would a hair transplant surgeon operate on an 19 year old?

[zenmu]

I’m thinking of a surgeon that would do a good job, not just a hair mill. I know it’s unlikely but could you convince them to? i have the money on hand and plan on getting one in the united states. in all honesty, i’m okay with getting another transplant in the future or the pattern of loss to be potentially strange. im on minoxidil and finasteride and by the time im 19 (one year) i’ll have been on the products for long enough to see basically the best results. 

essentially, could you convince a hair transplant surgeon to do one at this age if you explain you understand the aspects and that you take full responsibility?

 

[mister_25]

19 Year olds is crazy young, The criteria for accepting a 19 year old as a potential candidate must be very narrow and specific if ever. I imagine if you wanted to get surgery at a skilled/ethical doctor you would have to make yourself the best candidate possible and probably have to be a higher norwood with a pattern very clear, not a NW2.

[zenmu]

4 minutes ago, mister_25 said:

19 Year olds is crazy young, The criteria for accepting a 19 year old as a potential candidate must be very narrow and specific if ever. I imagine if you wanted to get surgery at a skilled/ethical doctor you would have to make yourself the best candidate possible and probably have to be a higher norwood with a pattern very clear, not a NW2.

id say i’m a norwood 2.5-3 and could simply lowering it to a 1.5-2 be fine? or just getting a “matured hairline look” that will look normal for life yk?? because if they are worried about continuous loss, couldnt u just create a hairline that will be suitable forever? do yk what i mean?  instead of getting a nw0 that will look horrid if the hair behind it thins, and you also preserve donor 

[Gatsby]

3 hours ago, zenmu said:

I’m thinking of a surgeon that would do a good job, not just a hair mill. I know it’s unlikely but could you convince them to? i have the money on hand and plan on getting one in the united states. in all honesty, i’m okay with getting another transplant in the future or the pattern of loss to be potentially strange. im on minoxidil and finasteride and by the time im 19 (one year) i’ll have been on the products for long enough to see basically the best results. 

essentially, could you convince a hair transplant surgeon to do one at this age if you explain you understand the aspects and that you take full responsibility?

 

No because he/she above all people will know that at 19 medication at this age will tell them nothing about your future pattern of hair loss. I'm living proof of this. I get it and I hear you and the pain that MPB is causing you at this age. But you will only live to regret surgery every year afterwards and the more years that go by the deeper the regret.

[Doron Harati]

Accepting paitents under age 24 is a crime 

[g8n2h9k3u7]

Unpopular opinion I guess but IMO as long as a patient is on a DHT inhibitor they should be considered appropriate for surgery, even if they are as young as late teens. On finasteride something like 90+% of men don't lose further hair, and one year is enough time to verify you're not in that unlucky 10%. On dutasteride you're essentially 100% guaranteed not to lose any more hair. So basically once you get on a DHT inhibitor you can consider your hair loss stabilized, which is the primary precondition for 'ethical' surgery. I don't see what waiting until you're older gets you in this case.

Refusing to get on a DHT inhibitor is a completely different story though. A patient should be at least age 30+ in that case, and surgery approached conservatively.

Edited January 7, 2023 by g8n2h9k3u7

[Z--]

I think in 95%+ cases, it's seriously NOT advisable for someone under the age of 25 to receive a hair transplant -- whether you're on medication or not. There's a few exceptions, but Doron is spot-on.

Hair loss is especially aggressive at that age. Unless you've been on a medication for some number of years (and who is foolish enough to recommend fin/minox to teenagers...?), it isn't clear how your hair is going to hold up. That's why assuming you start medication in early 20s, it's probably better to wait and see how much regrows or whether you lose more ground.

[Doron Harati]

We usually don't accept paitents under age 28, only on some rare occasions we accept at ages 24-27.

Either the young paitents have aggressive hairloss with potential to NW7 or it's too early, meaning the paitent must be NW3 - loose around 3cm of the hairline center so the frontal result will be homogenous (some cases we accept NW2 candidates around their 40's which you can see the DHT is stabled), if young paitent will do a procedure at stage NW1-2 the result will look uneven with 2 little horns at the temples without a hairline, I had many complaints from paitents that had procedures when they were teenagers or on their early 20's, these cases are very hard to repair and make realistic expectations with the paitent, this can really devastate a person without a question, my suggestion to young candidates to take their time and only do a research, don't waste your money and nerves on clinics that will take your money for their own benefits, a plastic surgery is for life you can't reverse it.

 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Doron Harati

[NikosHair]

3 hours ago, g8n2h9k3u7 said:

On dutasteride you're essentially 100% guaranteed not to lose any more hair

That's a bold statement.

