24M Hair Transplant Recommendation or Advice - NW4 or NW5

[hairman22]

I would risk a transplant.

Only reason is you have a very strong donor & you are young & it is more important in your 20's & early 30's to have good hair imo.

But you need a top class surgeon.

Eugenix or Zarev would be my choice if I was you.

But you would need to be prepared for a few surgeries I would think.

 

[MZiyad98]

19 hours ago, Fox243 said:

I’m really confused why people are so wary of having young people have transplants. If NW7s can get transplants, why can’t young people?
 

Not to hijack the thread, but many doctors, such as Eugenix, Dr. Bloxham, and Hasson and Wong were more than willing to do transplants on me despite me being a NW4-5 at 22. Some were more wary Ie Dr. Konior, but he was still willing to do the front half and leave the crown alone for now.

 

 

18 hours ago, SadMan2021 said:

if you think its ok for a young 22 yr old such as yourself to get a HT, and you've already been quoted by multiple doctors, why haven't you pulled the trigger yet?

 

18 hours ago, Fox243 said:

I don’t think it’s okay – I’m unsure. On one hand, many veterans on the forum tell me to either shave, wear a hair system, or stick it out with propecia for several more years. On the other hand, many clinics gave me the green light as long as I have realistic expectations.

 

I’m trying to figure out why this discrepancy exists. I’m also hoping things such as Verteporfin come out soon so I can have a scarless surgery. 

 

@Fox243, spot on. One of my intentions of this post was to understand the discrepancy in the concept. On contrast to what ever is there online, I have experienced aggressive shedding in the past five years. I am at a point where there is very little hair over all which looks thick and healthy compared to the once that fall. There are thin (short & long) hairs on my crown and temple region which was formed as result of the "Big 3" treatments. Rational part of me looks at the logics of all these aspects and pushes me to go forward with HT.

[ciaus]

19 minutes ago, MZiyad98 said:

If doing an HT now will last for the next 10 to 15 years, I would still proceed with the treatment and decide to shave it entirely off after that. Going for any option that can give me the "young" look while I am still young.

 

About shaving your head after having a hair transplant, try to think carefully about that. If that's what you end up doing it will look weird with scarring on the back/sides of your head where they extracted the hairs. And depending on how well your body heals and the skill of your doctor, you might have weird looking issues on the top and front of your head too, like cobblestoning, ridging, etc. 

In 10 or 15 years your only going to be about 35 or 40.That's alooot of life left to live with a weird looking head. I'm 45 and I still don't notice much difference in how good I feel, being healthy, when compared to how I felt in my 20s.

Again, try to think long term. It's going to surprise you how healthy and well you still feel, and how much you will still care about how you look, as you mature into your 30s, 40s, 50s, even 60s. Once you start cutting into your head there's no going back to a virgin, natural looking scalp.

 

[MZiyad98]

6 minutes ago, ciaus said:

 

About shaving your head after having a hair transplant, try to think carefully about that. If that's what you end up doing it will look weird with scarring on the back/sides of your head where they extracted the hairs. And depending on how well your body heals and the skill of your doctor, you might have weird looking issues on the top and front of your head too, like cobblestoning, ridging, etc. 

In 10 or 15 years your only going to be about 35 or 40.That's alooot of life left to live with a weird looking head. I'm 45 and I still don't notice much difference in how good I feel, being healthy, when compared to how I felt in my 20s.

Again, try to think long term. It's going to surprise you how healthy and well you still feel, and how much you will still care about how you look, as you mature into your 30s, 40s, 50s, even 60s. Once you start cutting into your head there's no going back to a virgin, natural looking scalp.

 

 

From my understanding, FUE / DHT does not leave any scaring. On top of that, appearance matters more to me in my 20's to mid 30's more than after. Anyways, Will definitely consider your inputs will taking such decisions.

[ciaus]

9 minutes ago, MZiyad98 said:

From my understanding, FUE / DHT does not leave any scaring.

That's not correct, ALL types of FUE and FUT hair transplants leave scarring. And since scar tissue has less pigmentation than normal skin, making it whiter/lighter in appearance, they are more visible on people with darker skin shades.

[Fox243]

17 minutes ago, ciaus said:

That's not correct, ALL types of FUE and FUT hair transplants leave scarring. And since scar tissue has less pigmentation than normal skin, making it whiter/lighter in appearance, they are more visible on people with darker skin shades.

Can’t we just SMP over FUE scars?

[Fox243]

And just as an update, Dr. Couto also recommended I wait till 25 – so it really seems every surgeon has a different view towards young patients. 

[Fox243]

@MZiyad98I’d recommend you reach out to really conservative docs like Dr. Bisanga and see what he says. If he says yes, I think that gives you the green light. If no, then it’s a harder decision, as some clinics will say yes and others no. 

[ciaus]

1 hour ago, Fox243 said:

Can’t we just SMP over FUE scars?

Yea that can be done, and it will need to be 'touched up' at least every few years to offset fading. Scar tissue doesn't retain ink as well and for as long as normal skin tissue. Sometimes depending on the scarring and how quickly your unique immune system breaks down the ink, the time between refreshes can be so short that its not worth it. Especially if you have to travel a good distance to get it done.

