is 22 too young for a hair transplant?

[oms]

Is it not possible that with a good HT doc that he would be able to prepare for future loss? many people on this forum seem to be against getting a transplant at this age but i am unfortuhately a norwood 3 and it doesnt seem to be really stopping, propecia and minoxidil are not that effective it seems. any feedback would be appreciated.

[oms]

Is it not possible that with a good HT doc that he would be able to prepare for future loss? many people on this forum seem to be against getting a transplant at this age but i am unfortuhately a norwood 3 and it doesnt seem to be really stopping, propecia and minoxidil are not that effective it seems. any feedback would be appreciated.

[vocor1]

. . . and the reason it is risky is:

Most likely, you want to fill in the temples. That's fine, but if you lost a lot of hair early on, probably this is just the start of things. Fill in temples and have hairloss behind it looks worst than any natural hairloss I've seen.

Just keep that in mind.

At 22, I lost a lot of hair in my temples very rapidly. For the next 6 years, my hairline contintued to recede, but very slowly. A lot of thinning and the emergence of a balding crown.

Yeah, fun. Things look a lot better now with Propecia on my side and 2200 FUs all over the top of my head.

 

vocor1

Knowledge is Power

If the worst question is the one never asked, then the worst answer is the one never shared.

[Guest]

Question guys. What if a 22 year old had a great hairline, and the balding was ocurring in the crown. He then went on Propecia and stopped his hair loss and even regrew a little bit. But there still was a noticeable area of very thin hair. Would this be ok for an HT? Would there be any top docs hesitant to work on the patient? What risks would there be?

 

danger

[vocor1]

danger:

Docs will still be hesitant if you haven't been on Propecia and/or Rogaine for a long while.

I guessing they'd be less hesitant if you tell them you'd like to "go for coverage" over "fill in temples".

Place hairs all throughout the top to "plan for future loss".

My guess is they'd be more receptive to that notion.

Or . . . go to a hairmill, bring money, and then your wish is their command! Oh, unless something goes wrong and then they don't know you.

 

vocor1

Knowledge is Power

If the worst question is the one never asked, then the worst answer is the one never shared.

[arfy]

Danger

Guys with crown loss only are in a tough spot. It's a little more complicated for them, than it is for guys with frontal recession.

 

The crown can use up a lot of grafts if you want to really restore all of your hair. You could use up your ENTIRE donor area just on your crown. It's a huge area, and you don't get the "shingle" effect as much (hairs laying on top of each other) so it is harder to get good coverage.

 

The danger is that you use a lot of grafts in your crown, and as you continue to lose hair you can be caught short without enough donor hair to really do a good job on the front. The front is considered the priority. This means that you are in a tricky situation.

 

If you read the forums and doctors' statements, you'll see that usually a really bald patient will have to be satisfied with light coverage, a recessed "mature" hairline, and a bare crown or thin coverage in the crown. That is a "realistic expectation" for a hair transplant. There's not enough donor hair to do the whole head fully. So the fact that you want to start off on the crown (an area some guys can never really get to put grafts in) is kind of a caution-flag.

 

In general, just keep in mind that <UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>there is a limited amount of donor hair<LI>you have to think far ahead, and protect yourself from getting screwed down the road, by something you do now<LI>if you are in your early 20s and have hair loss, there is a very good chance your hair loss will be significant<LI>"spend" your donor hair wisely

 

 

[This message was edited by arfy on March 31, 2003 at 09:41 AM.]