How Young Is Too Young?

[MAW99]

My 22-year-old nephew is considering a hair transplant. I feel he might be too young but he is convinced his hairline became mature in his teens and won't change as he gets older.

 

Is he right or does your hairline keep maturing until your mid-20s?

[Britanium]

At 22 yes i would say he was too young. If he is losing hair at a accelerated rate then the best thing he could do is get on the meds ? Slow down/stop losing anymore.

Chances are he would end up a high norwood starting this early.

[Spanker]

Way too young to say he won't lose more. I think young guys can transplant very conservative hairlines, but only on a position that they'd still look natural as a NW6. He's probably not that far gone. At 22 Sean Connery, James Taylor, and tons of other famous bald guys had full hair. 22 is just too young to make that call.

[voxman]

Sorry, 22 is nothing. How secure is he that his balding is stable? Wait another 5 years. If absolutley nothing has changed, then design a 32 year old hairline.

 

Time will tell. Even Peter Pan grew old.

[TakingThePlunge]

Excellent advice above! There is a very good reason why hair transplant surgeons advise very young patients to wait until they're older for surgery. At this age there is simply no accurate way to predict just how bald he may become in the future.

 

Androgenic alopecia (genetic balding) is a progressive condition. Reaching the final stage of hair loss on the Norwood Scale can happen quickly or it can take years. Therefore, the older one is, the more predictable the final stage of hair loss will be. The hair restoration physician and patient can then formulate a plan that is appropriate, desirable and will look natural for a lifetime.

 

Even though he's very likely not a candidate at this stage, there is no harm is consulting with an ethical surgeon to discuss medical hair loss treatments and future surgical options. Just be aware that there are unethical surgeons out there that will operate on anyone!

 

If you'd like to find a pre-screened hair transplant surgeon in your area, check out our interactive map. He can also schedule free online consultations with any of the surgeons we recommend.

 

Best of luck!

[ontop]

i hope a Dr will put him off for some time and in the meantime put him on Meds..

Its a fact the younger you are the best chance you have in saving a bunch of hair, younger guys respond so much better to Meds. thats if they dont get any sides that is.

[Sean]

Too young, but its not like it hasnt been done before. There are docs that are willing to work on 18-19 year olds or kids outta high school to freshman year in college via FUT that have noticeable hairloss. Depending on How it pans out when they are like 25+, this could be a disaster. Ive spoken to few such folks, even in person and was shocked they were operated on.

 

I really think at least wait till 27+ before even thinking about it further. Meds can be problematic if serious side effects occur, but i think it doesnt hurt to get consult advice from a reasonable doc. Most docs should turn down young cases that are in the hairloss progression phase. I can understand hairloss due to disfigurement and the need for repair but taking such an exoensive and uncertain step at a young age us a recipe for disaster.

[BaldingInReverse]

Though I respect the opinions of everyone above me, I firmly believe that it's a little more complicated than a simple "no." It's just not that black-and-white. A young candidate is not necessarily a bad candidate. There are a lot of factors to take into account. First off, and most importantly, you didn't post up any pictures. This community would get a better feel for where your nephew really stands if you posted some pics. How bad is the hair loss? When did it start? How's the donor area looking? Is it stabilized? Is he on meds? How's the family tree's hairline looking? What are his goals for the potential procedure?

Yes, I will concede that 95% of the time, a young man should forgo a potential life altering procedure for a few years and wait to see what the mirror shows in 3 or 5 or even 10 years. Most young people want the procedure done to lower their hairline anyway. Which, as all of you know, is on top of the why-not-to-get-a-hair-transplant list. Very few people my age were as seriously progressed as I was. My action was immediate. I was on rogaine at 17 and fin at 18 but despite my best efforts and fruitless pleas to my hair to stay, it vanished by the time I was 20. I had consultations with several doctors, all recommended on this forum, who all told me that my case, though rare, was not isolated. They had worked on patients as young as I. I strongly recommend that your nephew take a look at my thread. I just posted my 4 month pics about 15 minutes ago and progress is going great.

[mahhong]

Lots of good advice here. The bottom line is most young people want their hair restored to how it was a few years ago; they want low hairlines and excellent density and coverage pretty much everywhere.

 

Whilst that may be possible, it's not usually ethical. People who start balding young (late teens/early twenties) will almost always go on to bald quite significantly and once you start down the road of hair transplantation you really have to see it through or there could be trouble. If his hairline was lowered and restored to good density that could easily take 1500 - 2500 grafts (out of a likely donor supply of somewhere between 6000 - 8000 grafts). Imagine if he goes on to lose the rest of his hair - he'd have an dense hairline and nothing else, and maybe only 3000 - 6000 grafts left. It could be disastrous.

 

As others have said, it would definitely be worth him consulting with a reputable surgeon just to see and get educated - but he'd need to understand the facts about balding and the facts about hair transplantation and donor supply/demand. I would imagine most reputable doctors would be unwilling to do the work - especially if it was lowering a hairline.

[ontop]

I agree 100% with above member.

 

You won't put a new roof on your house & spend all that money if its only going to last you 2 yrs it a long term investment to last you 20/25 yrs if possible.

[MAW99]

I appreciate all of the advice from everyone. I will have another chat with him next week about having a transplant.

[ontop]

I appreciate all of the advice from everyone. I will have another chat with him next week about having a transplant.

 

Better still, why don't you tell him to join this forum so he can ask questions of his own concerns & he can read up on a lot of the younger members his age.