Managing Hair Loss in Your 20s - Why Hair Transplants are Not Recommended
Young men in their 20s suffering from 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 the lack of hair coverage. Hair transplants in the 20s are generally not a good idea, from my perspective. Certain segments of the surgical hair transplant industry are driven more by profit than ethics which means 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 will explain in more detail.
Understanding the Rule of Decades in Hair Loss
When it comes to male pattern hair loss there is a general rule of thumb called the Rule of Decades, where 20% of men in their 20s have pattern hair loss, 30% in their 30s, and so forth. Which means that when 80% of your contemporaries have a lot of hair, men with early hair loss want that same hair coverage as their peers and turn to hair transplant for a solution.
Why Hair Transplants is Not Advised for Male in 20s
Hair transplants require harvesting grafts from a small donor area at the back of the head, which has limited capacity compared to the larger balding area on the scalp. For a man in his 20s who tries to keep up with hair loss through hair transplantation, by the time he is in his late 20s to mid 30s, there won’t be any donor hair left, and thinning and eventual loss of native hair will continue, so 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.
Why Hair is Thinning in Early 20s
In my experience, men in their 20s who are facing more aggressive hair loss are particularly sensitive to dihydrotestosterone or DHT. This high sensitivity is an important factor contributing to a particularly rapid and aggressive progression of pattern hair loss.
Effective Management: Focus on Stabilizing 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.
To treat high DHT-sensitivity, a DHT-blocker like finasteride is used. DHT-blockers like finasteride work by inhibiting 5-alpha reductase to prevent DHT formation. A DHT-blocker can slow progressive thinning, and allow for some hair growth, however pattern hair loss will still continue to progress. Pattern hair loss is hardwired into genetics, so it can’t be cured, but it can be managed to maximize hair thickness, hair regrowth, and scalp coverage.
TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration: A Non-Surgical Hair Loss Solution
In order to maximize the number of hairs on the scalp, and thicken thinning hair, in our practice, I perform a procedure called TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration. TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration offers a non-surgical alternative for treating genetic hair loss. This procedure uses platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and extracellular matrix (ECM) to stimulate hair growth, thicken thinning hair, and increase scalp coverage.
It has been effective for both men and women, with results exceeding those of hair transplants because thinning native hair is far more numerous, and grows closer together than available hair grafts, which need to space further apart than natural hair density for graft survival.
How TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration Works
The TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration treatment is made up of the platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, which is the 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 Acellular matrix, is commonly referred to as ACell as the company that produces it. Although pig bladder is used, the material is processed so no pig specific elements remain in the final product.
I customize the TrichoStem® 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, other treatments used, and other medical factors.
Combining Treatments for Optimal Results
For young men, I typically advise the TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration treatment, in conjunction with finasteride. The TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration treatment itself does not treat DHT-sensitivity, but is shown to thicken thinning hair, and stimulate more hair regrowth in male patients already on finasteride for years. I explain that TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration treatment alone may be of benefit, but the benefits may not last as long without finasteride due to their high DHT-sensitivity.
Based on following a recommended treatment plan, the benefits can be typically seen for 3 to 5 years, but may be less when some patients refuse to take finasteride.
Since hair loss is progressive genetic condition, it isn’t cured, but it can be managed to maximize hair thickness, and scalp coverage as much as possible, for as long as possible. By focusing on stabilization of hair thinning, thickening thinning hair, and stimulating growth from hair follicles not yet fully miniaturized, young men can achieve better results than hair transplants that do not address rapid and progressive hair thinning.
Conclusion
Hair transplants can help provide coverage for 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, and can’t keep up with rapid hair thinning, 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, and stimulating growth from dormant hair follicles with TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration.
Hair Loss Treatment Manhattan NYC and Long Island, New York
Dr. Amiya Prasad is a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and a Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon. He has been practicing in Manhattan, and Long Island for over 30 years. Early in his career, he began performing hair transplants, and since 2011 is world leader in non-surgical hair loss treatment.
Dr. Prasad is the founder of TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration Centers, where he developed an innovative, non-surgical treatment for genetic hair loss. This procedure combines an extracellular matrix, a wound-healing material, with platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Since 2011, he has successfully treated men and women from around the world with this advanced technique.
