Best Age For Hair Transplant: When Should You Get a Hair Transplant? (Recommended Age Limit)

For most men, hair fall start in their late teen or early 20s.

Hair fall during this period is a big blow to their self-esteem. Personally speaking, it is an emotionally devastating experience. You lose confidence, stop hanging with friends, stop taking photos, and basically, you start to hate your appearance.

You want to get out of this problem anyhow. You seek advice from different people and apply tons of unnecessary and sometimes harmful hair products only to make matter worse.

A hair transplant is a permanent solution to hair fall. It can give back your hair in a natural way. But, a hair transplant is recommended at an early age. Not because it is too expensive. There are other logical reasons for it.

So, what’s the best age for a hair transplant, and why you should not have a hair transplant at an early age? Let’s find out.

Best Age For Hair Transplant: When Should You Get a Hair Transplant?

What is hair transplant surgery and how it is done?

A hair transplant is a minimally invasive surgery, where surgeons take out the hair from the donor area, which is usually the back of your head and transplant it over the bald area of the scalp.

There are two main techniques for hair transplant surgery: FUT and FUE.

In Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), the surgeon cut out a strip of skin from the back of the head, which is then closed with stitches. Then, they take out the hair follicle from the strip of the scalp and implant it over the bald area.

In Follicular Unit Extraction( FUE), the surgeon makes tiny holes, instead of cutting out a strip of skin, on the donor area to take out the hair graft and transplant it into the recipient area by making small holes.

Hair transplant surgery takes photo six hours to complete. It is done under anesthesia and a person can resume work after 6-7 days of the recovery period.

However, to get the result fully, you need to wait for 8 to 12 months. It will give you natural hair which won’t fall out as they are immune to hormones responsible for hair fall.

What is the best age for hair transplant surgery?

A hair transplant can be done at any age, but it is not recommended for a person below 25 years of age.

In fact, when a hair transplant is done at an early age, it only make matter worse.

You see, there is only a limited amount of hair in the donor area. So, surgeons should make good decisions and transplant hair into those areas of the scalp which will give a natural look and cover as many portions of the head as possible.

At an early age, the pattern of hair loss is not fully developed. That means the surgeon cannot decide properly where to put the precious donor hair on the scalp.

As hair loss is not stabilized at an early age, a person will continue to have hair fall after a hair transplant and will eventually reveal new patches of hair loss requiring to go for a second hair transplant.

In fact, a person needs to go through multiple sessions of hair transplant to cover the bald area fully. And, after multiple hair transplant sessions, the donor area will have no hair left for transplantation.

 

Read also: Does donor area hair grow back? 

 

Eventually, a person will be left with a newly bald area and without any hair to cover it.

In addition to that, a hair transplant can sometimes cause shock loss of hair, which is your healthy hair starts to fall due to trauma after a hair transplant. 

As the pattern is hair transplant is not fully developed, and there is a chance of overharvesting of the donor area, and shock loss of hair when hair transplant is done earlier, that’s why it is not recommended to have a hair transplant at an early age.

So, what’s the best age for a hair transplant? Can you do it in your 20s?

In most cases, a Hair transplant is recommended only after 25 years of age. And, it gives a better result when done in the 30s, by then the pattern of hair loss is stabilized and well-formed.

Meanwhile, the hair loss problem should be tackled with non-surgical methods such as applying minoxidil, taking finasteride, PRP(Plasma Rich Platelets) therapy, and laser therapy. 

With these measures, you should think of preventing further hair loss and stabilizing it until you reach the best age for a hair transplant.

That said, hair transplant is based on individual hair conditions. If you’ve patterned hair loss which is stabilized and predictable at an early age, you can have a hair transplant without any delay.

So, to find out whether a hair transplant is a good option for you or not, you need to consult a dermatologist first. They will examine your hair and ask about your family history. They will run some blood investigations to find out the cause of hair loss before deciding the best treatment option for your condition.

 

When Is It Too Late For A Hair Transplant?

Fortunately, age is not a limiting factor in hair transplant surgery. Generally, hair transplant is performed from age of 25 to 65 years

For a person below 25 years of age, the pattern of hair loss is not well-established and patients still have much hair left. Their hair loss patterns are unpredictable, which leads to an uneven distribution of precious and limited donor hair if a hair transplant was done at an early age.

