Can I get a hair transplant in my 20s young men in their 20s suffering from genetic pattern hair loss are often desperate to keep up with the majority of their peers who have a lot of hair we often see men in their 20s looking to get a hair transplant to make up for this progressive loss of hair coverage this is generally not a good idea from my perspective hair transplant is not recommended certain segments of the surgical hair transplant industry is driven more by profit than ethics which means that there are doctors and technicians willing to perform a hair transplant on someone who’s young and rapidly losing hair despite the negative long-term issues which I’ll explain in more detail I’m dr.
Amiya Prasad I’m a board-certified cosmetic surgeon and fellowship trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon I’ve been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years I’ve been performing hair transplants since the early years of my practice I’m also the founder of TrichoStem Hair Regeneration centers this is a non-surgical treatment for genetic hair loss which I developed using a wound healing material called extracellular matrix combined with platelet-rich plasma I’ve been performing this procedure since 2011 for men and women who come to us from around the world when it comes to male pattern hair loss there is a general rule of thumb called the rule of decades this is where 20% of men in their 20s have pattern hair loss 30% in their 30s and so on this means that when you’re in your 20s and 80% of your contemporaries have a lot of hair some men with early hair loss who want the same level of hair coverage as their peers we’ll turn to hair transplant as a solution hair transplant requires harvesting hair grafts from a small area at the back of the head which consists of hairs that are genetically resistant to hair thinning this area is much smaller than the area of the top of the scalp where hair is needed in addition the rate of progression and resulting loss of scalp coverage makes hair transplant a less than optimal choice for a man in his 20s who tries to keep up with hair loss through hair transplantation by the time he’s in his late 20s to mid 30s there won’t be any donor area hair left for transplant and thinning an eventual loss of native hair will still continue so at that point he still won’t look like he has a lot of hair it’s very important to know that hair transplants do not treat progressive hair thinning which leads to eventual hair loss in my experience men in their 20s who are facing more aggressive hair loss are particularly sensitive to dihydrotestosterone or DHT this high sensitivity can be an important contributing factor to a particularly rapid and aggressive progression of male pattern hair loss in my practice I advocate that hair loss management in the 20s should be focused on stabilization or saving hairs that are still present for as long as possible and improving scalp coverage by maximizing the number of existing hairs covering the scalp and thickening hair that is thinning to treat high DHT sensitivity our DHT blocker like finasteride is recommended DHT is created by the conversion of the hormone test drawn by an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase which converts it to dihydrotestosterone or DHT.
DHT blockers like finasteride work by inhibiting 5 alpha reductase to prevent DHT formation a DHT blocker can slow progressive hair thinning and allow for some hair growth however pattern hair loss will still continue to progress hair loss is managed not cured in order to maximize the number of hairs on the scalp and thicken thinning hair in our practice we perform a procedure called hair regeneration this is a non-surgical injection treatment for men and women with genetic pattern hair loss the treatment has been applied to men as young as 17 years old and to women as young as 16 this treatment uses a wound healing mechanism which thickens thinning hair and stimulates the growth of hair follicles which are currently not growing resulting in an increase in hair density and scalp coverage native thinning hairs naturally grow more closer together than the density that can be created with hair transplant surgery the volume of native scalp hairs and moderate hair loss are considerably more numerous than what’s available for transplant from a donor area the treatment can therefore achieve more hair density and coverage than a hair transplant in the right candidate that improvement in scalp coverage can exceed the results of even to hair transplant surgeries the hair regeneration treatment is made up of platelet-rich plasma or PRP which is a concentration of wound healing and growth factors present in the blood patients have their blood drawn and spun in a centrifuge to concentrate the PRP which is a clear yellow serum the key to this treatment is extracellular matrix an advanced wound healing material derived from pig bladder extracellular matrix or a cellular matrix is commonly referred to as a cell the company which produces the product although pig bladder is used the materialist process so no Pig specific elements remain in the final product I customized a hair regeneration formulation for each patient using an algorithm developed since 2011 which factors gender age of onset of hair loss degree of hair loss and other treatments used as well as other medical factors for young men I typically advise the hair regeneration treatment to be used in conjunction with the drug finasteride the hair regeneration treatment itself does not affect DHT sensitivity I explained that hair regeneration treatment alone may be of benefit but the benefits may not last as long without finasteride due to the presence of high DHT sensitivity based on following a recommended treatment plan the benefits of hair regeneration can be typically seen for three to five years hair loss is still progressive however the strategy we employ has helped many people improve their appearance well beyond their genetic programming hair transplants can help improve coverage in areas where hair is absent since early onset of hair loss in the 20s is often associated with rapid progression and loss of significant scalp coverage hair transplant is not usually an optimal choice for men in their 20s recognizing that hair transplants don’t treat progressive hair loss I approach this problem for men in their 20s by slowing down hair thinning due to DHT sensitivity with drugs like finasteride and thickening thinning hair is stimulating the growth of dormant hairs with hair regeneration I hope you found this information helpful thank you for your question
