Author: Dr. William Rassman

What you need is to find a doctor who understands the progressive nature of genetic balding in men. With this much balding at 21, you may be heading for a Class 7 pattern but typically Asians do not have the donor supply to treat such a large area of balding if you should evolve into a Class 7 pattern. What you need is a Master Plan for your hair loss, not a hair transplant at this time. I have just received two emails from different doctors who reported that they had patients your age who reversed their hair loss completely with Minoxidil and Finasteride alone and no hair transplant. One of these two enails reported that his patinet had this reversal last since he was 21 years old, which is 15 years ago. Too many doctor will rush to transplant you because they make a lot of money doing it but they would be leaving you with an incomplete end result, so be careful. Try a combination of medications with the help of a good doctor.

If you are under 25, you should never consider a hair transplant. I would try the drug Finasteride as it may reverse the early thinning I see. This would also be true if you were over 25, giving you a try to reverse it without surgery. African hair is better than Asian and Caucasian hair as “it wants to cover the scalp”.

Finasteride may reverse thinning hair in African-American men.

Rather than obsess over your situation, meet with a doctor who is in this field of hair restoration and start building a Master Plan for your hair loss. I usually start by performing a HAIRCHECK instrument test on my patients to determine a baseline for the hair loss. Then, I start medications which would be appropriate for someone of your age. I follow the progress over a year or two. If the balding continues and gets worse, I might then consider a hair transplant but I must know you and you should get to know and trust your doctor over that time he treats you with medications. With trust, you can get your hair back and address your depression by taking action.

Balding gave me the final punch into depression, who else? from tressless

This is a great result from finasteride. This is the type of results we see, not uncommonly, when finasteride is used for crown hair loss.

I am 22 years old. I have been balding a lot since I was sixteen. This made me depressive from time to time and fucked up my confidence. I started Fin eight months ago. No sides yet, but there are moments in which it scares the fuck out of me. After thinking for years about it, I finally took the plunge and went for a hair transplant. Iwent to Turkey to have 4000 Grafts transplanted. Hair line with 50 grafts/cm² and behind 30 grafts per cm^2. It was a FUE. I am very happy with the transplant itself, I think the doctors made a good job. What kind of scares me now is that I definitely have to take Fin for the Rest of my time and do not really have a choice anymore. At least the clinic highly recommended me to continue taking fin. Moreover, I do not want to care that much anymore and not constantly thinking about future transplants and possible sides and also somehow think I might have been too young. Dunno, there are doubts now and all of this would not be such a big problem if some company would finally perform and bring me an alternative to fin, but I guess it will not happen. Oh man. Maybe, some of you can relate. Regarding Dermarolling, I start to lose hope because I think it only works for some people and before the hair transplant, I really hoped it would also help maintain. ust want to have my youth now and not constantly feel depressed anymore. Feeling lower than before. I feel like it might have been a stupid choice cause I am only 22. If you could contribute something, I would love to hear honest words from you what to do.

Clearly you seem to understand that hair loss is a progressive process. Now that you had 4000 FUE grafts, you most probably have reached the limit for FUE grafts in the future (see here: https://newhair.com/resources/#tab-id-4. Keep in mind that the donor hair you have left will have to manage all of the hair loss you have in the future. That is why I continually discuss two points (1) never rush into a hair transplant especially if you are under 26 and (2) always have a Master Plan for your future hair loss like how are you going to manage it. Hair transplants can’ cure depression nor cure hair loss because it is a changing process. Get a plan going forward. I would like to see some photos of you now and maybe I can help you plan your future course.

Since it is difficult to tell, find a doctor who has the HAIRCHECK instrument and then you will know for sure (see here: https://baldingblog.com/follow-haircheck-test-5-years/)

A male who is 22 should not have a hair transplant or hair line advancement surgery because if you do and you develop balding behind the corrected hairline, you will not look normal. If you undergo hairline advancement surgery, you will see a scar if recession occurs. If you have a hair transplant before your balding pattern become evident, then you will be chasing hair transplants for the next decade. You should wait until your potential balding pattern becomes evident, which is approximately 25 years of age. Build a Master Plan for your hair loss with a good doctor.

To answer your basic question, assuming you are at least 25, if your balding pattern is not going be be advanced, then you can have any hairline you want, even one better than a few years ago.

is it possible to get hair transplant for naturally receded hairline? from tressless

If you have thinning along the sides and back of your head as well as elsewhere (thinning on front and top), there is a condition we published called Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (DUPA) which requires a doctor to make the diagnosis with a hand microscope showing miniaturization in the sides and back of the head hair.This is a difficult problem to treat and people like you who have DUPA are not candidates for hair transplantation.

In the US, this type of surgery would be considered malpractice. You have almost certainly used more than half of your donor hair for the recipient area that was transplanted, so if you lose more hair behind this, you may not have enough hair left to follow the hair loss behind the transplanted area. You must recognize that hair loss is generally a progressive process and you need to have a Master Plan to account for the progressive nature of your hairloss. I hope that you don’t bald further but if you do, find an honorable doctor who understands such situations and will work with you with a high standard of care and management. Most young men are limited to between 5000-7000 FUE grafts during their lifetime unless their donor density is very high.