Hair Restoration for Transgender Patients: Gender Affirming Care
When someone is transitioning from male to female, they usually undergo female hormone therapy to achieve a more feminine appearance. They often consider features such as their tone of voice, the skin's softness, the chest's prominence, and the hips' curves. The hairline is another attribute that can help people achieve their desired appearance as they transition.
Women usually have lower and more rounded hairlines. The surgeons at Chicago Hair Institute perform transgender hair restoration to soften the frame around a person’s face and support them in their physical gender transition. Individuals in the Chicago, IL, area undergoing gender affirmation treatment can learn more about what transgender hair restoration is and how it can assist them in achieving their aesthetic goals.
Can I Achieve a More Feminine Hairline?
A “feminine” hairline often sits lower on the forehead (closer to the brow line) and is usually more rounded, so it nicely frames the face. Every transgender hair restoration is unique, but creating a more feminine hairline is possible and often not as difficult as most people would imagine.
During hair restoration surgery, our surgeons can make subtle changes that transform the hairline to create a softer appearance that complements other facial features. To achieve the desired results, our Chicago patients undergo ultra-refined follicular unit transplantation. This procedure takes individual hair follicles from a donor site (typically the back or side of the scalp) and transfers them to the front of the scalp to reshape the hairline.
Customizing Hair Restoration
While a woman’s hairline is typically significantly lower than a man’s, not all transgender hair restoration is the same. Our doctors customize each procedure to ensure patients achieve the look they desire. We take several features into account when planning transgender hair restoration, including:
- Forehead shape
- Hair type
- Follicle color
- Skin color
- Facial proportions (we follow the rule of thirds, striving to create an equal balance between the hairline and brow line, the brow line and the base of the nose, and the nose and the bottom of the chin)
Depending on each of our Chicago patient’s specific needs and desires, transgender hair restoration could involve raising, lowering, rounding, or flattening the hairline.
Creating Volume to Address Male-Pattern Hair Loss
Some patients wonder about the effectiveness of transgender hair restoration because they have already suffered male-pattern hair loss before undergoing treatment. In addition to creating a more feminine hairline, transgender hair restoration can restore volume to areas affected by hair loss. We determine the number of hair follicles to transfer in each procedure based on forehead shape (including the degree of hair loss that has occurred) and the brow position.
When hair loss is extensive, we can recommend strategies to create the impression of fuller, denser hair. For instance, patients may benefit from wearing a ponytail or other pulled-back hairstyle or using a thickening hair concealer product along with their hair restoration procedure.
Contact Us
If you are receiving gender affirmation treatment, the hair restoration surgeons at Chicago Hair Institute would be happy to tell you more about transgender hair restoration. To schedule a personal consultation, contact our clinic online at your earliest convenience.