Getting a HT when young - a delicate issue.

[bonkling]

When it comes to getting a transplant in your 20's, what is everyone's thoughts?

The prevailing opinion seems to be, and sensibly so, that we should wait until we are at least 30, and that way one can better gauge what their hair loss pattern will be down the track. 

The issue here, for people in their mid-late 20's, is that this means spending another few years with a receded hairline that will be getting progressively worse.  

This time of people's lives is filled with socialising, parties, events, weddings, engagements, and so on, and for someone to be forced to wear a hat literally everywhere, or feel super self-conscious, just doesn't seem like a great way to live. 

Considering this, would people agree that if someone was to accept a conservative hairline, and accept that they most likely WILL need surgeries within the next few years, such a procedure is ethical and appropriate in this instance?

Thanks all, your opinions are always so valued. 

[Shera]

Thousands of patients in their mid to late 20s have hair restoration surgery for more or less the reasons you describe above.Why hide away wasting the prime years of your life when you should be out there full of beans making things happen and laying down your life's foundations. 

The most important thing to take into account is that hair loss is progressive and any surgery at this age is very likely to not be your last. Therefore patients in their 20s need to look at the big picture and the road that lays ahead.

It's best to first consider all alternatives to surgery first,

- a different style to disguise the balding areas perhaps 

- use of fibres to thicken the appearance of your hair thus disguising any thinning areas.

- going down the medical route to help recover thinning hair and delay any future balding.

If surgery is a must then its best to stick to a conservative surgery which will make an aesthetic difference enabling you to move on or enable you to use the above options to help you move on. Much will depend on the available grafts you have in your safe donor. The fewer the availability of grafts the more a conservative approach you must take.

As usual look at pointers such as the balding patterns of older relatives to determine where you will end up if there is no intervention.

Most importantly, choose the right surgeon for you, most of you will only get one real good chance.

Edited April 7, 2019 by Shera

[harry_potter1]

1-I don't think there is a real issue from ethical stand point regarding having HT early on. As long as your doctor is honest with you. which remains to be the case whether you are 20 or 60 

 

2-With that being said, a lot of doctors (especially those starting with FUE) tend to be too generous with the way they do the Hairline for young patient. They will make you look like a guy with Tom Cruise hair now, but on the expense of using huge portion of your grafts. 

This can have its downside. For me a guy with thick hairline (that isn't conservative) who is almost bald the rest of the way (remaining part is totally bald or with diffused baldness) is the worst possible looking. And I've seen it in one of the top clinics in the world actually (not sure if it was the dr or the patient idea tbh) 

Those clinics will be happy to present you as an amazing case, wow look at how awesome he is now. But 20 years later when you are struggling to fill the rest of your head, they won't care any more. You already served a purpose of making them look awesome. 

 

3-The wise thing for long term is to wait till your 30's, to get better idea of what your baldness will look like and be able to think long term and do less number of surgeries. Also be more confident you can afford them on long term etc. 

 

4-But this doesn't acknowledge the psychological factors in it. I am 31, has started balding since my teens (I noticed a very small tiny recession on my temple are when I was 16) and I won't deny that it wasn't enjoyable journey in my 20's.

No one knows what is gonna happen tomorrow. You only live once, and you don't know if you are gonna be alive in your 30's or 50's (I wish you a long happy life for sure) so you can always go YOLO. 

 

5-But not all doctors like that, many will try to make a long term plan for you. Being very careful with your hair etc. 

 

6-So in many ways, there is no right answer. It depends on your character before your doctor. Some people always "go for it" while others always preparing for long term and be sure tomorrow is better day. Neither is wrong, and both are right in different ways. 

Most important thing is to select a top notch doctor who is honest and willing to look for the future, and be comfortable with your choice and live with it. 

HT is about making a psychological relief and giving you confidence. So at the end you are the one who can decide

[Kvn]

honestly, i don't think there's an excuse not to get a transplant in your 20's - unless you're financially unstable or content without hair. but that's also coming from someone who's guaranteed a HT in his 20's. realistically, i don't see any issue with starting early (especially if you intend on dealing with it progressively) since there's really no definite way of knowing how long you're going to have that hair for.

i like how potter put it, "YOLO". you're not guaranteed any amount of time, so make the most of it now. worst case, you may eventually end up bald anyway, but an early HT will hold that off to a point where it's at least more common/acceptable, which may also be comforting.

 

[gillenator]

Many words of wisdom provided here!...

[Melvin- Admin]

I had my forever hair transplant at 29 I’m gonna be 34 in a few months. I’m glad I took the plunge. I’m still somewhat young and I’m enjoying my hair. My 30’s have been everything my 20’s weren’t. That said, I’m a lot more mature now then I was 10 years ago. There’s a big difference between early 20’s and late 20’s.

[Phillyman1996]

1 hour ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

I had my forever hair transplant at 29 I’m gonna be 34 in a few months. I’m glad I took the plunge. I’m still somewhat young and I’m enjoying my hair. My 30’s have been everything my 20’s weren’t. That said, I’m a lot more mature now then I was 10 years ago. There’s a big difference between early 20’s and late 20’s.

