July 1st, 2005
Q: I am 27 years old and have a Class 3 degree of hair loss. Should I do a hair transplant or consider non-surgical methods of hair restoration? — Y.B., Lake Forest Illinois
A: At age 27 with early hair loss, you should consider non-surgical options first.
Propecia is the most important medication, but you need to be on it for one year at the full dose of 1mg a day to assess its benefits.
If you have done this and other parameters are OK for a hair transplant, such as adequate donor hair density and scalp laxity and you have little evidence that you will become extensively bald (i.e. no donor miniaturization and no family history of extensive baldness), then hair transplantation can be considered.
“Over the past 10 years we’ve developed a new procedure called follicular unit transplantation, where hair is transplanted exactly the way it grows,” said Dr. Robert Bernstein […] This new technique replaces the plugs — groups of hairs inserted into round holes in the scalp — used in the early days of hair transplant procedures. It is now known that hair grows in groups of one to four hairs.
Dr. Bernstein: Anatomically, follicular unit transplantation is the end of the line. The next step would be hair cloning, which is still quite a way off. The way you get the most amount of hair into the smallest wound — and ensure that it’s going to look natural — is by using a follicular unit transplant. We can create swirls, add sideburns… 
