Hair Transplant Surgery: Racial Differences Matter

By Author: Naomi Mannino
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Because of hair's innate tendencies due to ethnic differences you need to be aware of how it will affect your hair transplant surgery and your final results!

Hair transplant surgery is such a delicate surgery with so many variations that consideration of ethnicity can make all the difference in the success of a surgery. Aside from the many technical aspects that differ, Dr. Robert M. Bernstein M.D., F.A.A.D., Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Columbia University in New York and hair transplant surgeon and director of Bernstein Medical Hair Restoration in New York City, explains that racial differences have an effect on all phases of the procedure including the original diagnosis, any complications, the finished design and future aesthetic considerations that may arise due to racial differences in hair follicle and growth pattern, hair density and hair diameter.

Dr. Bernstein explains that the hair density - the number of hairs per square inch - differs among ethnicities. Caucasians have the highest, followed by Asians and Africans have the lowest density. Both Africans and Caucasians have thinner hair ...
... diameters while Asians have a coarse, thicker hair diameter which takes up more space. The average amount of hairs contained in each follicular unit also varies, as hairs typically grow in groupings of 1 to 4 hairs per follicle. Asians have groupings of 1 to 2 hairs per follicle, while Africans have 3 and Caucasians have anywhere from 2 to 4 hairs per follicle. In addition, the straightness or kinkiness of the hair makes a big difference in the final results. African hair is the kinkiest and finest while Asian is the straightest and coarsest with Caucasians falling somewhere in-between depending on the client. Asians look like they have more hair because of its thickness and African kinkiness also makes it look like thick hair although it is actually very fine. Below, Bernstein explains how these variations affect the stages and decisions involved in a hair transplant surgery.

DIAGNOSIS: The main differences in diagnoses of hair loss disorder occur between male and female causes for hair loss. But aside from those differences, some diagnosis are a little more racially determined like Traction Alopecia seen mainly in African American Women who wear tight braided hairstyles that cause hair loss in-between braided sections or around the hairline which can recede. Another form of ‘traumatic' hair loss in predominantly black women stems from constant heat styling close to the scalp and irritating chemical processes is called Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia (CCCA). Both of these diseases are typically reversible if the woman stops her damaging hair practices and so surgery wouldn't be necessary, but if the hair loss was permanent in those areas (as determined by a scalp biopsy), they would be a very good candidate for hair transplant surgery due to the health of donor hair areas not affected by the trauma. Bernstein stresses that the diagnoses is the all-important first step in determining your surgery strategy because that is the dependant factor on whether you have enough healthy donor hair to achieve the desired result.

THE PROCEDURE: In terms of the technical aspects of the hair transplant procedure, Bernstein explains that there are two ways to harvest the grafts. One way is to take a long thin strip and dissect follicular units and another way is to extract each follicular unit separately under a microscope, called Follicular Unit Extraction. In Caucasians, both procedures are straightforward. But in Africans there is a huge difference because the follicular units are curved under the skin, unlike in Caucasians or Asians. Harvesting the follicular units is easiest in Asians because the hair is coarse and stiff. Strip harvesting usually gets a better yield, no matter what the ethnicity. But the procedure, no matter what the race, must always be done with a skilled surgical team.

THE DESIGN: There are many differences, both cultural and physical that affect the final design of the hair transplant. Asians, in contrast to Caucasians, and Indians particularly, like to have broad flat hair lines because they are especially concerned with frontal hair for their wedding ceremonies and this broader hairline requires more hair. Often we weight it more in front and less in back, which is especially important depending on the amount of healthy donor hair they have, says Bernstein. In Caucasians, on the other hand, a little hair recession at the temples is perfectly acceptable so you can transplant and cover over a little, depending, again, on the amount of healthy donor hair available on the back and sides. Africans, however, can't use the comb-over method because hair does not lie flat and is kinky and fine and so the design is much less forgiving. Africans are less likely to be good candidates for hair transplant surgery compared to Asians and Caucasians unless they have good donor density to cover all bald or thinning spots, explains Bernstein.

COMPLICATIONS: There are some other racial differences that can cause complications in the final outcome of the procedure that clients need to be aware of, advises Bernstein, and a personal history of skin and scarring tendencies should always be discussed. In Africans, there is a greater incidence of keloids or raised, thickened scars. They also don't have as much scalp flexibility to excise a strip of donor hair and they run the risk of greater scarring compared to Caucasians. Asians don't have the propensity for thickened scars but can have a stretch scar or a visible incision scar because their hair grows more perpendicular to the scalp so when cut short you actually see the scalp more - it becomes transparent and does not hide the scar. Luckily, explains Bernstein, the recipient areas usually show no scarring at all, no matter what the ethnicity.

FINAL AESTHETICS: One final style issue all hair transplant recipients need to be aware of is that you will generally not be able to wear your new hair cut close to the scalp to avoid visible scars - and that goes for any race, cautions Dr. Bernstein. In addition, we try never to make a judgment on a person's future hair loss when the patient is too young - we try to wait until they are at least age 30 or so to determine a pattern of balding. We want to be sure there is a very good chance of having limited future hair loss and that donor areas are stable and healthy, usually at the sides and back of the head.

The bottom line is that patients need to be aware of ethnic and racial differences and be sure to choose a skilled hair transplant surgical team that has experience with exactly your type of hair. Ask questions, ask for referrals and ask for before and after photos just to be sure.

Author Bio:

Naomi Mannino is a freelance writer who writes about health, beauty, and fashion, with a specialty in writing about hair, hair loss and Alopecia. She is a contributing writer for HairLoss.Com who writes about hair loss condition and hair loss solutions.