If you were happy with how you looked bald. And you looked very good bald. You also had very slow hairloss lets say a noorwood 2.5. Would you have gotten a hair transplant?

[Melvin- Admin]

30 minutes ago, Phillyman1996 said:

If you were happy with how you looked bald. And you looked very good bald. You also had very slow hairloss lets say a noorwood 2.5. Would you have gotten a hair transplant?

If I was happy how I looked bald probably not, but I looked like trash bald.  I posted this picture to our social media. The difference is huge for me personally. 

[Phillyman1996]

14 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

If I was happy how I looked bald probably not, but I looked like trash bald.  I posted this picture to our social media. The difference is huge for me personally. 

Big difference man. Do you notice you gotten mire attention from women with hair?

[Melvin- Admin]

1 minute ago, Phillyman1996 said:

Big difference man. Do you notice you gotten mire attention from women with hair?

I was in a relationship at the time that I went bald, so I can’t really say for sure. However, when I got out of the relationship I had no problems getting dates at all. In fact, my dating life had never been better.

Luckily, I’ve found a good girl, so I’m retiring from the dating scene once again. That said, I honestly think I would’ve done okay bald. The biggest issue was my confidence was low, because I didn’t like how I looked. That makes a world of difference, when you’re feeling yourself, others will take notice.

 

[Phillyman1996]

4 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

I was in a relationship at the time that I went bald, so I can’t really say for sure. However, when I got out of the relationship I had no problems getting dates at all. In fact, my dating life had never been better.

Luckily, I’ve found a good girl, so I’m retiring from the dating scene once again. That said, I honestly think I would’ve done okay bald. The biggest issue was my confidence was low, because I didn’t like how I looked. That makes a world of difference, when you’re feeling yourself, others will take notice.

 

That is true. Alot of men say they cannot get a women and their life is over becuase they are bald. Which isnt true. Alot of factors play a role in your ability with women. Life is more then just hair. I remember a guy who took female hormones to regrow his hair. That is too far imo.

Edited April 9, 2019 by Phillyman1996

[Melvin- Admin]

7 minutes ago, Phillyman1996 said:

That is true. Alot of men say they cannot get a women and their life is over becuase they are bald. Which isnt true. Alot of factors play a role in your ability with women. Life is more then just hair. I remember a guy who took female hormones to regrow his hair. That is too far imo.

I agree, that’s just insane. It’s usually young guys your age who do this also, sacrificing being a man for hair is no trade-off to me.

[NWsteve]

14 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

If I was happy how I looked bald probably not, but I looked like trash bald.  I posted this picture to our social media. The difference is huge for me personally. 

Hey man, your hair looks so amazing and natural!

Just wanted to chime in on this subject, I understand we want to be supportive and all that, but the reality is most women are not attracted to bald guys especially if you’re under 35. Can a bald guy pull good looking women? Of course he can, but the unfortunate truth is, a full set of hair just makes any guy more attractive and thus making his dating life much easier. 

I will say this though to all the guys desperately holding on to their few strands left, shaved head and beard is much better looking than NW 5 and comb over.

Edited April 10, 2019 by NWsteve

[LaserCap]

So many factors go into this.  Young guys, particularly, reminisce about the hairline they used to have, (in the middle of their forehead) when they were younger and they are adamant about getting that replaced.  Seldom have I heard the young agree with the doctor when he just drew a very conservative hairline during a consultation.  They all point down, as if to create a female hairline with rounded corners sloping down.  And they want their whole hair covered.

I honestly have never had an issue with guys in their 20's doing a transplant.  Why not enjoy your youth if you think that's going to make you feel better.  I think that education is key.  An ethical doctor will guide the patient properly.  The sad thing however is that if the patient does not agree with the doctor, he can then keep searching for someone that will do the work. (I am the patient, this is what I want......and the doctor agrees).  This might look OK short term but, as the pattern develops in later years, the patient is going to wish he'd never had a transplant in the first place.  Do you think he'll say, "I made a mistake?" 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

38 minutes ago, NWsteve said:

Hey man, your hair looks so amazing and natural!

Just wanted to chime in on this subject, I understand we want to be supportive and all that, but the reality is most women are not attracted to bald guys especially if you’re under 35. Can a bald guy pull good looking women? Of course he can, but the unfortunate truth is, a full set of hair just makes any guy more attractive and thus making his dating life much easier. 

I will say this though to all the guys desperately holding on to their few strands left, shaved head and beard is much better looking than NW 5 and comb over.

I don’t think it’s that women aren’t attracted to bald guys. I think it’s that most men don’t look attractive bald. For example, I think everyone can admit I look better with hair.

Very few men can pull off being bald. I certainly wasn’t one of them. If you’re attractive being bald like let’s say the Rock then being bald doesn’t really matter, but that’s the exception not the rule. 

[NWsteve]

4 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

I don’t think it’s that women aren’t attracted to bald guys. I think it’s that most men don’t look attractive bald. For example, I think everyone can admit I look better with hair.

