sharp upward turn, almost like a large, reversed widows peak. I think it is due to a large bump on the back of my head from a cesarean birth. My hair is healthy, but it looks funny unless it is long enough to cover the spot. Is there a way to correct this?

Without examining you, I really can’t tell. We have corrected many hairlines and transplanted into scars. If you are in the area, you can always schedule a consultation. Our main office is located in Los Angeles.

A hair transplant may be an option, but you won’t really know what can be done until you are examined and seen by a doctor. Otherwise, it’s anybody’s guess.

Dear Dr. Rassman
During my full time obsession with male pattern baldness, I have observed the hairline of quite a lot of people. I came to notice that some people have hairlines that give the impression that they wont never recede, e.g.: Maradona; Colin Farrel.

These people with this particular hairline appear to be immune to baldness (at least frontal). My brother happens to be a case, when he was a child he had a fuzzy and very low inserted hairline that matured into that particular pattern. My question is could be hair distribution be associated with baldness?

You are doing exactly what Dr. O’Tar Norwood did many years back when he came up with his Norwood classification. You’re observing hairlines.

The pictures you see in the Norwood chart is NOT a scale of hair loss progression, but rather it is observations of how men’s hair can be classified. The thing is, not ALL men go bald. It is roughly estimated that only 50% of men will have some degree of balding. Of those 50%, only a small percentage (around 8% of total male population) will go completely bald. The other 50% will have a full head of hair (maybe like your brother).

So to answer your question more pointedly, hairline placement in youth isn’t an indicator of future hair loss plans.