Can I get a hair transplant to get more density upfront ?

[Don54]

Hello I wonder if I can do a hair transplant. My left temple has always been a bit thinner but the loss of density upfront I think has been caused by traction alopecia. I’ve shaved my hair off last year a lot, sometimes even without water and foam just dry with a razor, I’m sure that I’ve damaged some of the follicles that way causing them to grow thinner and damaged. It has been exactly like this since a year and nothing changed.

 

would a hair transplant be possible ? I’ve researched a bit and I’m a bit scared because of the shock loss and risk of losing native hairs and wonder if I should just get a hair system instead. 

[DrTBarghouthi]

What is your age if i may ask ?

[Don54]

21 minutes ago, DrTBarghouthi said:

What is your age if i may ask ?

I’m 20 and will become 21 next month 

[BDK081522]

Traction alopecia isn't caused by shaving your head. You have the beginning stages of alopecia or male pattern baldness. The best advice is to visit a dermatologist or hair restoration surgeon and have them examine your hair to confirm. They will provider guidance and treatment options. More than likely you should require a prescription for finasteride and start minoxidil. After a year of medical therapy see your specialist and they will suggest possible next steps. You are definitely too young for a hair transplant at this age.  Do not fall into the trap of being offered cheap transplants oversees based on Instagram or Google ads. It will affect you for the rest of your life. 

[Don54]

4 minutes ago, BDK081522 said:

Traction alopecia isn't caused by shaving your head. You have the beginning stages of alopecia or male pattern baldness. The best advice is to visit a dermatologist or hair restoration surgeon and have them examine your hair to confirm. They will provider guidance and treatment options. More than likely you should require a prescription for finasteride and start minoxidil. After a year of medical therapy see your specialist and they will suggest possible next steps. You are definitely too young for a hair transplant at this age.  Do not fall into the trap of being offered cheap transplants oversees based on Instagram or Google ads. It will affect you for the rest of your life. 

Maybe traction alopecia isn’t the right term for it but I’m very sure that the reason the hairs there are thinner was because of being pulled out by the razor. It has been like this for a year and nothing changed. I also don’t want to use fin and min because of the side effects. Just want to thicken these spots and hope it will go well. My only fear is the shock loss thing and perhaps losing native hair but I don’t know how high the chances are for that. I would do the hair transplant here in the Netherlands and not overseas btw

[BDK081522]

I will reiterate you are too young for a hair transplant. Please do not go down this path at your age. You're displaying the typical pattern of not believing you're losing your hair because of male pattern baldness. It doesn't matter that you haven't lost more in a year. You have shown the signs of DHT minaturizing your hair. It has nothing to do with shaving. Hair does not thin because you shaved it too much. It's naive to say you will not try medical therapy because of the side effects. Yes, every medicine has side effects that MAY occur. Vast majority of patients do perfectly fine and never experience any. All we can do here on this forum is offer guidance through our own personal experiences and the years of research  we have all done. 

[Don54]

9 minutes ago, BDK081522 said:

I will reiterate you are too young for a hair transplant. Please do not go down this path at your age. You're displaying the typical pattern of not believing you're losing your hair because of male pattern baldness. It doesn't matter that you haven't lost more in a year. You have shown the signs of DHT minaturizing your hair. It has nothing to do with shaving. Hair does not thin because you shaved it too much. It's naive to say you will not try medical therapy because of the side effects. Yes, every medicine has side effects that MAY occur. Vast majority of patients do perfectly fine and never experience any. All we can do here on this forum is offer guidance through our own personal experiences and the years of research  we have all done. 

Of course shaving itself won’t do something like that, but mine I think got accidentally pulled out by a razor which can happen if you aren’t careful at all and don’t use any water or foam. All Finasteride does is stopping further hair loss but it doesn’t do any regrowth and ad in all the potential side effects I just don’t want to use it.

