30 year old male with thin hair and bald patches in crown. Is FUE safe for me? (Photo)

Dear subha2012,There are a few ethical dilemmas in hair restoration, and the minimum age at which a man can should have a transplant to the crown is one of them. The issue is that when you look at hair loss patterns, as they progress in a male (see web reference below), the crown area can start small, but grow to a large size. Consider the loss in your crown as more or less a circular pattern of loss, like the diagram in the reference below. Then remember that as the diameter of a circle increases, the area, which is what patients and physicians alike are concerned with, the area of the exposed scalp goes up exponentially. The simple formula Area equals pi (e.g.: ) times the distance of the radius squared (area = r2 ) applies here. As you’re only 30 years old, and have decades of living to enjoy and hair loss to experience, nobody knows how large the crown loss get. You can literally run out of hair to be transplanted if you start in the crown area this early. Given the effectiveness of other forms of therapy which are non-surgical in nature, it would make more sense to try to grow some of the hair you have lost back with medical treatments, instead of surgical. These treatments include:Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT, a form of photobiostimulation)PRP with ACell (cellular medicine)finasterideOne or all of these therapies have the potential to re-grow hair, but this effect is usually seen in men under 35. You’re only 30 now, so it’d be a good idea to start some preventive therapy, such as those mentioned, for 6-12 months. You may find that you are able to re-grow your hair without surgery, and hold off on a surgery until later in life when perhaps the medical therapies are not enough any longer. However, it is possible to grow the hair back and have it remain there for 10-20 more years with continued medical treatments. The general rule at my practice is to hold off on any method of hair transplant into the crown area before the age of 35.

You are still young. So you need a comprehensive workup with a hair restoration professional to see if you need to be on medications and to plan your hair restoration journey.

You really cannot expect a full treatment plan from photos and a short paragraph of your problem.You need to start by obtaining a firm DIAGNOSIS of why you have the hair loss.  It it is genetic androgenic alopecia, you can consider options like surgery or medication (such as Propecia).Low thyroid levels can also cause hair loss and it seems you are treating that condition.Start by seeing a doctor, obtaining a diagnosis, then coming up with a comprehensive treatment plan.

From your photos, it does appear as though you would benefit from an FUE hair transplant.  I have a lot of experience treating patients with your similar hair loss pattern.

Given the current density and your current age, you're not a great candidate. The ideal candidate for crown hair transplants are men in their late 30's -40s with stabilized hair loss. There is an extremely high risk of damage to surrounding hairs and further progression of your hair loss. The key decision now would be whether you wish to consider other treatments like minoxidil, platelet rich plasma or finasteride. Crown restoration is challenging. Men with active and progressive genetic hair loss who have high density to begin with are likely to experience a lot of initial hair damage (killing of miniaturized hairs) as well as a significant potential for shock loss. Speak to a number of surgeons and you'll likely here a similar theme - 30 years is young for crown work

You need to be evaluated by a hair restoration surgeon to find the cause for your hair loss.  Once the diagnosis is established they are able to to make recommendation that best fits your needs and concerns . 

If you have had the result you wanted with hair fibers and other than it being a temporary problem, an alternative to a hair transplant would be scalp micropigmentation (see website below). If you get a hair transplant into the crown and are not on the drug finasteride (Propecia) you run the risk of a reactive hair loss which may not get you the benefit you want. So for a hair transplant, take finasteride, one pill per day and then go for it. IF you want a non-surgical approach, scalp micropigmentation is an excellent alternative.