21 y/o and Hair Transplant
Hey everyone. So I thought I'd share my story real quick. Basically, as a kid, I used to have very thick, full black hair and when I was about 15, it started thinning out a lot at the top. Imagine that...age 15, sophomore in high school. It was absolutely awful.
The weird thing is, it didn't even fit the Norwood scale or the MPB that my dad and his family suffer. It wasn't a circle in the crown that got bigger and bigger with time and it wasn't a receding hairline; rather, it was thinning over the entire top (diffused pattern alopecia). My mom's family, for the most part, doesn't suffer from baldness. My grandpa has a normal receded hairline, two uncles have slight thinning at the crown, and one uncle has a full head of hair. My dad's family, on the other hand, is characteristic for male pattern baldness. My older brother's crown is only a little thin (but not the characteristic circular shape), but other than that, at age 32, he still has all of his hair.
I really don't even know how to describe how losing my hair so young made me feel. As a kid, I was always pretty self-conscious about how I looked and everything, so losing my hair only made it much worse. I'm closer to my mom's side of the family, which has fewer hairloss problems, and so I'd always get teased for having thinning hair. At the same time, random people I know (like barbers, teachers) would comment on it. I tried everything; I tried Rogaine in 12th grade, but the foam made my ears swell to twice their size and they peeled/turned red hot. The following year, I tried propecia for a month but my parents didn't like the idea of it messing with my hormones, and I also felt like I was a lot more moody, even though I don't know if that was because of propecia. So, I stopped taking it.
Last year, I resorted to Dermmatch. I don't like the way it makes my hair look since it looks very dry and bird's nest-like, but it covers up the showing scalp.
In June of this year, I saw a Hair Transplant Network recommended physician who's well-known for his work. He basically said that he'd be able to pull out 2300-2500 grafts or so for a surgery but kept trying to encourage me to wait and get my parents involved in the decision.
Obviously my parents, knowing my pain and being doctors themselves, agreed to let me go ahead with the procedure after having read about every possible thing concerning transplants. In August of 2013, I had FUT surgery with 2312 grafts (over 4500 hairs total) taken out. All of them were densely packed toward the front of my head, meaning that my back crown is still very thin looking. I would say this surgery would have helped about 70% of the total problem, and hopefully way in the future, I can have another procedure to work on the crown/back area.
So far, at month three, I can see little stubble growing around the area. They look a lot thicker than the normal hairs that were already there, and I can't wait to see how they turn out within a year's time. I'm using Dermmatch still on the front and the back, waiting for the hair to grow, but I'm probably still going to need to use it for the back.
The scar is healing well. Its still a little tender and pink, but thats normal as it takes a full year to recover.
I'll post updates later.
But also know that, yes, I am 21 and some people may think that to be too young, but honestly, it was my decision ultimately. I think I made the right decision and I can't wait to see how it all turns out. Whether or not it was bad on my part will remain to be seen, but its still something I've already done, so I'm sticking with that.
But there you are!
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