 

whats the problem with my age btw ? Like even if I should lose more hair behind that area in the future I could just do a hair transplant again 

[LaserCaps]

I can truly understand the scenario and your concerns.  But many things to consider.  Why is age important?  If you've shown the propensity to lose, you will continue losing.  That's a fact.  So, if you've shown this aggressive loss at such young age, it is likely you will end up having an advanced pattern with not enough donor to address the whole pattern.  Like many doctors like to say, "prepare for the worst, hope for the best."  If we had a hair crystal ball, this would all be moot. But since we don't have one, why not prep intelligently?  First thing is to consider is medical therapy.  OK so like many, you are concerned about possible side effects.  So don't do Finasteride.  There is Rogaine, PRP, laser which have proven to be effective to help with retention.  It typically takes a good year to confirm effectiveness of any modality.  Once we can confirm retention, you can then consider moving forward with an intervention.

You point to the temporal points,  The fact however, you are thinning your entire front.  Say the meds are not effective and you do a transplant procedure. You would end up with two horns and nothing else.  Not a very natural result. 

It would be nice if you could photo your entire head.  It would give us a better idea of what pattern we are dealing with. 

Lastly, the color of your hair is very dark and there is a lot of contrast between the color the hair and the skin.  This makes matters look worse than what they truly are. SMP could be a good consideration to help minimize the contrast.  This will buy you time......

Have you visited with any doctors yet?  How about looking at photos of results?  Get to it....

[Don54]

57 minutes ago, LaserCaps said:

I can truly understand the scenario and your concerns.  But many things to consider.  Why is age important?  If you've shown the propensity to lose, you will continue losing.  That's a fact.  So, if you've shown this aggressive loss at such young age, it is likely you will end up having an advanced pattern with not enough donor to address the whole pattern.  Like many doctors like to say, "prepare for the worst, hope for the best."  If we had a hair crystal ball, this would all be moot. But since we don't have one, why not prep intelligently?  First thing is to consider is medical therapy.  OK so like many, you are concerned about possible side effects.  So don't do Finasteride.  There is Rogaine, PRP, laser which have proven to be effective to help with retention.  It typically takes a good year to confirm effectiveness of any modality.  Once we can confirm retention, you can then consider moving forward with an intervention.

You point to the temporal points,  The fact however, you are thinning your entire front.  Say the meds are not effective and you do a transplant procedure. You would end up with two horns and nothing else.  Not a very natural result. 

It would be nice if you could photo your entire head.  It would give us a better idea of what pattern we are dealing with. 

Lastly, the color of your hair is very dark and there is a lot of contrast between the color the hair and the skin.  This makes matters look worse than what they truly are. SMP could be a good consideration to help minimize the contrast.  This will buy you time......

Have you visited with any doctors yet?  How about looking at photos of results?  Get to it....

Am I really thinning my entire front ? My hair looks normal to me as it always was everywhere else. The left temple as I mentioned has always been thinner, but the spot in the middle of the hairline has been growing like that for a year now and I’m convinced it’s because of the pulling with the razor. Maybe it’s because of MPB and it’s just a coincidence that it started right at the time they got pulled out Idk. I just want to do a hair transplant and fill those areas, if they continue to thin elsewhere and I realize it’s MPB then I would start Finasteride and Minoxidil even with its side effects. But I’m sure it isn’t.

 

I contacted a few clinics yes and they said they would do it. I got recommended the DHI method to fill these areas. There is a clinic in the Netherlands that I will probably visit this month.

[BDK081522]

Ohhhh, the DHI method! Yes, I didn't realize there was such elite clinics in the Netherlands employing such cutting edge technology. You should probably secure your surgery date for tomorrow. Surely, the clinic said they had a last minute cancellation and could get you in on the June promotional rate. It's all marketing BS. Look man, we've all been there. It's hard to navigate this whole thing. The emotional aspects of hair loss, the deception by clinics trying to get your money. I understand it's difficult but take our advice. We're trying to save you from making mistakes that many of us have made. It's great you found this forum but use the information to gather data and form a LONG TERM plan. 

[Don54]

16 minutes ago, BDK081522 said:

Ohhhh, the DHI method! Yes, I didn't realize there was such elite clinics in the Netherlands employing such cutting edge technology. You should probably secure your surgery date for tomorrow. Surely, the clinic said they had a last minute cancellation and could get you in on the June promotional rate. It's all marketing BS. Look man, we've all been there. It's hard to navigate this whole thing. The emotional aspects of hair loss, the deception by clinics trying to get your money. I understand it's difficult but take our advice. We're trying to save you from making mistakes that many of us have made. It's great you found this forum but use the information to gather data and form a LONG TERM plan. 

