Hairline lowering

[Elle]

How far can your hairline be lowered with this technique and does it fill it the corners if you have missing hair there?  I've been on hrt for a few years now and I noticed my hairline got worse especially around the corners and now i'm starting to panic because I don't want my hair to go bald like a man. I'm getting FFS with DiMaggio in 3 months and he recommended hairline lowering along with forehead contouring and brow lift, i'm just hoping it's enough so I don't have to get hair implants too. I've heard from a few trans people that after get your forehead contoured and hairline lowered you lose hair around the hairline and it takes a long time to grow back if it even does at all. 

[megan2929]

Not much. Usually about 1cm in the middle and maybe 2cm on the corners if you're lucky. You're limited to how much they're able to stretch your scalp. Also be aware that you'll have a scar along the front of the hairline that doesn't heal very fast so get a hairstyle with bangs if you're concerned about it. You may still need hair transplants at some point after the surgery to cover the scar and fill in the corners if it really bothers you.

[Elle]

Not much. Usually about 1cm in the middle and maybe 2cm on the corners if you're lucky. You're limited to how much they're able to stretch your scalp. Also be aware that you'll have a scar along the front of the hairline that doesn't heal very fast so get a hairstyle with bangs if you're concerned about it. You may still need hair transplants at some point after the surgery to cover the scar and fill in the corners if it really bothers you.

Really? I read on a few websites from surgeons who specialize in hair advancement that up to 2 inches is possible. Also I heard from some people that after surgery their hair fell out and actually made their hair lines higher, does this really happen? 

[megan2929]

I'm not sure about 2 inches. That seems like a lot considering they are basically just stretching your scalp forward and sewing it back together with your forehead. I would imagine that extreme stretching would make your forehead skin really tight and might lift your eyebrows too high. Everything's connected right? I just know from my FFS that my hairline only advanced about 0.5 cm in the front and about 1 cm on the corners but I knew that going in so it wasn't a surprise. The hairline advance for me was just a side effect of my eyebrow lift and forehead contouring. All of the other surgeons I talked to (DiMaggio, Van de Ven, Speigel, Zukowski, Suporn, Osterhout) also said I should only expect 1-2cm at most. Maybe there are other hairline specialists that are better at this but I don't know anyone personally who quoted me more than 2 cm.

FWIW, I haven't lost any hair along my incision, but it's also only been 2 weeks since my surgery so I'll let you know if it starts falling out. My hairstyle luckily hides my incision pretty well.

[Noah]

My forehead was huge and now it's small and a significant aspect of its reduction was a scalp advancement. I don't know how much spiegel did but definitely an inch or two. Corners reduced significantly.

[Janae]

My forehead was huge and now it's small and a significant aspect of its reduction was a scalp advancement. I don't know how much spiegel did but definitely an inch or two. Corners reduced significantly.

When everything healed did it feel like your scalp was being "pulled" in anyway?

[Dahlia]

I've been on hrt for a few years now and I noticed my hairline got worse especially around the corners and now i'm starting to panic because I don't want my hair to go bald like a man.

Losing hair while on HRT for a few years? It's supposed to stop, especially when you're on AA (too).

Yes, a scalpadvance makes you lose hair temporarily...but beware of the sides of hair, above your ears; lost hair there won't always regrow altogether.
This happens to some GG's after a facelift with incisions into the hair/scalp on the sides of their faces and it happened to me too after FFS.
The hair above my ears is thinner and sparser now, not notacebly for others, but to me it is.

I wear my hair short ala Halle Berry and have to ask my hairdresser to leave the sides above my ears fuller....if not the 'less hair there' shows.

The scar will fade over time into a barely noticible, less than 1mm wide white line, depending on the suture 'qualities' of the FFS surgeon.

My scalpadvance was a centimeter and a half, which is actually quite a lot in a face.

Overstretching a scalp can cause (permanent) hairloss btw.

Good luck!

[SamiT]

I had scalp advance done little over 6 months ago. The shock loss from surgery was what I would call dramatic. It made my already rising widows peaks stand out like glaciers on my scalp. But over all I had 3/4" advance when It was all said and done. I also had 1500 hair graphs put in that are now in various lengths some brand new and some held on from the transplant. I would say I had about a 10% loss in my original hair from the surgery. The graphs helped fill in but it is thinner in the temples. It has also been the major source of discomfort from the surgery. Numb skull is just a bummer. I still don't have sensory feeling, although the pin-prick sensation has come back in the last 30days.. Ill give it a few more months then start worrying.