Very few men can pull off being bald. I certainly wasn’t one of them. If you’re attractive being bald like let’s say the Rock then being bald doesn’t really matter, but that’s the exception not the rule. 

The Rock is 6’4”, built like a Greek God, already had a handsome face, and has a perfect complexion. Other than his hair, he hit the jackpot in terms of the gene lottery lol. 

The reality is the dating game is much harder for bald men.

And yes, you look much better with hair, you went from a 35 year old average looking guy to a 27 year old handsome guy. 

Edited April 10, 2019 by NWsteve

[Phillyman1996]

19 minutes ago, NWsteve said:

The Rock is 6’4”, built like a Greek God, already had a handsome face, and has a perfect complexion. Other than his hair, he hit the jackpot in terms of the gene lottery lol. 

The reality is the dating game is much harder for bald men.

And yes, you look much better with hair, you went from a 35 year old average looking guy to a 27 year old handsome guy. 

In your opinion do you think i look better with a shaved head or with hair. These are old pictures. I have a beard now. So its hard to compare.

[Al - Moderator]

On 4/9/2019 at 7:03 PM, Phillyman1996 said:

Alot of men say they cannot get a women and their life is over becuase they are bald. Which isnt true.

 

A lot of how someone thinks about it depends on how old you are when you have severe hair loss and how fast it's happening. If you have minor thinning in your mid 20s or later and you are losing it slowly then yes I agree with you, but if you have severe and rapid hair loss very early it is a very different experience. I was a NW 4 before I even reached 20 years old. Believe me there are no 17 to 21 year old women wanting to date NW 4 men. They won't even look at you as they will think you are at least 40. If you try to come on to them they will just think you are an ugly, old, creepy guy and they will run away as fast as possible. Believe me. Sure if you really want a date you can get a few 40 to 45 year olds because they think you are their age, but when you are 19 years old it is extremely depressing to think that the only women who will even look at you are more than twice as old as you. It's like dating your mom's friends. Then it gets even worse when the 40 something finds out that you are still a teenager. She will be PISSED at you as if you did something wrong.

That's just the dating part of it. Outside of dating everyone thinks you're a loser because you are working an entry level job still living with your parents because they expect someone as "old" as you to be doing something with his life, but you are only 19 years old and the people telling you this are the same age as you and they are also working the same job as you and living with their parents.

If you want to get into the feeling that life is over then think of it this way: If one person starts losing his hair at 20 and slowly loses it over 40 years and doesn't reach NW 6 until age 60, he is not going to wake up on one morning and suddenly freak out because he is bald. However if someone else also starts losing hair at 20, but wakes up the next day as a NW 6 you can be sure this person will be freaking out about it. The experience of it happening is completely different for both men. You would think the first man is crazy if he suddenly freaked out about being bald because he's been balding for years. However you wouldn't think the second man is crazy for suddenly freaking out that he is bald.

I can also tell you that if you are having rapid hair loss very early you are so afraid every day to see what you will look like next year or even the next day. Not just as far as hair loss, but you feel like you are aging 10 times faster than normal and wonder every night if you are going to suddenly have an old wrinkled face and have to walk with a cane by the time you wake up in the morning. This is a nightmare every night to someone losing hair very quickly while still in their teens.

 

[Melvin- Admin]

Behappy,

I totally agree with you, I was at least lucky enough to not go completely bald until I was almost 30. At 19-21 I still had a good head of hair. I cannot imagine how it would've been to be 19 and Norwood 4 it would've been soul crushing. I have always said that older men get hair transplants to look younger, while young men get transplants to look their age. There is a huge difference.

[Phillyman1996]

5 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Behappy,

I totally agree with you, I was at least lucky enough to not go completely bald until I was almost 30. At 19-21 I still had a good head of hair. I cannot imagine how it would've been to be 19 and Norwood 4 it would've been soul crushing. I have always said that older men get hair transplants to look younger, while young men get transplants to look their age. There is a huge difference.

Yea even if a person looks really great bald. That would make him very insecure. Losing your hair so young isnt a good experienced for most guys. 

[DrTBarghouthi]

Lots of interesting thoughts in this thread. Thank you all for sharing. 

I strongly believe that the right age for a HT is the age at which the following factors come into play together:

1) Developing an identifiable hairloss pattern with a somehow traceable family history. 

2) Being a well educated patient in terms of the need for strict maintenance therapy, and having an open mind about being conservative in your restoration efforts, as well as understanding the limitations of HT surgery.

3) Finding a doctor that will make sure you adhere to point number 2 and who will clearly try to meet any reasonable expectations only. 

I think if these criteria are fulfilled, then there will be no strict age for when a HT should be done. It is often agreed that 24/25 is an acceptable age in most cases, but you still could come across a 20 year old or younger who is NW5 or 6, with reasonable expectations and willing to stick to his medical therapy. He could still be a good candidate. 

[gillenator]

Melvin,

WOW...what an incredible transformation!

You look incredible brother...