Direction of Graft Growth

Hi Dr,

Can you explain how accurately a surgeon such as yourself can transplant grafts so that hairs grow in the same direction?

I have seen quite a few celebrity transplants where the hair still appears thin and the hair once grown out always looks messy because the direction of the grafts is not quite right.

How are you able to ensure that this doesn’t happen?

As someone with naturally fine and very straight hair then i imagine it would be essential that any transplant i had done should be performed by a top surgeon who is able to make sure that the angle of the transplanted graft is accurate. If i had thicker and naturally curly hair then i suppose this wouldn’t matter so much and is probably a part of the reason why those with curly make better candidates?

Thanks

Doctors have direct control of how the transplanted hair grows and how the transplanted hairs are distributed to give the most natural look. This is a very important point that most prospective patients do not take into account when searching for the right medical group for a hair transplant procedure.

You are correct in stating the fine straight hairs need careful attention to detail when undergoing a hair transplant procedure, but careful attention to detail is also a must for coarse hair, because each hair can have many times the bulk of a fine hair. A coarse hair put in the wrong direction will be more easily detected than a fine hair put in the wrong direction. Some surgeons, when placing the hairline, place the frontal hairs radially (like bicycle spokes). Is it possible that surgeons who do this do not understand the normal direction of the hair growth, just are ignorant of the facts? Sometimes I think so.

To be sure that these poor placement doesn’t happen to you, you have to do your own research and due diligence. There are many good doctors with great artistic skills. The best way to determine who these doctors are is to ask to meet some of their patients. My patients love showing off their results in the privacy of our office, so we set up circumstances once a month to allow this to happen. To me, this is just plain good medical education. This is why we have our monthly Open House events where anyone can come and see our former patients (up close) and speak with them face to face.