[baldiee]

I had the same exact hair loss as you. You are going to lose it all. You will be Norwood 6. You will need multiple transplants if you want your hair back from front to back. It will cost around $40,000 in total (3 FUT and 1 FUE) from a good quality surgeon. The timing will take about 3 years to get the final look as you have to wait 6-12 months before you can have another procedure. You wouldn't even need to be on Finasteride after the 4 transplants since all of it will be transplanted. Best of luck to you! 

[Ryan Rap]

Large Fut first (H&W) then Zarev second. And get on Dutasteride and oral minoxidil if possible. There’s a path I believe but you have to hit home runs every at bat 

[Melvin- Admin]

You have aggressive hair loss for 24, probably headed towards Norwood 6 by 30. Are you on medication, there’s no point in getting a hair transplant unless you stabilize your hair loss first. Are you on finasteride? 

[Hair4Days]

2 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

You have aggressive hair loss for 24, probably headed towards Norwood 6 by 30. Are you on medication, there’s no point in getting a hair transplant unless you stabilize your hair loss first. Are you on finasteride? 

Why is there no point in a Ht unless he takes medication? There’s alot of people that chose not to be on fin and went ahead with surgery as long as expectations are realistic

[ciaus]

8 hours ago, James C said:

Why is there no point in a Ht unless he takes medication? There’s alot of people that chose not to be on fin and went ahead with surgery as long as expectations are realistic

This guy has been doing minoxidil, finasteride, prp and he's still losing. Maybe he's getting close to losing all he's ever going to lose, but there's no way to know that especially at this very young age. Melvin said there's no point in a HT if the hair loss hasn't stabilized. The only ways its going to stabilize is by giving it time to play out, which this guy doesn't want to do, or responding well to medications, which this guy hasn't. And as far as realistic expectation go, this guy has already posted that he just wants to look young while he's still young, so that's missing from this scenario as well.

[NARMAK]

8 hours ago, James C said:

Why is there no point in a Ht unless he takes medication? There’s alot of people that chose not to be on fin and went ahead with surgery as long as expectations are realistic

Because if a person hypothetically gets a transplant where their current hair is amongst the native hair, in 10 years if all those hair are lost to male pattern baldness, you have a bunch of weirdly placed areas where your hair is. It will stand out like a sore thumb 

Medication is recommended because it allows you to try my slow/halt the progression of male pattern baldness and the longer you are on it and can prove you have done the above, the more likely you can be considered for a hair transplant.

If you aren't on medication and have aggressive hair loss in your 20s even if you were on medication, then you're still in a bad position. They would rather the hair loss be stable and stopped if possible whether on medication or not. That way any hair transplanted is likely to yield a much more long term result. Not add to your woes 

[Hair4Days]

7 minutes ago, ciaus said:

This guy has been doing minoxidil, finasteride, prp and he's still losing. Maybe he's getting close to losing all he's ever going to lose, but there's no way to know that especially at this very young age. Melvin said there's no point in a HT if the hair loss hasn't stabilized. The only ways its going to stabilize is by giving it time to play out, which this guy doesn't want to do, or responding well to medications, which this guy hasn't. And as far as realistic expectation go, this guy has already posted that he just wants to look young while he's still young, so that's missing from this scenario as well.

Even if he levels off at a complete Norwood 6, that doesn’t necessarily eliminate him from being a candidate of surgery without meds. That was my point. But yeah to stay looking youthful at 24 specifically, holding onto as much as possible is the easier route. Unless he committed to 2/3 surgeries over the next 5 years 

[Hair4Days]

4 minutes ago, NARMAK said:

Because if a person hypothetically gets a transplant where their current hair is amongst the native hair, in 10 years if all those hair are lost to male pattern baldness, you have a bunch of weirdly placed areas where your hair is. It will stand out like a sore thumb 

 

This is why you need a surgeon who knows how to strategically place grafts in zones that in the event your native hair falls out, the transplants can stand alone and look natural. Not random patches all over. It will look thinner no doubt, but hopefully not weird

[NARMAK]

1 hour ago, James C said:

This is why you need a surgeon who knows how to strategically place grafts in zones that in the event your native hair falls out, the transplants can stand alone and look natural. Not random patches all over. It will look thinner no doubt, but hopefully not weird

Again, hair loss and transplants aren't perfect. Even the best surgeons can't fully anticipate which is why taking medication or having hair loss be stable for some time is usually recommended so much. 

[Hair4Days]

1 hour ago, NARMAK said:

Again, hair loss and transplants aren't perfect. Even the best surgeons can't fully anticipate which is why taking medication or having hair loss be stable for some time is usually recommended so much. 

I mean, your argument was you’d look weird after native hair falls out after a transplant. I think the better surgeons plan for this. You can’t expect patients to be on finasteride for life.. In a perfect world you’d hold on to a majority of your native hair with medication if you can tolerate it. If not, get surgery without taking meds. You’d need to cover more real estate and may not be able to get your crown worked on if your donor is poor, but that’s the compromise. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get a Ht if you don’t take finasteride. We see it here everyday