who would do an ht on me?

[skins4life]

im 19 soon to be 20 and Epstein told me that he wouldnt consider an ht until a few more years. What doctors if anyone knows would most likely do a HT for me? Ive been on propecia for over a month i realize doctors probably want at least a year on it but hypothetically speaking if i was a year in on propecia who would say yes?

[skins4life]

im 19 soon to be 20 and Epstein told me that he wouldnt consider an ht until a few more years. What doctors if anyone knows would most likely do a HT for me? Ive been on propecia for over a month i realize doctors probably want at least a year on it but hypothetically speaking if i was a year in on propecia who would say yes?

[HairBeThere]

I would have to say your age would be more of a reason a doctor wouldn't do a HT on you rather than the amount of time you were on propecia. Age 19 or even 20, is way too young.

 

25 should be considered a minimum age. But under certain situations maybe a few years younger.

 

If you would like to post some photo's, then we could give you good information on what might be going on.

[NC30]

Unless you post photos or at least tell us to what degree you are thinning/balding, then there's no way to answer your question.

 

Regardless of those, you're possibly stepping into a dangerous area here. Dr. Epstein has probably done you a favor by telling you to wait. If Dr. Epstein's assessment is correct, then the kind of doctor that would operate on you would be lacking ethics. I'm sure if anyone looked hard enough, they could find a number of doctors to perform any procedure they wanted as long as they had the cash. Those doctors aren't going to be concerned about your long-term hair loss. Again, please post photos or describe your current hair loss situation.

[skins4life]

ive posted pics before and it is my educated assessment and that of epstein that I am a good candidate but not until im older and have been on the drug for long enough also in order to make sure i dont receed too much more. I think in 2 to three years i will definitely have it done and maybe earlier. I dont see why i shouldnt have it done in a couple of years i basically have a peninsula of hair up front (its bad). Might as well deal with it now while im a undergrad then as soon as im done take care of myself.

[HairBeThere]

I just looked up your pictures. I take it you took the first picture with a flash?

Your second picture didn't look all that bad.

Definitely wait a year and keep taking propecia. I think you are to young and are not one of those special circumstances.

 

You'll need to access your situation before you even should consider yourself a candidate.

[Guest]

If you're going to consider a procedure at your age, you should go only with FUE/FIT. That way in case you are unhappy later on, you can always shave your head as a last resort. Furthermore, if you've got any body hair you can use that as an additional donor supply.

[Moises]

You might be right. Getting a transplant at at such a young age could definately backfire. Im not thinking 20 years from now, Im thinking today and that could be my problem. Maybe Im too hopeful for what the future has in store when it comes to hair replacement. However I do know that I'm willing to take that risk. These years to me are THE most important, I really feel that I'll lose out on alot of experiances as a baldy... Im not trying to sound big headed but honestly my whole life girls have flocked to me, I guess you could consider it a blessing & if that ever went I'd probably go into depression

 

Heres a pic of myself.. I plan to maintain this look at any expense...

 

[NC30]

You're right....it's incredibly tough to deal with it at such a young age.....those are definitely some of the greatest years of your life. I'm not sure if I were 20 again that I wouldn't be seriously contemplating on gambling on an HT and hoping for the best in the future.....especially with the potential of hair multiplication recently. It's a definite tough call to make, and when you factor in girls, it makes it that much harder. There's no shame in admitting your vanity about your looks....I don't think there's a single person here who can say they had an HT and that vanity didn't play a role. Good luck with your planning.

[Robert_]

Kenyon,

 

Your post interested me. You said:

 

"If you're going to consider a procedure at your age, you should go only with FUE/FIT. That way in case you are unhappy later on, you can always shave your head as a last resort."

 

Though I think that this is a great contingency plan for younger potential patients, I would not always discount "strip" method. I am certainly not against FUE, but these are my thoughts:

 

With the "strip" method of harvesting the donor area, the strip is taken out and the donor site is then sutured or stapled closed. The patient has a feeling of tightness for a few weeks thereafter and there may be a small ridge from the scar for a couple of weeks after that, but the density surrounding the scar is the same. This is, of course, providing that the scar heals perfectly and doesn't stretch. However, even if it does stretch, the surrounding hair is still at its full density and is usually able to camouflage the underlying scar.

 

Now, with FUE, the graphs are harvested using a "punch tool" from different areas across the donor area. For small procedures this can be very beneficial and is easily camouflaged, however for larger ones (1500+), would you not agree that this will "thin out" the entire donor area? Also, you say that one will be able to shave their head without the presence of a scar after FUE. This is not true. It IS true that the patient won't have a long, pencil-like scar running port to starboard (left to right. I apologize; I still say everything in nautical terms) across the back of the head, but instead, they will have many, many smaller scars all over the back of the head.

 

I am not discounting your hypothesis; I am letting our members know that there is a flip-side to the coin. I have seen good strip-work and I have seen bad. The same is to be said of FUE. I have seen good and bad. The end decision should be reached between the patient and doctor, but I would definitely not discount one method over the other until all of the possibilities are addressed.

 

I would like to see more patients' thoughts on this.

 

A close look at FUE and Strip

 

-Robert

 

As forum moderator and a Patient Advocate for the Coalition I'm available to answer any questions.

 

To view animations and videos and learn about leading hair restoration physicians visit http://www.regrowhair.com/our_physicians.asp