What is the Appropriate Age for a Hair Transplant?

This hair loss question was answered by Dr. Glenn Charles of Florida who is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. His professional answer is below.

When is a patient too young to have a hair transplant? How long should someone wait? How thin does your hair really need to be? I don’t understand how a doctor can do surgery on a twenty-two year old guy knowing the high risk he may end up a 6 or 7 on the Norwood Scale.

There is no perfect age for a [tag]hair transplant[/tag]. When surgical [tag]hair restoration[/tag] is considered in younger patients it should be done very conservatively. A long term plan should be established between the doctor and the patient taking into consideration the good possibility of continued [tag]balding[/tag].

I always discuss the worst case scenario with the patient: the possibility that they will go on to a stage 6 or 7 on the Norwood Scale and are likely going to want additional hair transplant procedures in the future. I also try and assure, if the patient does have more [tag]hair loss[/tag] and for some reason cannot do more surgeries, that the first procedure will look acceptable on its own.

Dr. Glenn Charles

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David – aka TakingThePlunge
Assistant Publisher and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog, and the Hair Restoration Forum
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