Hair transplants and younger patients

[Highlander]

Why is it such a bad thing to transplant in a youthful hairline on a young patient? I contend they don't look awkward on older people, but that aside I feel there are more pertinent reasons to also be considered. For instance, it seems highly likely that within the lifetime of any young hair transplant patient MPB will be 'cured'. Whether that means hair follicle multiplication, regrowth treatments etc I can't say. Though I do feel it is somewhat inevitable.

Moreover, say in a young patient you were to transplant a youthful hairline on them and use many grafts in the process, would this really be a problem if they were headed for a NW7? Couldn't one simply have a solid youthful hair line, and then have thin hair behind it that is concealed with Toppik?

Also using products like Minoxidill and Finasteride can just about stop hairloss altogether. And if the patient wants to avoid Finasteride, I'm sure that Minoxidill can still stave off hairloss for long enough until a better alternative is found.

Let me know your thoughts please!

[Tracy C]

Originally Posted by Highlander

Let me know your thoughts please!

I also believe we will have much better options soon. However, basing your recovery plan on what might happen is generally not a wise thing to do. Also, it is not normal for a male to keep his adolescent hair line. It is normal for a male to develop a mature male hair line. The mature male hair line is one of the traits that differ between males and females. Unless the patient is a transgendered male, the risk of surgery outweighs the possible benefit.

I am assuming you are young. If that is the case, your best option for now is to use the proven treatments that are available now and wait to see what these new treatments that are on their way can do.

[StressedToTheBald]

Originally Posted by Highlander

Why is it such a bad thing to transplant in a youthful hairline on a young patient?

I believe simply because the results can more easily be compromised in the future terms. If You are older, the picture is more clear, the stage of Your hair loss is/should be more stable.

[DAVE52]

Originally Posted by Highlander

Why is it such a bad thing to transplant in a youthful hairline on a young patient?

Probably 'cause when you are 50 , 60 yrs old and you have the hairline of a 20 yr old it won't look natural

[mattj]

Originally Posted by DAVE52

Probably 'cause when you are 50 , 60 yrs old and you have the hairline of a 20 yr old it won't look natural

I totally disagree. I often see men even older than 60 - elderly men with grey hair - with no recession at the hairline. They are in the minority but they exist, and they don't look abnormal. My dad still had his juvenile hairline when he died at 58 and probably would've retained it well into old age like his father did.

[Highlander]

Exactly, the rhetoric about a youthful hairline looking unnatural on an older person is largely nonsense in my opinion.

If I may add another question to the original topic: With hair transplants, it seems like something where unless the hairloss has completely stopped, then even after a HT any further recession will leave a gap or something. Is this true? If not, what is done to stop it?

[gillenator]

I think the point the others are making is that it is the exception, not the rule that older men retain a more youthful hairline.

TV judge Anthony Napalatano has one of those juvenile hairlines and he is in his 60's I believe. Yet his hair is so dense, that IMHO, it looks more like a hair system than his own hair. The first you notice on him is his hair.

Most male hairlines do in fact recess/move upward with less density as they age.

The worst thing an individual can do in his youth is to start HT surgery without having long term success with hairloss meds. I am clearly referring to those men who have advanced classes of hairloss in their family histories.

Only finsteride, dutasteride demonstrate clinical proof of inhibition of DHT, the main component of MPB. Minoxidil does not. Neither meds cure and complete stop the progression of MPB. At best, they buy us some time.

I will be the first to applaud any real viable success with HM, cloning, whatever, but not to hang one's hat on as the inevitable cure.

[Highlander]

Originally Posted by gillenator

I think the point the others are making is that it is the exception, not the rule that older men retain a more youthful hairline.

TV judge Anthony Napalatano has one of those juvenile hairlines and he is in his 60's I believe. Yet his hair is so dense, that IMHO, it looks more like a hair system than his own hair. The first you notice on him is his hair.

Most male hairlines do in fact recess/move upward with less density as they age.

The worst thing an individual can do in his youth is to start HT surgery without having long term success with hairloss meds. I am clearly referring to those men who have advanced classes of hairloss in their family histories.

Only finsteride, dutasteride demonstrate clinical proof of inhibition of DHT, the main component of MPB. Minoxidil does not. Neither meds cure and complete stop the progression of MPB. At best, they buy us some time.

I will be the first to applaud any real viable success with HM, cloning, whatever, but not to hang one's hat on as the inevitable cure.

I know what you mean. Basically my hair loss all started because of accutane (but that is another story). On one side of my family is there no hairloss, and on the other there is.

I am not willing to take Finasteride at this stage since my last stint with an oral medication gave me probably the only side effect I was hoping not to get. So based on my luck, Finasteride would probably leave me impotent or something.

My plan at this stage, since my hairloss is seeming to stabilise itself, would be to consider a HT for something like a NW 1 / 1.5 (if it gets worse), whilst continuing to use Minoxidil. Then if things get worse, I could follow it up with more HT's to an extent. Of course, at some point I would either need to give up or start on fin. Though I am holding out that some of these new treatments will be available before I need to start going onto fin.

I think my outlook isn’t too bad though. My mother’s side has no hairloss at all in any of the men. On my father’s side their is NW7 MPB, but my father became a NW3 in his 30’s and kept that until his 50’s. So even if I followed exactly as my father did with his hairloss, I don’t believe it is too big of a task to handle with meds and possible HT’s. Plus like I said, I am sort of hoping / thinking something else will come out before then that is more effective.

[StressedToTheBald]

Originally Posted by Highlander

I know what you mean. Basically my hair loss all started because of accutane (but that is another story). On one side of my family is there no hairloss, and on the other there is.

I am not willing to take Finasteride at this stage since my last stint with an oral medication gave me probably the only side effect I was hoping not to get. So based on my luck, Finasteride would probably leave me impotent or something.

I've been on max. Accutane doses for many months. Although I never had a good frontal hairlines in my life, I think that on the crown and with overall hair density.. Accutane has probably boosted my baldness before time as well.

All that beeing said, I'm against propecia, will never touch the stuff.

[Folly]

Hi Guys, i've been pondering this question for a while now, in regards to younger patients getting a HT (or patients who have minimal loss). Assuming, we have a great new hair treatment avialable in the next 5 years or so (histogen/replicell), do you think patients who only need 2,000 - 3,000 grafts or less in that timeframe, should go down the FUE route and not risk a strip scar ? Why have a scar, when you can make do with FUE for the next 5 years and then there will be a much better option available for hair loss.

I've only been involved with the hair loss industry for a year now. Hopefully one of the hair loss veterans can answer this, but is the histogen/replicell stuff just hype ? Do 'miracle' treatments like these appear every few years or so and just fall through. Maybe i'm a pesimist, but i reckon we're more like 10-15 years aways from a great new treatment. Hopefully i'm wrong !!