Hair transplant ideas for a 28 year old man

Here are some considerations I’ve had before jumping into the HT route and wanted to share these with the community to get feedback and possibly provide some additional options for those in a similar position:

Background on me: 29M diffuse thinning throughout top of head. Finasteride/Minox for the last ~6 years that has slowed, but not stopped hair loss. When I first began noticing hair loss, I always considered a HT a possibility, but now my hair has progressed to where I think it may be appropriate to start considering it as an real option.

Everything you’ll read on the hairloss forums essentially boils down to the fact that getting a HT is a one way street. In almost all cases (especially if you are young) you will need a total of 2-4 surgeries. You will need to be financially and mentally ready for that. Even after that, you may not get the results you were really targeting.

The biggest hang-up for me, and undoubtedly for some of you, is that there’s not really any going back from the HT route. Regardless of if you go FUE or FUT, there will be scarring. If you get an unsatisfactory result, you will not be able to completely shave your head down without exposing those scars.

Here is the plan that I’m circling towards and may offer an avenue for some of you as well (I think this may be partiucularly suited for diffuse thinner like myself):

1. Go for an initial moderate-large size FUE procedure (2.5K-3.5 grafts). I’d really only go with this if you have the funds to go with a top surgeon

2. Enjoy your denser hair for 5-10 (hopefully!) years and then go for a second FUE procedure as age takes its toll and continues to take your native hair

3. At this point, in all honesty, you really won’t be able to shave your head with all the FUE scarring. If you still have areas that you’re not happy about, I think it’s wortwhile to look at SMP (maybe temporary at first) into both the FUE scars and in the transplanted recipient area. This helps boost the illusion of density even if you are out of available donor grafts.

I think having a plan for that 3rd step is crucial because there are so many results on here and the forums that end in regret and the person gets stuck because their result is sub-optimal AND they can no longer shave their head due to the scarring.

Hoping to discuss this plan with all you on here perhaps give me something else that I had not considered.

The Master Plan I always discuss with my patients is what happens now for the near and distant future. If hair transplants are in the future for you, you absolutely must know your donor density (a number) which will will deplete with each hair transplant. For FUE, the limit is half of the number as for a strip surgery and if you are not aware of this, then you could end up deformed as I often discuss on this site.