I'm going to be turning 25 in a few months and have extreme thinning all over my head combined with receding in the front. I was wondering if I could get some opinions from doctors as to what age they think is appropriate. I've heard 30 is about the right time to start but I don't understand why age would be a more important factor than the stage of your hair loss. I've been using proscar for awhile to help slow the process but I'm worried by the time I'm thirty I'll have no hair left. My donor hair is slightly less than average in density and I'm beginning to feel a bit hopeless. Thanks for any help in advance.

If I were you I'd be trying to hang on to all of my natural hair, by using Finasteride, Minoxidil, Lysine, and Nizoral shampoo. Even if you go the surgical route, you need to maintain as much of your natural hair as possible. There is not enough donor hair for most guys to get a great result if they are completely bald (you'd probably have to settle for a bald crown). Even if you had the donor hair, it would cost a fortune to transplant that many grafts, so save all of your hair, first and foremost.

Also, in my opinion you should halt the progression of your hairloss before going the surgical route. Hair transplant as an insurance against "future baldness" is a bad idea, because of shock fallout and other reasons.

Because you're relatively young, you should be able to halt (or even reverse) your thinning. In a few months Dutasteride should be available, if Finasteride hasn't been working for you. That might do the trick for you.

By the time you're 30, there may be a whole bunch of new drugs and technologies available. If I were you, I'd try to work with what you've got, and hold off for a while.

Just my 3 cents...

j25,
I would follow Arfy's advice. Try and hold to
as much of hair as possible. Your transplant
will look much better.
I would wait on the HT. There are plenty
of meds. to try first.
I have been able to stabalize my hairloss.

However, I did have a transplant in 1996
when I was 25.I didn't have access to all
this info. I should've been turned away,
but some drs. have no ethics. I experienced
shockloss, and the hair has not grown
back. So, I need one more session in the front,
and then I can get on with my life.(hopefully)

If I could do it over, I personally would
not go the ht route again.
There a few Drs.producing excellent
work today.I quess I have bad timing,
or bad luck.

Be Safe,
John

I don't believe that there is a hard and fast rule for the age at which to begin hair transplants. A young man who is losing a lot of hair in the front may have serious and permanment ego related changes as he appears much older than he really is. A careful and complete assessment may indicate that early intervention is warranted, as long as he is on Propecia, Rogaine perhaps, understands that they would likely need additional work in the future, and are reasonable in their expectations. I would be very unlikely to do anything other than frontal work to frame his face. I would not do any crown work. I would want him to see a number of our patients and the results that they have received and make sure he understands the limitations of the procedure, and would also like to talk with his parents if he still lived at home or if they were involved in the decision making process. Almost always one would have enough grafts available to do a good frontal hair replacement.

Thanks for very good answers to a very good question.

Given that you are 25, I agree with Arfy that your first priority should be to halt or at least slow your hair loss, whether or not you do hair transplants.

The medical options Arfy specified are probally your best bet at this time. I certainly wish they had been available when I was going bald at age 25. They will also strengthen your thinning hair so that if you do surgery it will lessen any potential "shock fallout".

However, as effective as these drugs can be, especially in those just beginning to thin, they typically do not regrow hair in the hairline.

So unless your hairline is clearly gone you may want to wait and see what the drugs will do for you. If you find that in time your hairline is receded beyond what you can live with then a hair transplant by a surgeon of the caliber of Dr. McClellan would be a good, if not you only realistic option, for re-establishing a natural hairline.

Pat - Publisher

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j25,

I think the consensus is that the transplant route should be a last resort when and if the time is right. Remember, you may have to live with hair loss for now while you try these medications, but you might not be forced to appear to have hair loss. Some of the concealer products (Toppik if you still have a bit of hair,
Prothik if you don't) can really mask the appearance of various stages of MPB. Sure, it requires some daily work, but a prematurely planned or bad HT involves daily pain and regret. And remember, women put on makeup everyday. Just because it's not real, should they be criticized? Of course not. Whatever makes you feel better about yourself when you step out the door, you should do it.

Good luck.

-?er

My adivce for what is is worth is don't under any circumstances have a transplant. At the very least wait until you are older. If you are balding so young you'll be stuck in an impossible cycle of having regular transplants to replace the hair that falls out. You'll likely end up broke and with you head in a mess. And by then the transplants will look alot worse than being bald. I suggest you shave your head, look cool and accept your genes. All I can say is that being bald gets much easier to handle as you get older. Look at Andre Aggassi or Bruce Willis, there are worse ways to look - a silly transplant is one. Good luck.
Alan