Hair Transplant Minimum Age

[ryan555]

Working at Dr. Cole's office, I know some of the concerns he has regarding young patients. One is the possibility the young man will eventually progress to a Norwood 7. Also with the younger guy, it's more difficult to evaluate and predict the final hair loss pattern.

If I were 23 with hair loss and deadset on transplants, I would have medium sized FUE sessions once per year utilizing a .85 punch. I would have ACell and PRP administered during surgery and insist that no multiple-hair follicular units be placed anywhere. I would go very conservative with regards to hairline height and build a bit of recession into the first pass. I would only use single hair grafts. This along with correct placement, angle etc. gives the transplant longevity. As hair continues to thin, a natural appearance is maintained.

35YrsAfter also posts as CITNews and works at Dr. Cole's office
forhair.com
Cole Hair Transplant
1070 Powers Place
Alpharetta, Georgia 30009
Phone 678-566-1011
email 35YrsAfter at chuck@forhair.com
The contents of my posts are my opinions and not medical advice
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. Ask for Chuck

Why no mulitple hair FU's?

[Mike K]

So, there is bald, and very bald?

You would think it would look unnatural, the question is, to whom?

Look at this famous French singer who had a few HT's and is now a NW7 below his grafts:



Unnatural to us in the hair loss world. Yet if you ask 100 random people what is wrong with him, they couldn't point it out.

As I've said many times before, some hair is always better than no hair. This guy would look 10x more ugly without his (failed) HT's.

This looks absolutely horrible. If I was that guy I would shave my head. But he probably can't, because of his hair transplant scars.

[Mike K]

Or at the very least I would shave the grafts or even have them lasered off so that I looked like a normal bald guy who went bald gracefully instead of everybody being able to see how desperate I was to have hair for a few more years. Worst case scenario that is an option right? I'm 24, let's say I get a hair transplant and the meds I use don't keep my hair forever. Can't I always have the grafts lasered off and look like a normal bald guy? The only style I lose is a shaved head correct? So I could try the head shave before the transplant, see if I like it, and if I don't like that anyway, might as well get the transplant?

[topcat]

Fred thanks for posting that picture as it is a great example of what can happen. Regarding that same point of the sides dropping, too many clinics like to show off results depicting high norwoods with all of them having very high lateral humps which can be a bit deceiving.

Some clinics make the mistake of transplanting thin coverage all over the top of the head which looks ridiculous when the lateral humps drop. You can have thin coverage you just cannot have it in the lateral hump area. That area needs to have enough density so that it is not see through up until the point where it meets the bridge on top of the head and the hair direction changes connecting both sides. Regardless of if that bridge of hair still exists or not it has to reach that point. Once that is accomplished then coverage with the balance of donor should proceed. Ideally in the reverse pattern of the balding process. Fill in the bridge……….frontal forelock……hairline……….temple area……………then finally the crown…………If you work the pattern the other way around and you don’t have enough donor you will have planned inappropriately and have been ill advised. Of course this is my personal opinion.

Honest clinics will advise on the use of medications being necessary or planning as best as possible around your future hair loss pattern so that you don't start planting into the temple or hairline area if you sides are going to drastically drop.

If your sides do not drop you are a much better candidate for a hair transplant.

[35YrsAfter]

Why no mulitple hair FU's?

If I were thinning at 23 (I actually was) and fairly certain that without transplants, I would end up slick on top, I would take my time (several small sessions) and go with "singles". I see a lot of work from other clinics here at Dr. Cole's and even "twos" stand out in areas of miniaturized hair. On the other hand a young guy with "homerun" donor hair characteristics might consider a mega-session and go with some multiples rather than doing the hair restoration over the years in smaller sessions. Singles look much better with very short hair and if surrounding hair thins to where scalp is visible.

35YrsAfter also posts as CITNews and works at Dr. Cole's office
forhair.com
Cole Hair Transplant
1070 Powers Place
Alpharetta, Georgia 30009
Phone 678-566-1011
email 35YrsAfter at chuck@forhair.com
The contents of my posts are my opinions and not medical advice
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. Ask for Chuck

[35YrsAfter]

This looks absolutely horrible. If I was that guy I would shave my head. But he probably can't, because of his hair transplant scars.

From a distance the top looks pluggy. The white hair helps and this is more common than you think. It happened to me, it sucks and Mike K hurt my feelings.

Fortunately it's fixable, but takes a lot of work.

35YrsAfter also posts as CITNews and works at Dr. Cole's office
forhair.com
Cole Hair Transplant
1070 Powers Place
Alpharetta, Georgia 30009
Phone 678-566-1011
email 35YrsAfter at chuck@forhair.com
The contents of my posts are my opinions and not medical advice
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. Ask for Chuck

[Mike K]

From a distance the top looks pluggy. The white hair helps and this is more common than you think. It happened to me, it sucks and Mike K hurt my feelings.

Fortunately it's fixable, but takes a lot of work.

35YrsAfter also posts as CITNews and works at Dr. Cole's office
forhair.com
Cole Hair Transplant
1070 Powers Place
Alpharetta, Georgia 30009
Phone 678-566-1011
email 35YrsAfter at chuck@forhair.com
The contents of my posts are my opinions and not medical advice
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. Ask for Chuck

Sorry to hurt your feelings I'm sorry that happened to you. How fixable is this really? Can the grafts be moved so that he has thin, overall coverage? Or is the only solution to laser off the grafts and look like a normal NW7?

Also, this is worst case scenario right? And this is fixable? So why not get a HT young?

[ryan555]

It really doesn't seem fair that the guys who need it the most (young men with severe hair loss) are the worst candidates for surgery. I do believe that technology and future treatments will help deal with the situation so that men in their 20's now will not have to live out their entire lives as bald men. But as for a timeline, who the hell knows. I still think it's best to assume that treatments will continue to be limited and anything else will be a pleasant surprise.

[35YrsAfter]

Sorry to hurt your feelings I'm sorry that happened to you. How fixable is this really? Can the grafts be moved so that he has thin, overall coverage? Or is the only solution to laser off the grafts and look like a normal NW7?

Also, this is worst case scenario right? And this is fixable? So why not get a HT young?

By looking at the photo, this man looks like he had the legacy plug surgery. The name of an appropriate repair surgery is called "Plug Redistribution". We are in fact doing one today as I type. The grafts are divided into singles and moved to provide a natural appearance. Another repair approach is one of grafting around the plugs. This is only doable if the usual plug shrinkage isn't too severe, causing extreme hair density in the shrunken graft.

We had a patient several years ago who went to one of the chain stores and had rows of plugs placed forming a couple of V shapes on his crown. As he grew older, he lost all of the surrounding hair and became a Norwood 6. He used to shave the plugs down every morning before work and use makeup to cover the dark hair stubble. After several years of doing this, he accepted his baldness and had Dr. Cole remove the plugs and stitch up the extraction sites. So yes there are several ways of dealing with unsatisfactory work.

The VP is a public example of reasonably successful repair work.

35YrsAfter also posts as CITNews and works at Dr. Cole's office
forhair.com
Cole Hair Transplant
1070 Powers Place
Alpharetta, Georgia 30009
Phone 678-566-1011
email 35YrsAfter at chuck@forhair.com
The contents of my posts are my opinions and not medical advice
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. Ask for Chuck

[J_B_Davis]

If you're losing your hair at a very young age getting a hair transplant early on is a big mistake. There is a reason why the good surgeons seldom operate on very young guys.