Concerns With Transplanting the Crown Too Early
We have been asked this question many hundreds of times, particularly by young men whose crowns (bald spot areas in the back of the top of the scalp) have begun to become thin.
Male pattern baldness is a progressive condition. So, if a young guy is experiencing hair loss there, that area will become thinner and thinner, and eventually, may be become bald as time passes.
It is critically important, therefore, for these men to begin appropriate and effective medically therapies to treat this problem to stop continued progression. They are:
- Propecia (finasteride 1mg), which works exclusively in this area 83% to slow progression and 60% to re-grow the miniaturized hairs expressed as thinning.
- Auxo A300 laser therapy that works throughout the scalp to re-grow hair.
- PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) that works 90% to stabilize progression and 60% to re-grow hair throughout the scalp.
- Rogaine Foam (minoxidil 5%), which works about 50% to stabilize and about 50% to re-grow hair; this also works throughout the scalp.
So, if a man is not using any of these treatments and/or if a guy is too young (typically under age 40 in our practice), he really should not transplant his crown.
It really makes sense if you think about it. Say that the bald spot is four inches in diameter right now, and it is transplanted with hair follicles that will grow for the rest of the person’s life. If he is not also using any of these therapies (ideally, more than one at a time) to stop further expansion of the bald spot, the baldness will extend beyond the transplants, which looks bad. It requires the patient to do more transplants to catch up to the progression.
It is far better to first stop the progression and to see what re-growth occurs from these very effective treatments before committing to surgery that he might regret if done too soon.