the discouragement of HT in young people...??

[jw34]

i know most people discourage it and i can kind of understand why but i was thinking was if you just took it like realllly conservatively like 3 transplants over 10 years starting at age 20?

how does that idea sound? im new to this whole hair loss thing so im just trying to do some research,

thanks for any help

[jw34]

i know most people discourage it and i can kind of understand why but i was thinking was if you just took it like realllly conservatively like 3 transplants over 10 years starting at age 20?

how does that idea sound? im new to this whole hair loss thing so im just trying to do some research,

thanks for any help

[Bill - Seemiller]

jw34,

 

Though cases CAN be made for young people around your age getting HTs, I'd say these are the exceptions rather than the rules.

 

I may have posted this before, but if not, I've posted a thread on this before worth reading:

 

Am I Too Young for a Hair Transplant

 

There a number of other thread about age and hair transplantation as well. You might want to use our "find" feature on the forum to do more research.

 

From an emotional point of view...I understand WHY you would want to get a hair transplant now. You feel like you are losing your youth way too early. You may even feel cheated. You worry whether or not people will be staring at your balding areas. Your confidence may be shaken - a little or a lot.

 

I've been there my friend. I wore a hat for YEARS to cover up my shameful feelings...even though there was NOTHING to be ashamed of.

 

One thing I learned is that we are our worst critics. Most people really care less about our imperfections - heck - some even find them endearing. But we care...and we obsess, and this is a bad thing.

 

My advice...

 

Work on getting your hair loss under control with medication but don't let this ruin your life.

 

Years from now when a more estabished pattern of balding is apparent - consider a hair transplant if you still feel you want/need it.

 

Please don't take this as a non-empathetic statement, because it's not meant to be. But you may also want to consider shaving your head to see if you like the look. It is the "in" thing now especially for men your age. At least, you can try this temporarily.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill

[TheHairLossCure]

As a young patient I'm sure it is difficult to hear people saying over and again that you should wait to do surgery.

 

The early stages of hair loss can be difficult but you may be a better candidate for medical therapy. The reason being that you are probably going to do small session to start with and, if that is the case, you may get a similar result from taking meds (if you are a good responder).

 

Many times older patients with a moderate to advanced pattern will get a better impact from surgery. The result can stand alone, even with additional loss. Even if there is some shock loss, the effect of moving a large hair mass to a bald or thinning area will usually give the patient far more coverage than if no surgery was done.

 

If you are just starting to lose hair (at a young age) is hard to plan long term. Furthermore, if you are doing small sessions, the risk of shock loss or progressive loss may put you on a transplant tread mill. In other words, you are adding hair and subsequently losing more. This is not the most rewarding scenario for the patient.

 

I think medical therapy can be a cheaper and better overall option for younger fellows. You might be a surgical candidate though. As Billoros states, this would be the exception and not the rule. I think this community is pretty responsible and empathetic when advising patients so, if you get some consults, you should definitely report back.

 

Good luck.

[calvinmd]

The problem with younger HT cases has several causes:

 

-- Younger at thinnning = worse thinning for life. Usually the earlier that you look like you need some hair transplanted, the worse of a HT candidate you will be overall. Some people are simply not candidates for HTs with current technology.

 

-- The eventual thinning pattern may not really show itself until your later 20's. And donor thinning happens later in life, too. (Once again, the worst donor thinning is usually in the early-balders.) Tons of guys' final hair loss patterns could never have been identified before their late 20s.

 

-- The younger patients usually want the most agressive hairlines of all. They're 22yo and they just wanna look 22yo again. It's understandable, but unfortunately the only sensible long-term plan for them is to spend all that big money on HTs and still have to settle for a 32yo hairline at 22.

 

 

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