Receding Neckline?

Dr. Rassman,

I have been noticing a lot lately that most balding men also tend to lose hair on the back of the neck. The “receding neckline,” as I call it, is something that I never hear talked about on hair-loss forums, and it doesn’t appear to be represented on the Norwood scale.

Have you had any experience with patients who were concerned about this?

Yes, we occasionally see patients with neckline hair loss. It is not that common, but it does occur. In fact, a few years back a patient came to see me specifically requesting to have hair transplanted into his receding neck hairline.

The loss of neck hair is why harvesting donor hair from the correct (non-neck) area is very important for future hair loss planning. I have seen patients from other clinics who had their donor hair harvested from the neck area and I often worry that they may lose those hairs in the future if their neck hair was genetically determined to fall out, which would compromise the hair transplant.