I am completely new to hair transplant and don't understand most of the acronyms or many of the terms I see here.

My son is almost 12 years old and was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor 3 years ago, just after he turned 9.

He has had radiation to his whole brain, followed by focused radiation to his tumor bed. Then 4 cycles of high-dose chemotherapy.

Prior to treatment, he had unusually thick and curly hair. After finishing treatment, his hair has grown back, but the character of his hair is completely different.

The whole brain radiation significantly thinned his hair, the hair that is left is baby fine and very soft, but it looks decent.

Over the area where his tumor was (right frontal lobe), he is pretty much completely bald, just a few stray hairs here and there. I'd say the bald area is oval, approximately 3.5 inches in diameter.

The bald spot is the source of much embarassment for him when he is around strangers or at school or anyone who doesn't know and understand his situation.

We would like to consider hair transplant, but I have heard that in addition to killing the hair follicles, radiation also damages the blood vessels in the scalp, and that transplanting hair into an irradiated scalp is a bit like sowing seeds in rocky soil.

I am very interested to hear of anyone who has more information on this topic, and particularly to hear of anyone who has attempted hair transplant after radiation.

For the record, male pattern baldness is generally not something that runs in our families.  My hubby has a full head of hair, as does his father who is a very youthful 70 years old.  My own father is a youthful 80, also with a full head of hair. My brother is in his 40's and hasn't lost any hair.

Similarly with the great grandparents.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated, you can email me at consult_1335@yahoo.com

My son's pictures

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