I would be about 5A or 6 on the Norwood scale..
During one of my consultations with a local doctor, I was told that I am not a candidate for a hair transplant because of my age(28) and because my frontal hair is sparsely populated and that will fall of soon. I am wondering whether these are genuine reasons NOT to go in for a HT?
When I was watching the before and after photos, I saw some fantastic jobs done on patients who are 6 and/or 7 on the Norwood scale...
I am a bit confused as I had gone to this doc with a lot of expectations.....
Is there no hope???

/Adesh

Adesh,
who was the Dr. that you had a consult with?
It sounds like, from your post, you should be a good candidate. But I'm no doctor and haven't seen your hair.

Adesh,

I think that you would benefit from posting a few pictures on the site. This way you can get a good deal of objective scrutiny from experienced hair restoration veterans on the forums.

You can photoshop your face out to maintain anonymity and then utilize the forums' "Photo Album" feature to post them. To use it, just go to the "New" tab at the top of your screen. Under that pull-down menu, you will see "Photo Album." From here, all you have to do is select which forum you want your album to show up under, type in an introduction (which will show up similar to a regular post), and upload your pictures.

You may want to see how your situation matches up to some hair restoration patients results. Go Here. You can toggle through all of the classes. I hope this will give you an idea of what can and cannot be accomplished.

If you have any questions on this or setting up your album don't hesitate to ask. I can be reached by "Private Message."



-Robert

quote:

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Originally posted by Adesh2000:
I would be about 5A or 6 on the Norwood scale..
During one of my consultations with a local doctor, I was told that I am not a candidate for a hair transplant because of my age(28) and because my frontal hair is sparsely populated and that will fall of soon.

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There's plenty of hope. Without a picture it's tough to tell, but do you have hair loss on the crown with a decent amount of hair remaining in front? If so, the doctor might have meant that it's not wise to transplant to the crown before transplanting the hairline and mid-scalp, because when the hairline and mid-scalp go bald you'll look like an idiot unless you have more surgery. If your hairline is sparse, though, then the comment doesn't make sense - the transplant should fill in your hairline in between whatever existing hairs you have, and work backwords towards the crown.

You are a good candidate if you have good donor characteristics (density, laxity, and zero or minimal previous scarring) and good recipient characteristics (no previous work, especially bad work). Your age does come into play, because of the difficulty of predicting future hair loss for a younger guy. At 28 and a 5A it's pretty clear you'll either be lucky and stay at 5A or you'll end up a 6 or 7. Even for a 6 or 7, you can achieve great results with a right doctor and a couple of megasessions.

Hi,

Thank you all for your responses... I have uploaded my pics @
http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums?a=albumtopic&s=5696015661&topic_oid=395107654

under "Post your questions for physicians here!
"

Please do let me know....

/Adesh

You are an excellent candidate in my opinion. What you need to be concerned with is how far your hair loss is likely to progress, in other words how likely are you to become NW7 (finasteride should help here, but you have to make the committment). You are only 28, and I would say you are NW5, not 5A (your sides are receding downward). It would be a good idea to look at the rest of your family and their history.

In any event, even a NW7 can get a lot of grafts. Do a search for a poster named 'oswaldwasbald'. He only posted twice, but you'll see what I mean. In a worst case scenario, you should be able to get a good amount of coverage on the front half of your scalp, with a properly-designed and natural-looking bald spot in the crown. That's a worst case scenario. Best case scenario is you remain where you are, get two megasessions and achieve good coverage and density all the way to your crown with a minimal bald area. Your first transplant should work on the front 1/3 to 1/2 of your scalp, and the grafts should be planted between your existing hairs. You still have a hairline defined, and the transplant can be drawn to follow it. It will be on the high side but still look really good.

Now you need to pick a doctor and find some cash.

Adesh2000,
OH HEY-- you are a good canidate by just looking at the pics you provided. It looks like you have decent donor hair (dont know about the type of density however), Any top notch surgeon recommended on this site would give you good results. Looking closely at your pics, I would assume that your HT would probably focus on the hairline and midscalp-- leaving your crown area along for now (no bigger- you can comb it back). This will allow the doctor to see if you have enough donor left, or if you should save for future midscalp hairloss.
Get a good consult and you will be happy.