Many patients wonder about the link between the age of 30 and baldness stabilization. It is better to wait until the age of 30 to do a hair transplant, but why? What is the risk of doing this procedure younger?
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What causes baldness?
It is essential to know what baldness is and what causes it to understand the link between the age of 30 and baldness stabilization.
Alopecia
This scientific name of hair loss is alopecia. Alopecia may be total or partial. Total alopecia is the loss of all the hair and body hair (including eyelashes and brows). This phenomenon is known as Universalis alopecia and is due mainly to auto-immune disease or medical treatment such as chemotherapy. There are several types of partial alopecia; some occurs on a specific part of the body. Androgenic alopecia, commonly known as baldness, concerns 70% of men and, more rarely, women.
Androgenic alopecia or baldness
Androgenic alopecia is the loss of hair due to a hormone called androgen. This hormone plays a role in the apparition of secondary sexual characteristics in men. Androgenic alopecia also concerns women, often after menopause or in case of hormonal imbalance.
This type of alopecia does not affect men and women the same way. In men, androgenic alopecia causes hair loss on the top of the head and does not affect hair on the side of the head. The Norwood scale measures androgenic alopecia in men. In women, androgenic alopecia causes diffuse hair loss.
The link between the age of 30 and baldness stabilization
Why is it advised to wait until the age of 30 to do a hair transplant for androgenic alopecia?
Androgenic alopecia on men usually starts in their 20s (sometimes earlier) and evolute in the years. The Norwood scale measures this evolution.
Baldness starts with temples and the front line, then spreads to all the top of the head.
The hair on the side of the head does not fall because they are not sensitive to androgen. They are known as “eternal hair.”
A hair transplant on a non-stabilized baldness
Hair transplant professionals recommend waiting until the age of 30 to do a hair transplant. If the baldness is not stabilized, the patient will keep losing his hair, creating a tuft of hair on the front of the head.
Grafts do not fall, but natural hair between the grafts and the eternal hair may keep failing. The risk is to end up with a hole between the grafts and the eternal hair.
A hair transplant does not stop natural hair from falling; it just covers up the bald areas with hair that will not fall.
A hair transplant before the age of 30 and baldness stabilization
Doing a hair transplant before the age of 30 and baldness stabilization does not present any medical risk, simply an esthetic one. Men suffering from early baldness before the age of 30, which affects their self-esteem, can do a hair transplant before the age of 30. Although they have to remember they may need another session in the following years to get the best results, as their baldness is spreading.
