Judgment before surgery.
Understand the cause, the progression and the alternatives before deciding on a procedure.
01 / A longer perspective
Judgment first.
Judgment first.
Surgery if it helps.
Sometimes the best answer is no transplant, and a good assessment allows for that.
WHAT A PLAN WEIGHSFRONTAL VIEW
It will when it is drawn for your face.
A natural hairline follows your own proportions and the way your hair grows. It is planned on you, not copied from a template.
Send three photos on WhatsApp for a first readThe back of your head decides that.
Grafts come from the back, and what is taken there does not grow back. A good plan uses enough for now and keeps some for later.
Send three photos on WhatsApp for a first readThe plan allows for more change.
Transplanted hair usually stays. The hair around it may keep thinning, so the design has to look right in ten and twenty years too.
Send three photos on WhatsApp for a first readThree working principlesThree rules
Three rules
Dr. Atul plans by.
A graft count says nothing about your face, the hair that may still change or the choices you may want in ten years. The consultation looks at all three.
The grafts
the design needs.
Ask what the design needs and what your donor area can spare.
Designed to age
with you.
A hairline has to keep suiting you as your face ages, so the plan allows for change from the start.
Your hair, in three stepsA picture, not a diagnosis.
Find your pattern.
See what it takes.
Pick the head that looks most like yours. We will show what restoring it would draw from the back of your head, and what that leaves for later.
1Which one looks like you?
Norwood III
Deeper corners
Both temples have pulled back and are mostly bare.
2What restoring it would take
About 2,000 graftsto cover the thinning area
About 4,000 leftof a typical 6,000
3What that leaves for later
Plenty stays in reserve if more hair is lost later.
Illustrative figures, not an estimate of your donor supply. Supply, hair thickness and how fast things are changing differ from person to person, and only an examination shows them.
Hamilton–Norwood scale: Hamilton, Ann N Y Acad Sci 1951 · Norwood, South Med J 1975;68(11):1359–65. Drawn for this site. For women, loss usually keeps the front hairline, and a different scale (Ludwig) is used.
How a hairline is plannedWhat the assessment
What the assessment
is looking for.
Before discussing a technique, we need to understand the hair you have, the change you are noticing and the result you have in mind.
- Age & pattern of loss
- The history and pace of change, previous treatment and family pattern.
- Shows how fast it may change
- Facial proportions
- Your forehead, existing hairline and the way the proposed shape sits with your features.
- Guides the design
- Donor density & calibre
- The amount and character of donor hair, including fine and coarser hairs.
- Defines what is available
- Scalp & hair health
- Signs that need diagnosis or treatment before any surgical decision; tests where clinically indicated.
- May change the next step
- Direction & density
- How graft placement can work with the hair around it, rather than treating every area alike.
- Shapes the detail
- Your expectations
- What matters most to you, what treatment can achieve and where its limits are.
- Sets what you can expect
Further reading:ISHRS · understanding donor hair ↗
A question of timePlanning, not predicting.
Your plan,
over the years.
A transplanted hairline is permanent. Your own hair and your face keep changing around it. Pick your age to see what a good plan has to allow for.
1How old are you?
Loss is often still active at this age. The plan leaves room for what has not happened yet.
2Walk forward
Start with what bothers you now.
The plan begins with your concerns today and with how much donor hair there is to work with.
Transplanted hair, staysYour own hair, may keep thinning
A general picture of how hair loss can progress, not a forecast for you.
Three ways
a plan can go.
Start with medical care.
When the cause or progression needs attention, treatment and review can come before discussing surgery.
Plan in stages.
If a large area is thinning, agree what to treat first and what can wait.
Decide to wait.
If surgery would cost you more than it gives, you can leave with a clear answer and no procedure date.
These are possible planning directions, not patient case histories or individual recommendations.