17 Year old male with Male Patterned Baldness and some temple thinning

[Parsa Mohebi, MD]

US Hair Restoration - Results of HT Surgery performed by Parsa Mohebi, MD

Miniaturization Study

Hair Line: 90%

Corners: 90%

Top: 20%

Crown: 20%

Donor Area: 10%

 

Distribution

Hairline: 300

Front: 738

Top: 0

Crown: 0

Temple:200

 

Total Grafts: 1238

Edited December 5, 2012 by Dr. Mohebi
layout

[Blake Bloxham]

Very natural! Nicely done.

[Yiddo]

A Hair Transplant on a 17 year old............Seriously?????????

[Ireland78]

I am stunned that a 17 year old had had a hair transplant, not good.

[TommyLucchese]

What's wrong with doing it on a 17 year old if the hairline is conservative with grafts saved for future surgery if needed? Plus if he's on the meds...?

 

(genuine question by the way, curious about opinions on this)

[Yiddo]

Everything is wrong with giving a ht to a 17 year old. The fact that the work is neat and the hairline is conservative, and he is also on meds should have no bearing whatsoever.

This guy is 17 for gods sake. He appears to have pretty aggresive hairloss for someone so young, so there is no way of knowing what his future pattern will be.

There is a chance that in 5 years time he could be a nw6-7, and he could have a scar at the back of his head and a very strange hairline at the front and bald behind it. Not to even mention not having enough donor for the future.

This guy should of been advised to wait untill he as at LEAST 20. In my opinion this was totaly unethical and irresponsable. I would be very suprised if many dr's that belong to this site would operate on someone so young.

Edited November 30, 2012 by Yiddo
missed word

[Spanker]

Poor form. 17 is too young to transplant a patient. A kid that age cannot see the trees for the forest and should not be expected to make good decisions that will affect the rest of his life.

[AdamAJ]

Majority of everyone on here would say 17 is way to young no questions asked.

[Naltima]

What is the background on this? Did the parents give consent, was he informed about the risks? I'm absolutely stunned that this surgery was performed on a 17 year old.

[Yiddo]

It would be good to hear what some other doctors view on this is, a moderaters view, or an explanation from Dr Mohebi as to why he operated on a 17 year old,

[Tinkerbellz]

In my opinion, This is wrong, i am nearly 33 years old and have the nearly same pattern of the 17 years old patient, but still waiting for my 37-38 to get a hair-transplant.There is always a risk, to go to nw6 even after 40 years old, i believe the best bet to minimize this risk to wait until you age over to mid-late 30s in my type of (diffusion all over the scalp,nw3).it is your own choice to use any meds, which i dont, for even a 17 years old, i believe even meds should take with precaution with a doctor's prescribe.

 

I am sorry to say this Dr.Mohebi but all with respect to you,in my opinion, I believe this is unethical to make a hairtransplant under-18 patient with mpb.

 

Even if the patient is on Meds,he may get the sides in the following years or he may want to quit meds because it got boring there is a chance even meds can stop to work for anyone , got enough hair for a second or a third round?, this is human nature, even if his family tree had show no hairloss at all,i believe it is impossible to give a point-blank decision for this young fella to not get further aggressive hairloss.

[Raphael84]

Im afraid that I must whole heartedly agree with all the other guys here. Unfortunately, at such a young age the risk regarding future hairloss and donor supply becomes much bigger. Even with a reserved plan of action, and a mature hairline, it just doesn't seem ethical for a 17 year old. As already mentioned, would this guy have needed his parents permission and signature for this procedure? I really hope that the future treats this guy well! Its my opinion that some feedback from the Dr would be appropriate here.

[Blake Bloxham]

Guys,

 

I must admit, when I first commented on this case, I did not see the age of the patient.

 

Normally, I personally discourage individuals of this age from seeking hair restoration for several reasons: 1. because it is not clear how the hair loss will progress, and restoring a frontal hairline on a patient who will eventually thin to a NW VII would not create an aesthetically pleasing result; 2. because these patients should utilize less invasive, preventive medications for some time to stabilize and potentially reverse some of the hair loss before undergoing surgical intervention. If a hair loss sufferer uses these medications for several years, stabilizes the loss, and is a surgical candidate, then hair transplantation may be a good option.

