I Think My Hair Transplant Was Placed Too Low

Hi Dr. Rassman, I recently had a HT with a “top doc” but I’m concerned that my hairline may have been placed too low. I’m 32 years old. My hairline sits 3 inches above my eyebrows and recedes about a 1/2 inch higher than that as it goes back. Where is the right stop for an adult hairline? any comments will be greatly appreciated.

If you look at the post Maturation of a Hairline, you will see where the adult hairline belongs. It should be one finger breadth above the highest crease of the wrinkled brow. There is not a fixed size for distance between the hairline and eyebrows; instead there are guidelines that could be used to determine where your natural hairline used to be and where it should be after a hair transplant.

One method is to measure the distance between the tip of the nose and the chin (let’s say in ‘Fred’ the distance is 7cm) and compare it to the distance between the upper bridge of the nose — Fred’s mature hairline should be found 7cm above the upper bridge of the nose. The other method is to use the highest crease of your forehead when you are looking upward and go about one finger breadth above it to determine where your natural mature hairline should start. I personally think that the second method is the best way to know where the mature hairline belongs.

Some patients do not follow these rules and may have a wide forehead or a bigger chin to start with. In these cases, old pictures from patients could be used as a guide. Nevertheless, the judgment of the surgeon and his/her artistic view is always crucial for the design of the most natural looking hairline. If you ended up with a too-low hairline, it can be a real problem, since as I’m sure you’re aware, hair transplants are permanent. Send me a photo with your eyebrows lifted high up and I will venture an opinion and keep your identity confidential, of course. Please reference this blog post when sending your photos.