Why Would a Doctor Transplant a 20 Year Old?

Here is a link to the patient photo section of Dr Ziering’s Hair Transplant website. In the UK, Dr Ziering is perhaps the most well known hair transplant surgeon because of his celebrity clients and working with ‘The Hospital Group’; the market leader of cosmetic surgery chains.

One of his patient is a 20 year old man who received 1700 grafts. Normally, hair transplant surgery on someone so young would set my alarm bells ringing. However, because Dr Ziering is well respected and working in partnership with a huge, national company, I trust he made the right decision in transplanting this young man’s hair.

Based on the before and after pictures of this patient, would you have offered him a hair transplant and if not, why not? If it’s hard to tell without seeing the patient in person, could you shed light on circumstances which might mean someone so young could be considered a good candidate?

If it helps contextualise this message, I am 20 years old and was planning on using Propecia and Rogaine until I’m old enough for surgery-but this picture is making me question that decision.

Here’s a direct link to the patient you’re referencing (the description says the patient is 20 years old and the after photo was taken 9 months post) — here.

The before picture does show significant frontal balding worthy of a hair transplant under the right circumstances. The maturity of the patient and his ability to understand a Master Plan for his hair loss is a concern. Many young men might reverse on Propecia and in these pictures, the reversal of all (or a significant part) of his hair loss with drugs alone would certainly reduce the amount of surgery necessary. He might not have even needed surgery, depending on the result after taking the drug. I don’t have any history on this patient, so I don’t know the full course of action that his doctor recommended.

So not knowing anything about the patient besides his age, I would not transplant the top of the scalp where the thinning is obvious, as this area often reverses on Propecia alone. But if I knew this patient and could assess his maturity and financial plans for the future, I might very well have transplanted him, despite his young age. Each case is unique and should be evaluated as such.