Hair Transplant Advice

Dr. Rassman:
I am a 25 year old male who over the past 2 years has begun to see hairloss (receding hairline starting at the front middle forehead and working its way back). I am using rogaine 5% and Propecia daily. Its been 12 months and I swear it doesnt seem to be working. Now I never noticed hair on the pillow, etc, but the loss was becoming apparant, and I am still not seeing it on my pillow. I can not go bald (many many nasty scars on the old dome). At 25 is it reasonable to get a transplant if I want to keep from getting to stage 3, 4, etc. My mother’s father was almost entirely bald, but no one else seems to have problems. What else should I try or do? Suppliments? I live in Florida and noticed you are only in California. How can I get an idea of cost, etc without flying to California? Please help!

At 25, with your history, it is most likely that your genetics are dictating the hair loss process. With both Rogaine (weak medication) and Propecia (strong medication) your ability to stop frontal hair loss appears improbable. You must assume that you will be like your family hair loss pattern (worst case scenario) and if you elect to go the transplant route, then starting in the front and working backward is the best way to go about it. It is possible that the medications you are taking may stop the hair loss short of your full family pattern, but I suspect the frontal hair will be lost. These medications work better on the back of your head than on the front. This makes you a wonderful hair transplant candidate, something we do on young men of your age all of the time.

First, take some good digital pictures of your balding head from front, top and sides, wet and dry then email them to me (my address is on the Contact page. If you are not technical, call my office 800-NEW-HAIR and we will send you a disposable camera. Then the next step will be a telephone consultation with us. From that point on, at the least, we can talk from ‘the same page’ knowing what is really happening. If you elect to come to California, then there is air fare subsidization of your trip and a night in a hotel (on us) once you arrive for your surgery. More info on the NHI Travel Program available at this page. When we speak, I can give you a cost estimate, best and worst case.