HT in 20s success?

[gxm100]

Hi guys, has anyone on here had a hair transplant in their mid 20s, especially mid 20s, that they were pleased with? Even if you had to have procedures later in life - I'd like to hear some opinions from people who actually did a HT in their 20s as to whether or not it was too early. Anyone willing to share would be much appreciated!

[mikeey]

too young for 20's , wait till you get around mid 30 , by that time your hair loss will stabilize and you will get a better idea of your loss ..... if you do it in 20's you risk loosing more hair that a yet to fall out due to genetics , and btw I don't like the idea of propecia ... that really sucks the life out of a person .... too much Horror .... but Rogaine yea that is fine .

[Joesocks202]

Hi guys, has anyone on here had a hair transplant in their mid 20s, especially mid 20s, that they were pleased with? Even if you had to have procedures later in life - I'd like to hear some opinions from people who actually did a HT in their 20s as to whether or not it was too early. Anyone willing to share would be much appreciated!

 

You will grow as good as anyone else. But is your hairline that high on your forehead. You don't want to transplant a hairline too low only to see the rest of the hair fall out behind it. See a good hair doctor in your area and you can find out quickly.

[Petchski]

I was 28 when i had my first procedure, seven years later i needed to get another, but partly my own fault, as i quit minox and was a great responder to it.

 

I don't regret the procedure at all, but as Joe mentions in the post above, be careful of front loading...i went conservative and spread the grafts out, so although i lost hair later it still looked natural.

[gxm100]

Hey Petchski,

 

So your original HT was in the fron 1/3 of your head? I have no interest in trying to get a super thick NW1 hairline. For me, an nw2 even 2.5 with moderate thickness would be fantastic. I feel like I have pretty realistic expectations. For me, at NW3 I just can't do anything with my hair anymore and it's frustrating. I'm fully understanding of what the future may hold. So you think as long as I'm conservative there isn't anything wrong with it? You mentioned having to get a second procedure years later...but that'd be no issue for me as years - or even a year for that matter - without having to be so self conscious about it, would be well worth it.

[Spanker]

I was 28 when i had my first procedure, seven years later i needed to get another, but partly my own fault, as i quit minox and was a great responder to it.

 

I don't regret the procedure at all, but as Joe mentions in the post above, be careful of front loading...i went conservative and spread the grafts out, so although i lost hair later it still looked natural.

 

You had an excellent game plan as you had a high hairline and spread your grafts out, so, you are right yours looks extremely natural considering you lost more hair.

 

I also see that you dropped your propecia dose. How far did you drop it?

[Petchski]

gxm - yes the frontal third. I think your expectations are realistic, and as long as you have control of your hairloss, on propecia etc then imo i think you'll be fine, but of course you still have other important decisions to make, such as strip or FUE, which doctor etc..

 

Hey spanker, yeah i also dropped my propecia dosage, and frequency that i took it, which also contributed to my hair loss.

 

You know i'm not 100% sure, but i think i dropped from everyday 1mg to .8 every Mon-Wed-Fri, but i also got a little slack with it and would sometimes only be taking it twice a week, so about a couple of months, maybe three months before my 2nd transplant i started taking 1.25mg every Mon-Wed-Fri and i feel that is enough for me to maintain, hair feels better, even get morning wood again, which came as a pleasant surprise.

[gxm100]

Yeah the decision between FUE and FUT in 20s is a challenging one...I know FUT generally has a bit higher of a yield and is less expensive, but the scar is a big downer. And I do understand that there is scarring associated with FUE but in my opinion it's much better than the strip scar. FUE, in my mind, gives you the option to abandon further HTs, bite the bullet and shave to a low clipper in the future if you so choose. My main consideration is FUE with Dr. Rahal. He is not close to me, but I'm not going to sacrifice location and cost when we're talking about my permanent appearance. I've seen some pretty good results from him, I also have blonde hair which I now understand may be beneficial to adding to the illusion of density.

 

Considering I'm balding at 23 my goal is to make it to about 30 with a decent head of hair. You may say "you still care about your hair when you're 30" and I'm sure that's true. But losing it at 30 is exponentially better than at 23 if you ask me!

[gxm100]

I also plan on giving Propecia its full year to take effect. If it manages to thicken the hairline that I currently have, that might be good enough for me and I'll be able to put this off for some time. Either way, I wouldn't actually be having a procedure until at least 24. Hoping more like 25 or 26.

[thisguy1]

So you think as long as I'm conservative there isn't anything wrong with it? You mentioned having to get a second procedure years later...but that'd be no issue for me as years - or even a year for that matter - without having to be so self conscious about it, would be well worth it.

 

Are you being honest with this assessment? A 2500 FUE will be say $15K. You are willing to pay $15K for "even a year" of cosmetic improvement? I mean you are 23 - maybe your parents are very well off and funding this or you worked from age 18 on but most people dont have $15K to p*ss away for a 12 month improvement.

 

Later in the thread you wrote you just want to get thru your 20s and losing hair again in your 30s wouldn't be so bad. I know when we are all 23, we think 33 is an old man but its an age you could easily be single and for many its just entering their prime so I think you have to be honest again with yourself. With ave age of men, even in a decade you will have 40+ yrs of life to go and not that much of the male populace will be heavily balding so "being ok" with it at age 31 when you seem so distressed about it today seems unlikely IMO.

 

It sucks to lose hair so early - been there, done that - I had a friend ask me if I was balding my senior year in college and I still remember the comment 2 decades later. But I think you need to be honest with yourself on what will be "ok" down the road if it affects you this much now that you want to get a HT.

 

Hopefully the medicine works for you but realistically you have a good chance for NW5/6 i you are NW2/3 already at 23. I'd stick to the medicine for now and reassess your head in 3-4 years. You will have a better idea of your needs then. And FUE is not without issues too - there is a thread on here from last week of a 25 year old guy who was NW2 and just wanted temple work done and went to a top doc and now he is miserable a year later.

 

Also re: FUE v FUT if you are in it for the long haul the reality is you are probably going to need FUT done if you want to get maximum yield out of your head and you are headed to NW5+ status. Which you won't have any way to tell at age 23 or 25.

[gxm100]

Thisguy1 - I appreciate the input - and you are right, I was not really being honest when I said I'd pay that much for a year of improvement. But in the event that I see myself responding well to treatment before going for the procedure, I do believe the result would last for much longer than a year. Also, I do realize that 33 is not an old man, I'm simply stating I'd rather lose my hair at 33 than 23 - I think my logic is fairly easy to see there.

 

My parents are not "very wel off" nor are they going to fund anything I decide to do. I was incorrect to suggest I'd spent 15k for one year. But please do not assume to know my financial situation. But I do absolutely see your point and I will try to be more careful about what I say in the future.

 

I think people set out to achieve different things with HTs and it's the management of expectation that should be the real concern. You can look at situations like Calum Best or Wayne Rooney where they started the process young and have had multiple procedures, but still look pretty good in my opinion. And they don't even take propecia! I think ultimately it's equally as tough to tell someone that they'll feel really poorly about hair loss in 10 years as it is for someone to tell you that they won't.