Why Would You Be Concerned About Transplanting a 22 Year Old Patient?

Dr Rassman,

I was reading some of the past blogs and came across an entry in which you mentioned you were disturbed by the patient having a procedure at age 22. What concerned you about having a procedure at this age? I’ve also had a procedure at age 22 and was happy with it however, my hairline has continued to recede over the past few years and I’ve contemplated a 2nd procedure. Would you recommend this?

I generally do not recommend hair transplant surgery on men in their early twenties, because of the following reasons:

1. They risk accelerating their hair loss due to shock loss.
2. One does not know how much balding they have in front of them.
3. The patterns of hair loss may be difficult to identify, which makes building a Master Plan (for long term planning) difficult or impossible.

Of course, if you are already bald (a well defined Norwood Class 3 pattern, for example) this would not be much of a concern. So it is not an absolute rule and every man should be evaluated based upon their maturity, their realistic expectations, and their balding pattern. Your very question supplies part of the answer, as you have had surgery and now notice that you are thinning or receding. Get a good doctor to build that Master Plan I mentioned above, so the best and worst cases of what might happen to you will be clearly defined for your benefit.