Can I Get a Hair Transplant at Age 17?

Dear NainishThanks for the question. There is no age limit as such for a hair transplantation. But people under the age group of 18 years to 80 years usually options for hair transplantation as the symptoms of balding and spot balding occur within this span of life. I wish you all the best.

Hair transplant surgery does not have a "rule" in when you can have surgery.  Generally, when you are very early in the hair loss process doctors cannot easily predict how much hair you may lose.  If you have to surgery too early, you may look worse as you lose more hair.A doctor needs to examine a patient first to make sure they are a surgery candidate with good donor hair. The examination may find that the patient may be at an increased risk of further hair loss and the surgery may actually make the patient look worse or require more surgery. The patient also has to understand that hair transplant surgery is not a cure and that they will continue to have further hair loss of non-transplanted hairs. The patient needs to have realistic goals and understand what is possible and what is not possible with surgery.

Most hair transplant clinics will not take patients under the age of 24, however there are occasional exceptions of a couple years. Seventeen is still too young for hair transplant. It is a good idea to be proactive early on, with regard to non-surgical treatments like Rogaine or Propecia. I advise you to consult a dermatologist for a treatment plan to preserve your hair until you’re old enough for hair transplant. If your hair loss progresses to a severe level , body hair transplant may be an option for you in the future.

It's very difficult for me to quickly dismiss your problems by giving you the standard answer that: "You are too young to have a transplant." That doesn't really solve the problem you are having.  Granted, for most 17 year olds, a surgical hair transplant would be premature.  However, everybody is different.  What you may be describing is a dermatologic condition called, "Telogen Effluvium" which may be caused by stress, usually temporary, and sometimes treatable with topical care.  There are other non surgical options, cover ups and styling techniques which may benefit you, especially if your hair loss is affecting you socially.   So what you really need is good advice and guidance and some solutions to your problem.

Hair transplants are rarely done before 25 because it's in the best interest of the patient to wait. You have in the back of your scalp only a limited number of hairs to move in your lifetime (i.e. hairs to transplant). It may be 0. It may be 8000. That's a huge range I know. The older you get the easier it is for your physician to tell if your number is 0 or 8000. Only a small percent of men have 0 available - and these are men with a type of balding called diffuse unpatterned alopecia. By age 25-30, you'll get a much better sense of where on this scale from 0 to 8000 you fall. If you only have 4000 available, most men want to reserve as many of these precious grafts as possible to place somewhere in the middle of the scalp, rather than use them up in a location like the temples or lowering the hairline. It's normal to want to get your hair back. It's normal to want to consider a hair transplant to fix this. But let your surgeon guide you and hold you back until the right time. 

Unfortunately, surgical hair restoration is generally not advised for patients younger than 25 with androgenetic alopecia (male pattern baldness) for two important reasons: 1) in a young person, we cannot tell if the donor area will be stable over time and 2) the earlier one’s hair loss begins, the more extensive it will likely become. Let’s explore each of these points:1. Predicting Donor Area StabilitySuccessful hair transplants require a stable donor zone. A donor zone is the area on the back and sides of the scalp where hair follicles are not affected by the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is a byproduct of testosterone, the hormone that causes susceptible hair follicles on the scalp to shrink and eventually disappear. In a hair transplant, these hair follicles are replaced by DHT resistant hair follicles taken from the donor area.In a young person, particularly one younger than 25, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to accurately determine the stability of ones donor area, i.e. to tell for sure if the hair in the donor area will be resistant to DHT over the long-term. If a surgeon performs a hair transplant on a patient who has an unstable donor area, the transplanted hair will disappear over time.Not only does this cause the cosmetic benefit of the transplant to be lost, but the thinning donor area can reveal the donor scars that would normally be covered by hair – and this goes for both the linear scar of FUT and the small round scars of FUE.We often hear a young person who is desperate to have a hair transplant reason as follows: if my transplant fails, I’m no worse off than I was before I started, so I’ll take a chance that my donor area will be stable; On the other hand, if my donor area turns out not to be stable and the hair transplant fails, then I’ll just shave my head.This logic is flawed, however, since after a hair transplant shaving one’s head is no longer an option. This is because, as stated above, all hair transplants leave scars in the donor area. Whether the patient has a strip scar, in the case of FUT, or many tiny scars, in the case of FUE, the scars would be both noticeable and unsightly when the head is shaved.2. Early Hair Loss Usually Means Extensive BaldingGenerally, the younger one begins to lose hair, the more likely the hair loss will become extensive. And with extensive hair loss, there is usually not enough donor hair to cover the entire bald area. In someone with significant hair loss a hair transplant will usually only be able to replace hair on the front and top of the scalp, not on the sides (the temples) or on the back of the head (the crown). This look is fine for a person in their 30′s or 40′s who is losing hair, but for someone in their early 20s, having a thin or bald crown may make their appearance noticeably worse.In this case, medical therapy with finasteride (Propecia) is the most reasonable course of action. Finasteride has the ability to stop and potentially reverse the balding process for many years. This is why it is important for patients with early hair loss to start finasteride as soon as possible, to preserve as much of their hair as they can.

For sure at 17 years old you are too young.  My recommendation for young men like yourself is typically Propecia, laser light therapy, and of course you need a personal evaluation.

You can get a transplant but later in life. Right now you are too young and should talk to your doctor about other options. The advantage is that with time comes new technology like robot transplants. 

Absolutely no!  Your biggest enemy is the progressive nature of
balding that comes about from genetic male patterned hair loss. What will
happen in the next 5 or so years is probably that you will continue losing
hair. Your looks ok now, but this is the time to meet with a good doctor who
can make the correct diagnosis and start you on the drug finasteride, which is
highly effective at stopping progressive balding and possibly reversing it in
men of your age. Get Bulk Measurements of your hair to determine where
your present balding os now, and then after you go on the medications, such
measurements will tell if the treatment is working. If you are developing a more
advanced balding pattern which the Bulk Measurements will show over a one year
time frame, then you and your doctor need to develop a MASTER PLAN. 

Male pattern baldness is progressive throughout life. I would not do surgical hair replacement, either transplants or the Fleming/Mayer Flap, until I could determine the final ultimate extent of a patient's loss. At your age I recommend that you try medical alternatives such as Propecia. See a specialist now, who can follow your progression of hair loss.