On that basis every male could then maintain their juvenile hair until death, if they started young enough. 

What's your source to support your statement? (I think you may be conflating the ability of the drugs to block DHT with an assumption that DHT is the only factor in hair loss)

Edited January 7, 2023 by NikosHair

[NikosHair]

11 hours ago, zenmu said:

could you convince a hair transplant surgeon to do one at this age if you explain you understand the aspects and that you take full responsibility?

Please put up photos of your hair taken at various angles.

What is the level of hair loss in the family?

Edit: Photos here

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by NikosHair

[zenmu]

6 hours ago, NikosHair said:

Please put up photos of your hair taken at various angles.

What is the level of hair loss in the family?

Edit: Photos here

 

my family including my brothers and my dad (my oldest brother is 36) range from norwood 1-4 with most falling in norwood 2/3. my dad is a 4

i have 5 brothers 

Edited January 7, 2023 by zenmu

[zenmu]

9 hours ago, Z-- said:

I think in 95%+ cases, it's seriously NOT advisable for someone under the age of 25 to receive a hair transplant -- whether you're on medication or not. There's a few exceptions, but Doron is spot-on.

Hair loss is especially aggressive at that age. Unless you've been on a medication for some number of years (and who is foolish enough to recommend fin/minox to teenagers...?), it isn't clear how your hair is going to hold up. That's why assuming you start medication in early 20s, it's probably better to wait and see how much regrows or whether you lose more ground.

by the time i’m 20 ill have been on it for 2.5 years, what would you think about a transplant then, or even 21? but the majority of responses have been around age 25, but i’m hoping 23 at the latest. i’m just trying to gain as much information and knowledge as I can as to try to convince a reputable surgeon tbh. that may be a bad way of looking at it and maybe if my hair improves further on finasteride i’ll be more open to waiting, but i guess i’ll just wait and see for now. i just wanted to have my options open if possible

Edited January 7, 2023 by zenmu

[NikosHair]

Did your dad have similar levels of hair loss at 19?

What was the pattern of hair loss in your maternal and paternal grandfathers?

It's all clues to your potential hair loss designation.

The problem you have (apart from finding a high quality doctor who is willing to perform surgery) you are on the trajectory for a high norwood.

When you lose the hair behind the transplanted hair, what will you do? buzz the remaining hair? what about the scars?

Meds + Time then reassess.

[mister_25]

It’s a very touchy subject, HTs at a young age can make things worse if your approach isn’t perfect. It’s the reality that everyone has to accept. There are success stories, and there are horror stories. If I were you I’d wait three-four years on medication and really see what you can do with numerous treatments. I also wouldn’t bother getting a HT unless your hair is stabilised, and in your case I would be extra careful on this detail. NW2/3 in reality is still early hair loss.

[AlexMeister21]

I don't think any reputable clinic in the US would operate on you until you're at least mid-20s. Do you have photos of your hair loss? My hairline started receding around 16, 17 so I know it sucks to have this problem at a young age. Really hurt my social life in my 20s. 

[mister_25]

Just now, AlexMeister21 said:

I don't think any reputable clinic in the US would operate on you until you're at least mid-20s. Do you have photos of your hair loss? My hairline started receding around 16, 17 so I know it sucks to have this problem at a young age. Really hurt my social life in my 20s. 

If we’re counting North America, I got mine done at H&W at 22 years old in November, so it’s not out of the question.

[zenmu]

12 hours ago, NikosHair said:

Did your dad have similar levels of hair loss at 19?

What was the pattern of hair loss in your maternal and paternal grandfathers?

It's all clues to your potential hair loss designation.

The problem you have (apart from finding a high quality doctor who is willing to perform surgery) you are on the trajectory for a high norwood.

When you lose the hair behind the transplanted hair, what will you do? buzz the remaining hair? what about the scars?

Meds + Time then reassess.

yes, i have decided to wait atleast until 20 and decide. my hair loss pattern is interesting though as after seeing photos, it started at 11 and has been the same since 13

no one else in my family has experienced this, most of my siblings id say experience it early 20s and it ends up slowly being a norwood 2-3 by mid 30s. but also i hve a brother with norwood 1 (or zero hair loss idk) at 35

Edited January 8, 2023 by zenmu

[BLE123]

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that it's not too young.

Let's just assume the worst and say you are headed for NW5-6. Well, plenty of NW5/6s get transplants and the process is still the same. You build a conservative hairline and gradually reduce the density throughout the mid-scalp whilst leaving the crown with some coverage but ultimately one that has a degree of thinning. If a 19 year old is receding, he will get the hairline fixed, in time if he loses more ground he will get the mid-scalp seen to and so on, so really the process is the same, just spread out over the years. 