Its so hard to say as each surgeon has their own technique. Best thing to do is ask for photos of their work. All of them have them you just may have to be at there office to view them. Also be very inquisitive about the predicted outcome as well as communicate to the surgeon what your needs and wants are. Sign of a good surgeon is one that will understate the net results. If he or she just says.. "OH you will be beautiful" I would ask a bunch more questions..

[Jennygirl]

Seconding megan. I am about 2 weeks post op and no hair loss. He took out about 5/8" of forehead skin, but I think he intended to raise my brow more than it lower my hairline- which is what happened.

My scalp feels super tight. I am hoping for no hair loss! When does that usually happen? Not too worried about it.

[Lara1969]

SamiT were did you had your hairline advance? I am a little bit scared because I recently had a lot of regrowth in my temples and my hairline now become nice female shaped. The hairline is too high because I would like to have my hairline advanced during FFS.

Lara

[lilacwoman]

there is a website about a young Indian girl who had half her scalp burned off and by using inflators under the remaining half the skin eventually stretched far enough to receover all the burned half.  Obviously hair density was less but the girl was happy.

Doing the inflation stretch does mean repeated trips to the surgeons office to have the inflator blown up a bit more every few days intil the desired strech is achieved and ten the infaltor is removed the skin stitched down and the edges trimmed...so it woudl be expensive in US and most other places.

[Lara1969]

In my job it is impossible to wear such an inflator because it really looks scary. And a girl told me that it is painful.

This is why I had the hair transplantation first to fill the temples and to form a nice female hairline. Maybe 1cm of hairline advancement would be enough for me. There are enough girl out there with a higher hairline which falls into the normal range.

Lara

[SamiT]

Lara,

  Dr Rumor did my scalp advance, brow re-contour, and hair graphing. Again it is the most major change I have. Complete transformation of my hair line. I now have a better hair line than any of the females in my family.. I wish the brow line had moved up a little more its not what I would call female.. But its not entirely male.. I'm getting better at the brow shaping so in the end I'm still very happy with it. My scalp is tight feeling but I'm not sure if its amplified by the dull sensory feeling still or not. Time will tell...

[Jennygirl]

Yeahhhh numb skull club!

Everyone's doing it!!

[Jill F]

Yeahhhh numb skull club!

Everyone's doing it!!

*spits out coffee*

[Jennygirl]

The only place I don't have sensation is right in the middle, behind the incision. Everything on the sides and up front is good to go (just moderately numb).

I've definitely bonked my head a few times (didn't feel it) and I think that was accounting for some of my earlier-in-recovery headaches

[Dahlia]

SamiT were did you had your hairline advance? I am a little bit scared because I recently had a lot of regrowth in my temples and my hairline now become nice female shaped. The hairline is too high because I would like to have my hairline advanced during FFS.

Lara

That's not a sensible idea because a scalpadvancement will make the transplanted hair fall out and they will be lost.

It's always adviced to have a scalpadvancement first and +/- a year later hairtransplants when needed or wanted or to obscure the (very thin white) scar.

[Lara1969]

That's not a sensible idea because a scalpadvancement will make the transplanted hair fall out and they will be lost.

It's always adviced to have a scalpadvancement first and +/- a year later hairtransplants when needed or wanted or to obscure the (very thin white) scar.

My doc said half an year later the grafts are secure as natural hair roots. There for they maybe will fall out but not lost. A slight hairline advancement will still result in an hairline which is pretty high but in the normal range of a female. Therefor it would be nice to place some grafts over the incision but the hairline advancement would save thousands of Euros.

Lara

[Jennygirl]

The surgeon I chose is Toby Mayer, who has a special technique where he saves the hair roots and flaps them slightly under the incision. This causes them to grow through and in front of the incision...

At about day 6 or 7 i noticed that hairs were already starting to grow through. When the redness goes down, it's going to be completely invisible. I'm wearing SPF on this incision like crazy.



I am at 15 days post op (just took this pic) and now most of the incision already has hair popping up through it. The suture marks haven't even gone away yet.

[SamiT]

I had my hair graphs done about 10 weeks after surgery. I was so worried as the shock loss from surgery was frightening. But all those fears are long gone. You can still see my scalp thru the hair in the bright light of the vanity. Some of the hair is 1" to 2" long. Some of it just coming thru the skin just like in Jenny's. When I think oh that's the last of the buds.. Another round comes thru. Its like the surgical gift that keeps on giving..