20 should I get a HT?

[Aaron2016]

Okay so here's what's been going on with me. I'm 20 and I've been rapidly loosing hair. I was 19 when I noticed this so I started using minoxidil and regenepure Dr shampoo with ketokonazole left in for 5 minutes religiously for the past year every other day and the rogaine foam everyday twice a day (dermatologist advised me to). My hair has been growing back just as fast as it falls out! I literally lose 175-200 ish hairs a day consistently. Lately I noticed the hairs are getting shorter and thinner when they fall maybe 1/4-1/2" in length with a white bulb at the end, I believe it's diffused thinning.
So my question is should I get a hair transplant? I'm so fed up with this I'm still young and my hair looks terrible. I used to have so much density and I could put product in it, but now I can't even run a comb through it! It's something that's been killing my confidence and causing me depression. Any suggestions would be awesome!
Thanks, Aaron 20 from Portland, Oregon

[DAVE52]

no

[DAVE52]

I'm still young

too young

[allTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

Try propecia first. Might be enough for you, and you'll have to after a transplant anyway. The problem with transplants is if you keep losing hair, eventually there isn't enough hair on the back/sides to take to keep up with the loss.

[jamesst11]

Okay so here's what's been going on with me. I'm 20 and I've been rapidly loosing hair. I was 19 when I noticed this so I started using minoxidil and regenepure Dr shampoo with ketokonazole left in for 5 minutes religiously for the past year every other day and the rogaine foam everyday twice a day (dermatologist advised me to). My hair has been growing back just as fast as it falls out! I literally lose 175-200 ish hairs a day consistently. Lately I noticed the hairs are getting shorter and thinner when they fall maybe 1/4-1/2" in length with a white bulb at the end, I believe it's diffused thinning.
So my question is should I get a hair transplant? I'm so fed up with this I'm still young and my hair looks terrible. I used to have so much density and I could put product in it, but now I can't even run a comb through it! It's something that's been killing my confidence and causing me depression. Any suggestions would be awesome!
Thanks, Aaron 20 from Portland, Oregon

HELL NO... don't even think about it unless you want to completely destroy your young life.

[Aaron2016]

Thanks for the comments guys, here's a video I did showing were I'm at for the moment I talk about my ethnic background and family hair loss and show what my hair looks like to give you guys a better idea https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0m8bJW...m-upload_owner

[Fortunate Son]

Thanks for the comments guys, here's a video I did showing were I'm at for the moment I talk about my ethnic background and family hair loss and show what my hair looks like to give you guys a better idea https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0m8bJW...m-upload_owner

Hey Aaron,

I watched your vid. I'm no expert on hairloss by any means (I'm 23 and kind of in the same boat as you I guess, except I have hairline/temple recession).

Some of my thoughts while watching your video:

First of all, I know this is cheesy and probably not what you want to hear, but if I would see you in real life I would have no idea you are balding. You look good bro. I would totally kill to have a hairline like yours.

I saw a lot of scalp as you were running your hands through your hair, but everyone shows scalp when the hair is parted, plus your hair is very sleek and dark (which makes the scalp more noticable because of the contrast). If you say you've lost a lot of density, I'll take your word for it, but I really didn't see much difference between left and right as you were trying to point out.

Running your hands through your hair after waking up in the morning and finding 6 hairs should be no cause for concern I think. Losing 175-200 hairs in the shower does seem crazy. I can't even imagine how to count them all at that point.

Talking about your genetics, from what I've read hairloss is a complex process but more often related to the X chromosome which would mean you might take after your mother's side. What was your maternal grandfather's hair loss like? You said your mother suffered some hair loss, but I think for women there are many other causes for hair loss (hormones, iron deficiency) that are not necessarily androgenic alopecia. I think for a woman to suffer hair loss she would have to have inherited that same gene from both her parents (since it is recessive, you probably read about this?). So if your maternal grandfather still has/had his hair at a late age, your mother's hairloss probably wasn't genetic.

That being said, getting a hair transplant in the near future is something you should probably forget. Not just because you don't know how your hair loss will progress, also because of the risk of shock loss making things worse: https://www.realself.com/question/se...ant-shock-loss

I know that sucks and I hate to be 'that guy' but I hope you can take the time to appreciate that you have an amazing hairline that frames your face so well, and it's really not showing any sign of the receding pattern.

I think you should keep an open mind to propecia. Obviously it's up to your doctor to prescribe it to you, but I found it pretty lopsided how you would instantly dismiss propecia but casually talk about getting a hair transplant. The latter is so much more invasive and there's so much that can go wrong: shock loss, new hairs won't catch on, surgeon just does a bad job planting the hairs, you'll have to shave your head all over, be bald and take at least a year to get back at the hair length you are now, not to mention it is a surgery so there's always a risk for infections. Also, if you end up losing more hairs in the future you can't just keep going back to harvest your donor area forever.

With regards to propecia, I think you should leave those 'PFS' claims for what they are and think about this: millions of people have been using propecia safely with little to no side effects since 1992 for prostate issues, and 1997 in smaller doses to combat hair loss. That's 24 years! Do you really value a couple dozen of testimonies from paranoid and anxiety-suffering Internet strangers stressing out over their hair loss over 24 years of medical history, studies and the fact that it is approved for safety all over the world? I think you could try to be a bit more rational in that regard.

I really think if your doctor/dermatologists says finasteride is an option that you should consider it way before you even think about getting a hair transplant. Even if side effects are noticeable, there's a chance they will subside after a while, and if it's really too much for you then you can be sure they will disappear after you stop taking the drug.

Hope this helps. I wish you the best Aaron!

[Aaron2016]

Thanks for watching.
So my grandfather on my mothers side had a full set of hair from photos I've seen of him (I never met him) I even asked my mom and she said he never had any type of hair loss, however he died early in his mid 40s from cancer so I'm not sure if he would have lost it later in life. As for my grandfather on my dads side he started thinning at 50 and lost it at around 59-60 years of age.

I know what you mean I am really skeptical about propecia/finastride. There's 10% of me that does want to try it but I'm really paranoid from what I've heard. Not even the sexual side effects but also the fact some people use it and shed and end up losing more hair then re-gaining any at all. I also saw a guy on YouTube that used it and got post finastride syndrome it totally ruined his life, maybe I should grow a pair and just try it but I can't be sure I just hate there's a chance something bad can happen.

As for the transplant I know about shock loss, it can happen due to the incisions made to implant the donor hairs and it kills off blood flow to some of the existing follicles, at least from what I heard by Dr Allen feller who's a hair surgeon, I watched some of the videos he had on shock loss were he explained it, seems legitimate to me. I figure since the middle is already so thin I wouldn't really lose much more then I already have if donor hair is put in place of it. I might consider taking propecia or Fin now I really shouldn't get paranoid without trying it for at least a few months.