Any info on hair transplants?

[dennis thompson]

My grandson,who is only 21, is losing his hair very quickly. As you might imagine he is very upset and self conscious about it. He and I have been discussing hair transplants but neither of us know anything about it. Well, I do know one thing, they are very expensive and not covered by insurance. Does anyone know anything about hair transplants?
thanks

[Jim Koepke]

Over 40 years ago, when my hair was thinning, I decided a hat looks better and cost a lot less than any of the other remedies for going bald.

jtk

[Wade Lippman]

I sure don't, but first thing I would check is to see if whatever is causing his hair loss will affect the transplanted hair.

[John M Wilson]

I also lost my hair at a fairly young age, being quite bald by age 25. (This was in the early 80's, and "hair" was important then). I was a young engineer, and I had a meeting with a very successful, young-ish, owner of a supplier to our company. He was in his early 30's, and much balder than me, so I could picture myself becoming like him. He had his remaining hair cut quite short (another anomaly in the 80's) and had no comb-over, hat, or any other device to hide his pate. He was good looking and confident, and it changed my perspective completely.

I realized that this guy was good looking, and had no hair. Clearly, to me, these things had become "de-coupled". After that, I began to notice that the only bald guys that drew my attention had comb-overs, visible hair transplants, or wore ball caps with a business suit. The only ones I noticed were the ones who were trying to hide it from me. All of the other "regular" bald guys were just guys with less hair. If it didn't matter to them, it didn't matter to me.

Now days, with the shorter hair styles, (or even shaved heads), I cannot fathom why anyone would spend vast sums of money to replace something that no one else cares about. I have a fringe above my ears, which I keep close trimmed, and that's my hair style. Trust me, no one cares.

I would encourage your grandson to realize he has so much more to offer the world than functioning hair follicles. All of his real friends, trustworthy business associates, and potential spouses that are worthy of the title are not concerned in the least with his hair. It's not something you can do for him, but do pass along from one who knows that the day he loses his self consciousness about this will be a special day. When he celebrates his freedom from worrying about what people who don't matter think, he has become a man.

My $.02

[Frederick Skelly]

Might be worth visiting the family doctor, just for a checkup. People do go bald that young, but it couldn't hurt to just make sure everything's normal before going for a hair transplant.

Other thoughts..... Are you his maternal grandfather? I've always heard the trait of baldness comes down that way. (Never tried to verify that.) Did you go bald at a really young age too?

Fred

[Phil Thien]

One friend was losing hair in his teens and early 20's and finally shaved his head. Looked great.

Another friend got plugs (spent a fortune) and they didn't do enough and it looked awful. Had to spend a boatload more to get more plugs. Still doesn't look great.

[Jim Koepke]

It's not something you can do for him, but do pass along from one who knows that the day he loses his self consciousness about this will be a special day. When he celebrates his freedom from worrying about what people who don't matter think, he has become a man.

My $.02

John,

Your words are certainly of a much greater value than just:

2¢ Two Cents.png

jtk

[Alan Hick]

My grandson,who is only 21, is losing his hair very quickly. As you might imagine he is very upset and self conscious about it. He and I have been discussing hair transplants but neither of us know anything about it. Well, I do know one thing, they are very expensive and not covered by insurance. Does anyone know anything about hair transplants?
thanks

A few things.

First, if you're going to go down this road, it'll be costly, as you know. But there are right ways to do it and wrong ways. This isn't life threatening, so take your time and do plenty of research.

This research may bring up out of country options--such as Turkey or India. When you consider that the full monty, so to speak, may run 20k here in the USA, and you may be able to get the same thing in India for 3k, it's worth looking into. I'm not encouraging or discouraging "travel hair transplants"; I'm just saying do your homework.

Next, are the various procedures/methods:
FUE (follicular unit extraction)--which can be done 1.manually
2. semi-manually with a device like the Alphagraft
3. Automatically with the Artas Robot
4. Semi-Automatically with the Neograft machine
FUT or Strip grafting
DHI
and perhaps some others.

There are well-entrenched camps who believe the method they use is superior to the other methods. But, what it comes down to, just as in woodworking, is the skill and attention to detail possessed by the surgeon, even if he/she is using a more-or-less automatic machine.

Then there's the age consideration. Your grandson is 21 and losing his hair. Well, the problem is that this is likely to continue for some amount of time. If you "fix" it now, but the hair loss continues, you'll end up looking like a French Poodle after a few years, and will likely need additional surgery.

In the meantime, medications should be considered. Rogaine and Propecia are the 2 mainstays currently used to stop or at least slow down the hair loss process.

What this works out to is a whole lot of messing around, and potentially a whole lot of cash. But transplantation technique has vastly improved since back in the day when hair was harvested and planted like rows of corn. The results can be quite good. But...
Research
Research
Research
and then
Research some more

Your grandson has a lot to think about.

[paul cottingham]

Honestly, my dad was pretty bald by about 25. He was such a cute little old bugger than young women positively swooned over him, even tho' he was married and devoted to my mom.
i seriously think the best thing this young fellow can do, is learn to embrace it. Shaved heads are all the rage right now as well.

