HIV Positive and Hair Transplants

I have been diagnosed with HIV which is now under reasonable control. For a period of time I was very sick, but now with the proper balance of medications, I am healthy and active. The problem is that I lost a great deal of hair from the time I got sick 2 years ago to the present. I am 54 years young and I do not like looking 80 whic is what I feel I look like when I saw a recent picture of myself. Can I have hair transplants or does the my HIV status impact either my candidacy for surgery or the results of hair transplants? Will the doctors turn me down for surgery because I am HIV positive?

A healthy person who is HIV positive may be a good a candidate as an HIV negative person. Your sickness probably caused the ‘expression’ of your genetic balding process on an accelerated timeline. At your age, I would be surprised if it continued to progress, but after mapping out your hair for miniaturization, I would go on Propecia to protect you hair from further loss and then be evaluated for a hair transplant if you want to change your look.

Under most state laws, doctors can not discriminate against someone who is HIV positive. Some doctors fudge on this and do what I call ‘closet’ discrimination where there are convenient reasons to turn down patients, but not only is this against the law, it is against the oath we as doctors are supposed to adhere to. If you are healthy, you can expect that you should be a reasonable candidate, certainly one worth evaluating. I perform hair transplants on many such patients each year.