What is the point of spending all of your 20s unhappy before doing something? Now of course this is working on the proviso that meds have stabilised the loss and you don't go and get a 4000 graft NW0 hairline but then no good doctor would do that anyway so it's kind of irrelevant. So for me, as long as you respond to the meds and you aren't losing hair hand over fist still then I see no reason to wait until some arbitrary age point.

Edited January 8, 2023 by BLE123

[zenmu]

4 hours ago, BLE123 said:

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that it's not too young.

Let's just assume the worst and say you are headed for NW5-6. Well, plenty of NW5/6s get transplants and the process is still the same. You build a conservative hairline and gradually reduce the density throughout the mid-scalp whilst leaving the crown with some coverage but ultimately one that has a degree of thinning. If a 19 year old is receding, he will get the hairline fixed, in time if he loses more ground he will get the mid-scalp seen to and so on, so really the process is the same, just spread out over the years. 

What is the point of spending all of your 20s unhappy before doing something? Now of course this is working on the proviso that meds have stabilised the loss and you don't go and get a 4000 graft NW0 hairline but then no good doctor would do that anyway so it's kind of irrelevant. So for me, as long as you respond to the meds and you aren't losing hair hand over fist still then I see no reason to wait until some arbitrary age point.

this is what i’m saying exactly. like if you get a decent hairline, that is like say normal matured hairline i don’t see the problem because if im getting a transplant in the future, even if im norwood 5 then im going to want that hairline. and if my hair is stable for the next 10 or so years i can lower it a bit more if i really want to

[BLE123]

33 minutes ago, zenmu said:

this is what i’m saying exactly. like if you get a decent hairline, that is like say normal matured hairline i don’t see the problem because if im getting a transplant in the future, even if im norwood 5 then im going to want that hairline. and if my hair is stable for the next 10 or so years i can lower it a bit more if i really want to

Yeah. I think where this aversion to young guys getting a transplant comes from is people immediately thinking of a naive kid blowing all of his grafts on a super low Zayn Malik type hairline at some Istanbul kebab house and then having nothing left in the future. Sure there are also cases where young guys have extremely aggressive hairloss all over(donor included) and they should definitely not seek a transplant but if your hair loss appears to be stable then I don't see what the massive issue is as long as you consult with a good doctor and plan well.

Here's a good example of a recent 20-year-old case, sure he may lose ground in the future but then he can just address that if/when the time comes:

 

[Mo1brag]

8 minutes ago, BLE123 said:

Yeah. I think where this aversion to young guys getting a transplant comes from is people immediately thinking of a naive kid blowing all of his grafts on a super low Zayn Malik type hairline at some Istanbul kebab house and then having nothing left in the future. Sure there are also cases where young guys have extremely aggressive hairloss all over(donor included) and they should definitely not seek a transplant but if your hair loss appears to be stable then I don't see what the massive issue is as long as you consult with a good doctor and plan well.

Here's a good example of a recent 20-year-old case, sure he may lose ground in the future but then he can just address that if/when the time comes:

 

Hey, the transplant here is me ^ so I thought I’d add my 2 cents. Im 20 and was aggressively losing hair. Hopper on finasteride and hair loss stoppes completely, my hair has also gotten wayy thicker in both donor and recipient area. Because of that I got an appointment with a respected doctor. In my opinion it just depends on the individual. Im probably the last person who should have gotten a hair transplant considering solely the rate of my hair loss, but then again I responded extremely well to medication. Will I keep responding in 5 years? We will see but Id rather have hair now than in my 30-40s. 

[BaldReaper]

4 minutes ago, Mo1brag said:

Hey, the transplant here is me ^ so I thought I’d add my 2 cents. Im 20 and was aggressively losing hair. Hopper on finasteride and hair loss stoppes completely, my hair has also gotten wayy thicker in both donor and recipient area. Because of that I got an appointment with a respected doctor. In my opinion it just depends on the individual. Im probably the last person who should have gotten a hair transplant considering solely the rate of my hair loss, but then again I responded extremely well to medication. Will I keep responding in 5 years? We will see but Id rather have hair now than in my 30-40s. 

Just out of curiosity, how high is your hairline?(distance from midbrow)

[Mo1brag]

11 minutes ago, BaldV said:

Just out of curiosity, how high is your hairline?(distance from midbrow)

6.5 centimeters I think. Ive always had the same forehead as this though, was born with it, the transplant just took me back to my natural hairline that I had before lol

[BaldReaper]

10 hours ago, Mo1brag said:

6.5 centimeters I think. Ive always had the same forehead as this though, was born with it, the transplant just took me back to my natural hairline that I had before lol

Perfectly normal