I am only 17 years old. How Long Do Hair Transplant Results Last?

Hair transplant results are for life as long as it was taken from permanent donor hair zones. The issue for hair transplant surgery for a young 17 year old is that you may have continued hair loss of your native hair and you would need to a Master Plan to address the continued hair loss. In addition, a hair transplant surgery can accelerate the hair loss.

At 17, you are likely not an appropriate candidate for a transplant procedure, instead are best treated conservatively with Propecia. While the transplants are considered “permanent”, as you get older and experience more hair loss, you will likely run out of donor hair to cover up the areas of future hair loss.

You need to wait a few years to determine if you will have enough hair to proceed. Otherwise, the hair transplants(which last forever) might be out there by themselves on the front of your head and not enough hair to finish the job! 

While there isn’t an ideal age for patients wanting hair transplant and we often treat men as young as 21, at 17 you might be a little young for the procedure. We surgeons can sometimes (based on your health & family history) prefer younger men to wait until they are older and in their early 30s. The reason for this is that if hair loss is at an early stage it can be difficult to predict how it will advance.
Now to answer your other question. In theory, hair transplant is meant to be a permanent solutions to the problem of baldness and thinning hair. Even in some specific cases, if it doesn't last a lifetime, it is extremely long lasting and one of the most successful treatments to regain lost hair.
The transplanted hair follows the behaviour of the donor area and will continue to grow as it did in the donor area.
No two cases are the same, so comparing yourself to another before / after picture on the internet and imagining an expected result based on a Google search is not the right approach. Ideally, you should look for a well experienced and qualified surgeon in your city and visit him / her for a consultation.
This is because, permanence of hair transplant is something that depends a lot on suitable candidacy and your surgeon setting the right expectations. Your cosmetic surgeon should be able to evaluate your suitability based on your age, genetics, health record and family history. It is then that the surgeon and patient mutually set the right expectations.

I do not do hair transplants on teenagers that are undergoing massive hair loss.  The problem is you have no idea where the good donor hair is and you can spend a lot of money and the hair will be quickly lost.

I totally agree with the other docs. At 17 if you are losing hair, you would most likely lose much more over your lifetime meaning that you would eventually run out of usable donor hair and because hair transplants are permanent would most likely be left with an unnatural result that would be glaringly obvious and terrible.

You are interestingly an excellent candidate for medical management or could be because these medications (see video) work particularly well on the younger patient with early hair loss, so-called miniaturization. hope that helps as a start.

best,

dr. sam lam

Alex,

You should definitely see a hair loss expert who can recommend the best 'total approach' for you to follow. Hair transplantation is permanent, but there are other medications such as Propecia (finasteride 1mg) which can help slow down your hair loss and keep you from thinning at such a rapid rate. With Propecia, up to 90% of men will actually regrow hair for up to 2 years after starting, and then maintain a plateau for many years afterwards. This is a safe medicine that has been on the US market since 1997. Consult with your dermatologist or primary doctor to at least get started on this before you try to pursue hair transplantation!

A 17 year old should not think about hair transplants until your balding pattern emerges and you reach 25 years old

All males have a genetic program which determines how much hair you will lose and where on your scalp this will occur. Hair transplants last a lifetime if the hair is taken from an area of the scalp where baldness will not occur. Unfortunately, the ultimate extent of the alopecia cannot be determined at your age with rapidly progressing hair loss. I suggest you see a transplant surgeon to document your baldness and perhaps prescribe a medical treatment. I don't recommend surgery at this time.