So I should just give up on all this ? I think about getting a hair system instead but it costs way more on the long term than a hair transplant would do and it would make me feel uncomfortable having to wear what is basically a wig.

Why is it so complicated in my case though ? Surely it would be possible to just fill in these areas. And if I do have indeed MPB and realize after the operation that the thinning has not been caused by the razor pulling them out I could still start with Finasteride and Minoxidil.

And no I haven’t talked yet with the clinic in the Netherlands which method would be the best, the doctor wants to meet me and wants to see my hair first. It was recommended by other clinics I have been in contact with though.

[Gasthoerer]

Hairloss is a long journey. You are at the very beginning of this journey. Read in here and other forums for a couple of month and you will have a better view.

1. You clearly have signs of male pattern baldness in the entire front

2. Shaving has nth to do with it, but if shaving is an option --> Shave it and/or think about SMP (but careful, this business is as shady a HT business).

3. To make a proper evaluation, we need more info: pics from am sides, a timeline, family history

4. 20 is typically to young for a HT, as you might progress to such a high level that you might run out of grafts --> Unnatural look is much worse than a balding look

5. 99 % of all HT clinics in the world are bad. This is an unregulated industry. Most of the clinics look for Dollar first and your best interest second.

6. Medications is always the first defence

 

Good luck!

[Don54]

29 minutes ago, Gasthoerer said:

SMP (but careful, this business is as shady a HT business)

I never really thought about that. Would that actually work in my case to fill in these spots ? It seems to be done only on guys with shaved off/buzzed hair.

[HappyMan2021]

if you were 30 or 40, I would say this level of hair loss is pretty average MPB. But this is pretty bad MPB for 21. 

You are way too young for a HT. Your level of hairloss shows that, unaided by medication, you could be a NW 6 or NW 7 by 30. As others have said, getting a HT now will basically guarantee needing multiple HTs in the future to chase future loss. 

Come back when you are 25 for the HT option (and even that is really young for a HT....but more realistic than 21). 

Hope on Fin ASAP. No reason to not take i

[Don54]

22 minutes ago, SadMan2021 said:

Hope on Fin ASAP. No reason to not take i

Can I not get a hair transplant and then start taking it ? The transplant could regrow the thinning areas and with Fin I would make sure the rest doesn’t get affected by MPB

[HappyMan2021]

Just now, Don54 said:

Can I not get a hair transplant and then start taking it ? The transplant could regrow the thinning areas and with Fin I would make sure the rest doesn’t get affected by MPB

While your level of hairloss is not objectively terrible, it is a bad level of hairloss for the age of 21. I would say there is a 95% chance you have further significant loss throughout the next decade. Fin is a great preventative measure, but even on Fin you may have some hairloss. 

In a best case scenario, sure you could hop on Fin, get a HT now, and hope to have zero loss for the rest of your 20's. It is just unlikely to happen. 

[DrTBarghouthi]

You do have what seems like early male pattern hair loss. It is genetically predisposed and hormonally mediated. I suggest getting on some good maintenance meds such as finasteride (oral or topical) or whatever suits you best. Still too young for a hair transplant given your early pattern. 

[longjonsilver]

I would jump on fin and minoxidil asap. That should stabilize loss and you may be one of the lucky ones to get some regrowth. When in a few years and you decide to get a ht then you'll need less grafts/procedures than if you do nothing now.

[Falconary]

If you would fill in those areas in this young age, you would have to do HT every couple of years to fill in other bald areas. I remember reading of a guy filling his left temple, after 2 years he started loosing much hair om his right temple and made another HT to fill it. And after a couple of years his hair loss accelerated and he lost almost all of frontal hair, except the temples, it looked extremely odd... I started loosing hair at 22, and I'm 33 now and planning to do my first HT in the coming months because My hair loss has stabilized, and I'm extremely glad i didnt do HT in the beginning as I would just be on a HT Hunt every year.