Should I Have Hairline Lowering By Surgery Or Hair Transplants?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am a 26 year old female, I am very self conscious about my forehead and have been for years. I am so tired of feeling embarrassed and having to hide it and limiting what I can and cannot do for fear of it showing. I’ve been researching transplants to lower my hairline. I’ve ran into your website and was wondering if you do hair transplants to lower hair lines? If so a round about cost to have it done? I’m really hoping you can help me and I can get this done and feel 110% more confident with myself.

A: Lowering the hairline, as you may know, can be done by either scalp flap advancement or hair transplants. There are advantages and disadvantages with either approach and neither one is perfect. So let me review these with you. The advantages of hair transplants for lowering the hairline is that it does not create a fine line scar along the frontal hairline (although it will create a scar in the back of the head from the harvest site) and does not involve a true surgical procedure under general anesthesia. Its disadvantages is that it will take at least two hair transplant sessions and close to eight hours of procedure time to get the new hairline properly filled in and up to six to nine months to se the final result. A scalp advancement for hairline lowering creates an immediate hairline lowering in a fairly simple procedure under anesthesia. (like a reverse browlift) It disadvantages is the fine line scar along the frontal hairline and the possibility that some hair transplants may be needed along the scar line for better camouflage. (may or may not be needed)

When comparing these two, it is also important to look at the costs differences between the two. Two hair transplant sessions will definitely cost more than a surgical hairline lowering procedure.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana