very early age hair loss

[kyle2323]

I must say I have the worst case of hair loss at an early age I have ever seen. I am 20 years old and have been balding and thinning since highschool. My confidence and happiness have gone way down as well as my self esteem. I don't know why I went bald so early but it's really bad and I want to do something about it. To let eveyone know just how bad it is, when I cut my own hair i don't even take the clippers to the top of my head. It's more like peach fuzz than hair. Why have I gone bald at such an early age and what can I do about it being so young? Has anyone else out there ever seen, experienced, or heard of anyone going bald so early.

[Maxxy]

Welcome Kyle2323,

 

You are not alone, my hair loss wasn't aggressive and has been a slow process, however, I also started balding at an early age.

 

I first visited the doctors at the age of 15, by that point I had receded to the extent class mates would notice while I did sports.

 

There are medical treatments available but you really need to go see a dermatologist first to be evaluated.

 

Stick with the forum, you will get the best advise on here... from doctors and members, we have all been through it.

[Marvin]

Yes, this is not uncommon. Many people start going bald as early as 14, 15, 16, 17, etc.

 

Your best bet is to start taking the drug finasteride.

[Maxxy]

As Marvin said, Finasteride and Minoxidil will likely be what's recommend, however, I still feel you should be evaluated by a dermatologist or at least a transplant doctor first.

[Raphael84]

I was in a similar place at 20. Using concealers at 21. Still till this day am, now Im 25. Taking Finasteride since I was 20. Used the last few years to save hard, see how my pattern progresses, research copious amounts, and make a plan.

 

However far away this all seems to you now, stay active on this site and ask questions. It will give you peace of mind that you do have options. None of them easy, but they are there non the less.

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

I actually had a 17 year old male patient who was already a stage 6. He came to me with his father and grandfather who were both stage 7-8. They felt really bad because they knew how hard it was for them at that age, and he was getting ready to go away to college. We worked together to create a reasonable game plan. He spent a lot of time working on how to be more comfortable with himself despite the hair loss. Eventually he gained self confidence and elevated his self esteem and concentrated on other issues that he realized were more important.

[dakota3]

Dr. Charles,

Did this reasonable plan include a HT? If so why? That bald, that young should be turned away IMO!

[thanatopsis_awry]

I'm also curious as to what the plan included; I think Azza at 19 is the youngest patient I know of who underwent a HT.

 

Just to add to the thread...I began to thin at 17 with what would be very aggressive MPB. It was even pointed out to me in jest my junior year of highschool (christ lol). I couldn't even fathom that I could be experiencing baldness, particularly since my hair was *the* thing that I most associated with my attractiveness and what I focused on the most as a metric for my aesthtic self.

 

At 19 it really hit me that I was balding and became very obvious to the point I had zero recourse for concealing it.

 

By the time I was 20 the sht hit the fan and I was a ~NW4, with a totally recessed and ravaged frontal 1/3rd that left me almot entirely barren, as well as a thin crown. My hairloss crippled me and I became obsessive; thankfully, my obsession did lead me to this site, and I began to research quality options while informing myself.

 

I had just turned 22 when I had my HT.

 

It's very much uncommon to have to experience what you're experiencing, especially if it is aggressive MPB. But adversity breeds rare power, and you simply must work through it.

 

You have options, regardless; more than you'd think. Shoot me a PM if you/anyone wants to emote or get direct feedback on routes to take in getting through things and adapting to one of life's more difficult curveballs.

[coscanoer]

Originally posted by dakota3:

Dr. Charles,

Did this reasonable plan include a HT? If so why? That bald, that young should be turned away IMO!

 

Why? The concern with doing HTs young is the fear of having more hairloss in the future. If this guy's already Kojak then I'm not sure what's the difference. I'm sure Dr. Charles would appropriately go conservative and there can't be much more to lose.

[coscanoer]

I always had a high forehead since I was a kid, but I wore my hair fairly long and parted in the middle from age 10 to 17 before cutting it really short, at which point I noticed for the first time how high and vertex-y my hairline really was. Now that I look back, it's apparent that my hairline receded to a solid NW3 between age 10 and 14 or 15, in a pure recession pattern with essentially no diffuse thinning, and then just stopped. It never dawned on me until I was 25 that I had had MPB hairloss super-young. Weird.

[thanatopsis_awry]

I have no clue if this actually happened, but hypothetically he fear would be someone who is a NW6 at the age of *17* is in incredibly dangerous ground and primed towards some extreme hairloss. I have no idea what the actual liklihood looks, like, but I'd imagine that NW7 seems is as much of a shoe-in as can be.

 

That aside, I just would question what you could truly give a 17 year old kid who is a NW6, and what could actually become an improvement. Bic'ing and doing the usual life-improvements seems a lot safer in a lot of ways, barring carpetbombing 8k+ grafts which he hopefully would have (and even then...)

[Balboa]

i also was 22 when i had my transplant

[Telepinu]

Wow, I am 22 now. I wish I had the cash necessary for one but I will wait a while.

 

On average, how much did the surgeries cost you guys?

[Marvin]

NW6 at 17 sounds insane. I was freaked out when I saw NW3 at 19 on one of my college friends.

[Al - Moderator]

I was being teased about my bald spot when I was 16. NW 5 by 21. Had a HT at 22 to reverse it. That didn't work. All I got was a bit of VERY thin hair and lots of scars. The area widened and lengthened faster than they were able to add hair. The result is that I never looked better than before I started the HT process. It just dos not work on someone very young with aggressive hair loss.

[Judge Holden]

Originally posted by coscanoer:

Originally posted by dakota3:

Dr. Charles,

Did this reasonable plan include a HT? If so why? That bald, that young should be turned away IMO!

 

Why? The concern with doing HTs young is the fear of having more hairloss in the future. If this guy's already Kojak then I'm not sure what's the difference. I'm sure Dr. Charles would appropriately go conservative and there can't be much more to lose.

Its not really as simple as it sounds. Just because a guy appears to be close to totally bald it does not mean there is no risk in giving a transplant at that young of age. His sides could drop, his hair will end up being very thin leading to a bizarre appearance with no donor left and no options to shave. Add to that that he is just getting used to the idea of being bald, his opinion could change in a few years and he may not want to be a hair transplant guy. I'm not knocking hair transplants but they will certainly complicate his life more than just shaving his head will.

[thanatopsis_awry]

Whether to get a HT or "simply" buzz your head is a tough call, and I think every young guy must try out the latter.

 

I honestly believe that a strategic FUE session to build the constructs of a hairline, etc., to then *buzz* down is extremely attractive.

 

I love being able to style my hair in cool ways, but the HT certainly complicates life, especially as you are forced to contemplate future surgeries (which I'm currently having to do).

 

The grass is always greener on the other side, but I do wonder "what if" I did the above...would I have moved behind hairloss more than I otherwise have? What effect would this have had on me...

 

Still happy I went the route of the HT, all in all, and I suspect I'll be even happier after I bite the bullet on my next one.

[Judge Holden]

Im going to share a little information about my hairloss/transplant history. I stated before that I had 3k done at Armani at age 25. This was only partially true, I had my first transplant at Armani at 19 for 1200 grafts and the second at 25 for 2k. I suppose the reason I left out this information was I feel I was misled with my first operation and I would have a hard time explainly why I would return to someone with questionable ethics. ( at the time I researched I heard he was the best at strip and I was honestly worried about going to someone worse) Let me say that I absolutely regret having my first hair transplant done, I actually shaved my head for a few years after and was comfortable with the look although I was conscious of the scar. Right now I actually appear to have more hair than my senior year of high school, however as I see more and more friends balding it has become less of an issue for me and I would prefer the freedom of shaving with no scar and not having to be on drugs. Having said all of that, things have worked out okay so far however I must say my hair causes me more grief than it did before any surgery.