[Brian Ashton]

John,

Your words are certainly of a much greater value than just:

2¢ Two Cents.png

jtk

Definitely. When he gets a bit older and more mature he'll find it's not bad at all. There's lots of shaved heads out there now, to the point no one even notices anymore and in fact they look good. What looks weird is people that try to fight nature. Face lifts, nose jobs, tanning, boob jobs, cheek implants, hair transplants all have the look of being off from a distance, and when you get close enough it becomes clear whats off about it.

[Phil Thien]

Honestly, my dad was pretty bald by about 25. He was such a cute little old bugger than young women positively swooned over him, even tho' he was married and devoted to my mom.
i seriously think the best thing this young fellow can do, is learn to embrace it. Shaved heads are all the rage right now as well.

Some of the most attractive women (I'm talking 10's) I've seen have been hanging on the arms of bald men.

Too many people look at this baldness thing as some sort of deficit which can be overcome by other qualities.

And I don't think that is the case at all.

There are absolutely women that prefer that look, and guys don't give a crap.

What I'm saying is, there is no real downside (besides having to be careful in the sun), and real possible upside.

[Alan Hick]

Problematically, some of the attitudes espoused have been arrived at via the blessing of age. My college room mate, many years ago, was losing his hair. Just as pretty much all the men in his family had for several generations. He was prepared for it and really didn't have an issue. But the OP states that this young man is "very upset" and "self conscious". If you're a person with self confidence, you handle stuff. If you lack self confidence, someone telling you to "buck up, look on the bright side, and stop being a nancy" may not work. Personally, I'm not planning on doing anything about my thinning/receding hair. But I'm not going to tell someone else that they should, or they shouldn't, based on my perspective of how the world works. I'm not them, and they're not me. It would be nice if everyone had such self acceptance and self confidence that cosmetic surgery became a practice only involved in reconstruction after an accident or disease. But it's not. It's almost ALL elective.
Why, after all these years and so much enlightenment and liberation, do so many women still get breast implants? Or have their teeth whitened? Or get weaves to have fuller hair? Or undergo liposuction? Or lip injection? Or botulinum injection? etc. The list is long. Vanity sells. And perception is reality in the eyes of many. And telling them it's not doesn't work very well.

[dennis thompson]

Problematically, some of the attitudes espoused have been arrived at via the blessing of age. My college room mate, many years ago, was losing his hair. Just as pretty much all the men in his family had for several generations. He was prepared for it and really didn't have an issue. But the OP states that this young man is "very upset" and "self conscious". If you're a person with self confidence, you handle stuff. If you lack self confidence, someone telling you to "buck up, look on the bright side, and stop being a nancy" may not work. Personally, I'm not planning on doing anything about my thinning/receding hair. But I'm not going to tell someone else that they should, or they shouldn't, based on my perspective of how the world works. I'm not them, and they're not me. It would be nice if everyone had such self acceptance and self confidence that cosmetic surgery became a practice only involved in reconstruction after an accident or disease. But it's not. It's almost ALL elective.
Why, after all these years and so much enlightenment and liberation, do so many women still get breast implants? Or have their teeth whitened? Or get weaves to have fuller hair? Or undergo liposuction? Or lip injection? Or botulinum injection? etc. The list is long. Vanity sells. And perception is reality in the eyes of many. And telling them it's not doesn't work very well.

Thanks for an excellent and well thought out reply.
Besides working with my grandson's hair issue I am seeing a plastic surgeon with the hope of fixing my Depuytrens contraction, my pinky finger is bent over, almost touching my palm. New procedures may give me relief with only a few injections instead of surgery ( which I have had twice) In doing my research on him I looked at his website. They offer many options including a "Mommy makeover", very popular and if that makes them happy,good for them.

[paul cottingham]

To be blunt, i suspect most of the reason people get self-concious about baldness because marketing tells them they should be.

[Alan Hick]

Thanks for an excellent and well thought out reply.
Besides working with my grandson's hair issue I am seeing a plastic surgeon with the hope of fixing my Depuytrens contraction, my pinky finger is bent over, almost touching my palm. New procedures may give me relief with only a few injections instead of surgery ( which I have had twice) In doing my research on him I looked at his website. They offer many options including a "Mommy makeover", very popular and if that makes them happy,good for them.

Not to be contrary or unappreciative, but dupuytren's contracture is a stroll in the park compared to early onset male pattern baldness. And just to make sure we're all clear--just because a cosmetic or plastic guy is good at xyz, doesn't necessarily mean he's any good at all the other stuff. When I say "do research", I'm not f-ing around. I mean, DO RESEARCH. Find out what procedures/areas this person is certified in. Look at the state board website and find out what kind of complaints have been lodged. You may have to pay a fee for the information, but how much is "peace of mind" worth? Find out how this person ranks against his peers. Find out what his complication rate is, how that rate compares with the national and state average, and how his complications resolve--patient gets better, vs patient gets paid to not say anything.

You CANNOT assume that because someone is good at X they will also be good at Y. You have to establish that a doctor/surgeon is actually good at the procedure you're asking him to do on you, or on your loved one. The onus is on you, not the doctor. The doctor is unlikely to say "I'm really good at x, but oh my, I really suck at y". Such an admission would be counterproductive to building a practice. Some will make the admission, some won't.

So, PLEASE, don't assume anything. Evaluate and verify everything. And by doing so, if your GS goes through with it, he has the best chance of long-term success. Good luck.