A Simple Strip Removal Experiment You Can Do At Home!

[TheEmperor]

One of the things that has me puzzled about my HT is the apparent assymetry of my hairline.

 

Not only is the hairline itself assymentrical (for better or for worse), but the remaining "rim" hair also now appears to be assymetrical left to right. I have a bunch of pics from before the surgery and this was not true before the surgery. Now it seems like one of the upper temple areas is pulled 1-2cm farther back than the other side. Photographs from above show this to be true.

 

Additionally, I have suspected (and photographs seem to show) that the bald area is larger than it was before the surgery. Originally I thought it was because the Doctor planted into the existing native hair, but now I'm sure its because of the strip removal.

 

The conventional wisdom has been that the strip removal does not mae the bald area larger, but that is absolutely false!

 

Grip some of the hair behind one of your ears and tug gently downward while looking into a mirror. You will see that the ENTIRE SCALP moves, as far across as the opposite temple.

 

This shows that a strip removal has the potential to make the bald spot larger, and in my case, if the strip is not of uniform thickness all the way around, could create assymetry in the existing "rim" hair.

 

The doctor starts out on one side and works around while removing the strip. If he has taken a large amount from one side, this would mean that the other side may be harder to close and he may need to take less from the opposite side. Conversely, he may get around to the other side and find that he can easily remove more hair than he did on the original side.

 

The implication here is very important. Consider that while the hair is being removed from the "safe" hair in the middle, cosmetically, the hair is being removed from the area surrounding the bald spot.

 

One might argue that the skin will stretch back, but in my case the rim assymetry is still obvious several months after the procedure.

[TheEmperor]

One of the things that has me puzzled about my HT is the apparent assymetry of my hairline.

 

Not only is the hairline itself assymentrical (for better or for worse), but the remaining "rim" hair also now appears to be assymetrical left to right. I have a bunch of pics from before the surgery and this was not true before the surgery. Now it seems like one of the upper temple areas is pulled 1-2cm farther back than the other side. Photographs from above show this to be true.

 

Additionally, I have suspected (and photographs seem to show) that the bald area is larger than it was before the surgery. Originally I thought it was because the Doctor planted into the existing native hair, but now I'm sure its because of the strip removal.

 

The conventional wisdom has been that the strip removal does not mae the bald area larger, but that is absolutely false!

 

Grip some of the hair behind one of your ears and tug gently downward while looking into a mirror. You will see that the ENTIRE SCALP moves, as far across as the opposite temple.

 

This shows that a strip removal has the potential to make the bald spot larger, and in my case, if the strip is not of uniform thickness all the way around, could create assymetry in the existing "rim" hair.

 

The doctor starts out on one side and works around while removing the strip. If he has taken a large amount from one side, this would mean that the other side may be harder to close and he may need to take less from the opposite side. Conversely, he may get around to the other side and find that he can easily remove more hair than he did on the original side.

 

The implication here is very important. Consider that while the hair is being removed from the "safe" hair in the middle, cosmetically, the hair is being removed from the area surrounding the bald spot.

 

One might argue that the skin will stretch back, but in my case the rim assymetry is still obvious several months after the procedure.

[Bill - Seemiller]

TheEmperor,

 

Interesting post. I have performed tests like this on myself at home in the past by placing one hand on top of my head and doing scalp massages with the other while looking in the mirror. Though it is true that the top of the scalp moves a little, it doesn't move nearly as much as the area I'm massaging. Keep in mind too that when a donor wound is closed, both sides are pulled to close the area which even further minimizes the amount the top of the head moves.

 

To say that the bald area becomes larger after strip surgery may be technically true but only to a very limited exent. In fact, I'd argue that unless you've had multiple strip surgeries, with a multitude of grafts placed (which would cover the majority if not all of the bald areas anyway), that nobody (probably not even the patient) would notice any increase in size of the balding areas.

 

After 7550 grafts and 3 strip surgeries, I can see some evidence when I compare to old pictures that there is some difference in the way my scalp appears overall, but this is shadowed by the fact that I have a lot more hair on top of my head.

 

Bill