IAHRS accepted member, Baubac Hayatdavoudi, M.D., discusses the the reality of being a young hair transplant patient and the importance of these young hair loss sufferers understanding the very real limitations of the procedure in those experiencing early onset male pattern baldness.

Baubac Hayatdavoudi, MD: I just wanted to go back to the point of a 23 year old because I think there's one point that, that's important to me. Because I was a patient and I went through the consultations and I tried to unearth every clinic on the face of this earth to give myself the best opportunity to really have the results that I want and live the life that I wanted and enjoy my youth. However old I would be. And that is patience, activity level on the day of the procedure and level of involvement. 

So I want the listeners and watchers of your show to really, really take this to heart in that hair transplant procedures should be a collaborative effort between you and the surgeon that you trust. In terms of the design it is critical to partake in deciding where the hairline goes and it's the responsibility of the surgeon to guide the patient appropriately with considerations in mind of future hair loss and donor availability. 

So, a 23 year old that would come in, you would really have to sit them down and see why, and you know in fact we had a young patient this morning, 25 year old, and one of the limitations, or one of the restrictions with patients that are younger is that their hairline's usually low, the temples go back, it's really critical not to give them a hairline that they won't be able to get rid of when they get a few years older. 

It's really critical not to, well it's the surgeon's responsibility to be, to really be able to educate the patient as to, okay this is the hairline that you like, and I know and I get it because it's been there and now gone, two years later, or three years later and it's continuing to reset. But, looking into the future, you know, when you're 31, 41, 51, do you want to have this type of look? And some times you just have to carry patients and hold their hand and literally draw it out for them. 

And show, this is what the transformation can be so on the patient's part it's really important to be an active participant in the design process of where the hairline will lay, because this is something you'll have to look at the rest of your life and that lower is always not better. The other thing I always tell patients although I'm sort of known in the field for having a more aggressive hairline. You can always lower your hairline, you know, but if it's low or too low, it's tough. 

Spencer Kobren: Yeah, that's what I tell them. I tell them the same thing. 

Baubac Hayatdavoudi, MD: It's tough. You can do electrolysis, it's just really tough. 

Spencer Kobren: And like you start as conservatively as you can live with and then move on from there.