Utilizing the Norwood Scale before hair implant surgery

Utilizing the Norwood Scale before hair implant surgery

If you've been using Minoxidil for hair loss (also marketed as Rogaine), and you aren't satisfied with the results, you might be a good candidate for hair restoration surgery. It's true that both Rogaine and Propecia have been proven to help stop hair loss and regrow some hair. But, they may not be enough depending on your goals, texture of hair, heredity and other factors.

When you meet with a hair transplant surgeon, he or she will use the Norwood Classification Scale to determine the level of baldness you have. This is a widely accepted scale of hair loss categories that is used in determining if you are a good candidate for hair loss surgery, and how many sessions it might take to achieve the results you want. The beginning of hair loss is considered a Norwood Class 2 and is characterized as a receding hair line. Believe it or not, you could be a candidate for hair loss surgery at this stage of hair loss. Some men as young as 21 have had successful hair transplant surgery. Norwood Class 3 consists of generalized frontal thinning. In Class 4 men typically have not only frontal thinning but also some crown balding. A Norwood Class 5 is characterized by balding on both the top of the scalp and the crown. This is usually the stage when men try a comb-over to hide their baldness but that just draws more attention to it. A Norwood Class 6 includes extensive hair loss with limited yet viable donor areas (areas from which hair can be moved to cover thinning and balding). By Class 7, men have severe hair loss and only the rim of their hair remains. While these men cannot recover a full head of hair, some may be candidates for hair loss surgery that will improve their appearance and self-esteem.

In general surgeons recommend getting hair loss surgery as early as possible but some men get good results as late as their eighties! A scale used to describe womens hair thinning is called the Ludwig Scale and you can learn more about it and hair transplant surgery in general at www.mhrusa.com.