 

Having said that, I've heard several experts disagree with my point of view in the past, and state that as long as the patient is informed and willing to utilize preventive measures to stop the potential of progressing to a high NW scale, surgery on young individuals is okay.

 

Altogether, I trust Dr. Mohebi and think he is a very ethical, talented hair restoration surgeon. Having said that, I think we would all like to hear his justification for performing surgery on such a young individual, so I will send him an email and ask for his reply.

[agenteye]

I'm not entirely convinced that there would be any circumstance that would make this okay....even if Blake does get a response from the doctor?!! I mean....it's not like the patient was getting a transplant to mask the remnants of a loss due to disease or a traumatic incident.......a hairline restoration could ONLY be construed as cosmetic.....and therefore was done prematurely and without any reasonable train of thought!! Even with parental consent, the clinic should have not proceeded with this particular case! Pretty disappointing......

[1978matt]

I think (and hope!) it is just a typo. Maybe 27 and not 17?

[Bill - Seemiller]

In general, I too would agree that 17 is far too young to undergo hair transplantation. My primary concern about transplanting on patients so young is the unknown future of their hair loss. Typically, men who start losing hair so young will lose a lot of hair. Thus, even a conservative use of grafts could result in an unnatural look unless he continues to undergo additional procedures as he loses more hair.

 

Another concern is that young men under 18 aren't even advised to start Propecia. Thus, in many cases, teenagers who begin losing their hair can do very little non-surgically to stop the progression of their hair loss. Their only real hope is Rogaine.

 

I know that Blake has sent an email to Dr. Mohebi for his input. Thus, I suggest we wait to hear his explanation on this case.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[TommyLucchese]

In general, I too would agree that 17 is far too young to undergo hair transplantation. My primary concern about transplanting on patients so young is the unknown future of their hair loss. Typically, men who start losing hair so young will lose a lot of hair. Thus, even a conservative use of grafts could result in an unnatural look unless he continues to undergo additional procedures as he loses more hair.

 

Another concern is that young men under 18 aren't even advised to start Propecia. Thus, in many cases, teenagers who begin losing their hair can do very little non-surgically to stop the progression of their hair loss. Their only real hope is Rogaine.

 

I know that Blake has sent an email to Dr. Mohebi for his input. Thus, I suggest we wait to hear his explanation on this case.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

 

This was the case with me. I was on 2% minoxidil at 16 and then switched to 4% a year or two later when it didn't seem to be working. Obviously it wasn't enough......I wish I could have had propecia, my trichologist didn't even tell me it existed.

[Blake Bloxham]

Hi Guys,

 

Like Bill said earlier, I sent Dr. Mohebi an email last night, so hopefully he will reply very soon!

[agenteye]

Thanks for taking the initiative in this and keeping us all informed, Blake!! :-)

[Parsa Mohebi, MD]

It is of note that our recent posting has caused a ripple of controversy in this forum. I would like to update the community with more information without jeopardizing the patient confidentiality. In most instances HT would not be performed on a patient of this age. However, throughout the medical professions from time to time we come across cases that are exceptional. This case is an exceptional one.

 

The patient came to our offices with his father and had the benefit of parental guidance and permission throughout the process. The patient was also under the care of a psychologist and was experiencing serious quality of life issues that were thought to be a consequence of an accelerated premature hair loss. His care included treatment of severe depression over a two year period.

 

A full evaluation and consult was given with all the risks weighed in the best interest of this patient. The consent was obtained from the patient and his father. Patient has been closely monitored after his procedure and has demonstrated significant improvement.

 

In his 3 year follow up after his procedure the patient reports being happy with his outcomes. He continues to use finasteride with no side effects that had been started after 18 years of age.

 

There has been some European hair loss studies that concluded that there is a higher rate of depression with men who have male patterned baldness. It might be of help to reference the Psychology of Hair Transplant which is the result of the study that Dr. Rassman and I did a few years ago. The article discusses how hair restoration may help depression symptoms experienced by some hair loss sufferers.

 

I look forward to your continuing comments on this issue.