That’s why many hair surgeons are reluctant to perform hair transplant surgery on a person, who is still in their late teens or early twenties.

People who are older, in their 60s or 70s, have lost too much hair, i.e Norwood 6 or 7. They are completely bald. Sadly, they don’t have much healthy hair left in their donor area to cover the bald area on their head.

Besides, older people are more likely to have chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and heart disease. And, they may be suffering from chronic kidney disease. These condition does not allow them to have a hair transplant.

In addition to that, they might be taking medication for chronic diseases that lead to hair fall or that may create problems while doing hair transplant surgery. Beta-blocker, blood thinners, and anti-hypertensive drugs create serious issues during hair transplant surgery.

If someone is on such medication, they have to consult their doctor before going for hair transplant surgery. If they cannot discontinue their medication for a while, they will be dropped from the list of candidates for hair transplant surgery.

That being said, here are the characteristics of the ideal candidate for hair transplant surgery:

• Well-established pattern hair loss
• High-density and healthy donor hair
• Good general health condition
• Healthy scalp
• Not under any medication
• Non-smoker
• Non-alcoholic
• Not severe baldness such as Norwood 6 or 7 scales

What happens if you get hair transplant too early?

If you choose to get a hair transplant at an early age, you won’t get a good result from it, you need to have multiple session, and in some case, your hair loss increases, and the donor area get exhausted. That’s why a hair transplant is not recommended.

Hair transplant at an early stage of hair loss, in the late teen or early 20s, can lead to shock loss, which is your healthy hair will start to fall due to trauma. This will make matters even worse by increasing hair loss.

Most people have hair loss in their late teens and early 20s. During that period they are in the early stage of hair loss. Their hair loss is not stable yet. They have many years left for hair loss to become more pronounced and visible.

Hair surgeons usually wait for one year and ask you to come for consultation in between to find out the pattern of hair loss. They will advise you to wait until you have a predictable hair loss pattern.

Here is the reason why hair transplant is not recommended at an early age:

• A hair transplant won’t prevent ongoing hair loss. If you go for a hair transplant, it will not cover the area that is going to be blad in the future due to which, you might have to do a hair transplant multiple times.
• The donor area for hair transplant has only a limited supply of healthy hair. The surgeon should make good decisions to put that precious hair in the area that result in a better result. At an early age, when you’re in the early stage of hair loss, a surgeon cannot predict the future bald area correctly, as a result, donor hair will be placed in the wrong place and you’ll have not much donor hair left for the future balding area.
• As I mentioned earlier, early hair transplant can lead to shock loss of healthy hair. Trauma during hair transplant makes hair fall prematurely. Due to this, you won’t see any improvement in the experience of your hair. in some cases, it might make you balder than before.
• A hair transplant is a costly surgery. Since you might have to go for multiple hair transplant surgery to cover the ongoing bald area, it will cost you to fortune in the long run, if you choose to do a hair transplant at an early age.

 

The rule of thumb: You should wait for a hair transplant until the pattern of hair loss is more pronounced and easily predictable. You don’t want to waste your precious donor hair by covering the unnecessary part of the scalp. And remember, you might have to go for multiple hair transplants for the result you expect, which will eventually exhaust the donor area.

How to prevent hair loss at an early age?

If you are experiencing hair loss at an early age and a hair transplant is not a good option yet, you stop the process of hair loss until you reach the best age for a hair transplant.

Here are some popular and effective medical options to prevent hair loss at an early age:

• Platelets-rich plasma (PRP) injection
• Low-level laser therapy
• Finasteride
• Minoxidil (Rogaine)

 

Bottom Line

What is the best age for a hair transplant? The most recommended age for hair transplant is around 30 and above when hair loss is well patterned and predictable.

Hair loss pattern, the scale of hair loss, and the condition of donor area hair also play a significant role in deciding whether a hair transplant is a good option or not.

If you’re in the early stage of hair loss and you don’t have enough hair loss for a hair transplant to consider, you should take non-surgical measures to stabilize hair loss until you reach the recommended age for a hair transplant.

However, don’t wait too long for a hair transplant, when it is too late for a hair transplant. In old age, balding becomes very severe, and if you don’t have much hair left in your donor area to cover the large balding area then it is too late for a hair transplant.

The take-home message is hair transplant can be done at an early age if you’ve predictable hair loss. So, consult a dermatologist to find out the best treatment for your condition.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)