 

Thank You,

[agenteye]

Although I appreciate the explanation and mean no disrespect, I think this is still no excuse to transplant on a 17 year old. To say that "Hair restoration may help depression symptoms experienced by some hair loss sufferers".....well, that much is a given.....and it certainly isn't unique to this case. We don't need European hair loss studies to conclude that there is a higher rate of depression among those of us who are balding (me!!!). We are ALL depressed about out hair loss....which is why most of us are here. Don't you think this patient is going to be more depressed when the rest of his hair starts falling out, and he wasted these grafts on hairline work when he was 17?? Granted, by the time he needs more grafts, there will most likely be stem cell therapy or some other major advance in the industry, but it still seems like a bad call to me. I think at 17 years old, the kid should have been turned away by the clinic. He may have had his father's consent, but was his father (and the child) REALLY educated on the process and the limited donor reserves that an individual has during his/her lifetime??? I dunno.....I could be way off base here, but the above clarification didn't make me feel any more at ease about this particular case.

 

At 17 years old, the kid should be playing sports and studying....and building self-confidence by living life.....NOT having cosmetic procedures. Sounds to me like the psychologist wasn't doing much to help the cause either.....if his "severe depression" still led to this.

 

Sorry if I'm seeming unreasonable/riduculous and I offended anyone here in the forums......

[RecedingTide]

Well this kid is going to be even more depressed when/if he loses the hair behind the hairline and is walking around with a freakshow tuft. I'll have to look back at the first post but I hope this was FUE at least.

 

He could be norwood 6 by 25.

[capa]

my hairloss started when I was 15-16.it was very very agressive.I thought I would be totally bald NW6-7 when I become 25 .I was losing 250+ hairs a day.it was like raining hair then my hairloss slowed down and nearly stopped by itself .I'm now 24 and still between NW 2-3.there is miniaturization on top, little hairloss.I started finasteride 2 months ago.I dont expect to grow hair, just want to keep what I have.Frankly I dont blame Dr. Mohebi for what he did.Hairloss can even cause a teenager to commit suicide.At least it dragged me to deep depression which I couldnt recover until this age.I became an unsocial guy spending all his time on internet forums seeking help for hairloss.Even if this guy's hairloss evolve to NW6 in the near future, doctor is using his available donor reserve instead of waiting for him to be NW6 and ruining his life slowly and painfully.At least doctor gives him a chance to live with a hairline until he becomes 30...10 years later when he become NW6 with 3 prior HT surgeries this guy can grow some hair to thicken his sparse transplanted hair thanks to new stemcell treatments.

[agenteye]

Capa-

 

I totally get the severely depressed thing....I really do! I used to weigh 302 lbs when I was 18 years old, and was teased and ridiculed my entire teenage life for being so overweight!! I hated my life....and I think that every person who goes through a major struggle like that goes through the suicidal thoughts stage that comes with it....especially when we're younger; and hair loss I'm sure is equally devastating at that age.

 

But you can't tell me that the minimally receding hairline on this 17 year old (as evidenced in the photos above) or anyone else for that matter is devastating enough to warrant a suicide. I really think that seems pretty unlikely....and if it went as far as that, the individual obviously had some other very disturbing, deep-seeded issues as an underlying problem!! I would agree that this patient is at an age where there will most likely be significant advances in the industry to ensure that he will never have to worry about running out of his donor supply....but that doesn't change my opinion on the fact that he shouldn't have been operated on.....and that a cosmetic procedure will be nothing more than a temporary solution to his depression. What really needed to be the focus in this patients life, is more intense counseling with his psychologist....so as to get to the root of/provide a more permanent cure to the patient's depression.

 

Again, this topic would be easy to go back and forth on....so this will be my last post on this thread. I just thought it was important to address the fact that I don't feel this patient is as "unique a case" as the clinic/doctor makes it sound like. If I had a nickel for every 17 year old in this World that was suffering from depression because of self-esteem issues due to poor self image.....well, you get the point!

 

Best,

 

Mike

[Yiddo]

Dr Mohebi states that this is an exceptional case, it isnt. Its not exceptional whatsoever. Its what a lot of young guys go through everyday. And as for this guys phychologist ????

 

If this guys mental state is like this now, i really hope he doesnt lose more hair.