Losing hair can be difficult at any
age.
But for a young man in his late
teens/early twenties it can be so much more emotionally and
psychologically devastating.
This was certainly the case for
carpenter, Declan, who began losing his hair as a 19-year-old while
still living in his native Ireland.
Good looking and athletic, the then
captain of his local rugby team, was socially confident and had
always found it relatively easy to date girls of his choice.
But when his hair began to thin rapidly
he became increasingly introverted, stopped socialising and playing
sport and constantly ruminated about his perceived ‘sub-standard’
appearance.
Trying to conceal his ‘desperation
for a cure’ from those close to him, he attended appointments to
obtain medication and undergo a series of laser treatments in
‘secrecy’.
Each Saturday morning he pretended to
his parents that he was going to work rather than admit he was having
laser treatment for his hair loss.
When he attended weekly laser
treatments on Saturday mornings he pretended to his parents that he
was working, while at the same time telling his employer he wasn’t
available Saturdays because of family commitments.
Determined to find a permanent solution
for his hair loss he travelled to England to have treatment at a hair
restoration clinic.
He paid ‘heftily’ to have 500
grafts transplanted from the back of his head to a donor site,
suffered considerable pain during the procedure as well as scarring
afterwards.
Disheartened by the experience he then
found a spray on fibre hair solution which gave the illusion of
thickened hair, but came with its own set of problems.
“I was afraid to go swimming because
I couldn’t get the fibre wet and when my girlfriend stayed over I
would sleep on my arm to prevent the ‘hair fibre’ from falling
all over the pillow,” Declan said.
“I was never myself. If I got
comments about how light my hair looked I would go into a deep
emotional decline. You are far more vulnerable when hair loss affects
you at a young age.”
Things changed for Declan after
accepting an invitation from one of his sisters to move to Australia,
he consulted with renowned hair loss specialist Dr Jennifer Martinick.
His sister suggested he use his fresh
start to shave his head to liberate himself from concealing his
thinning hair.
However, shaving his head would have
exposed the ugly scarring that had occurred as a result of the
‘unsuccessful hair transplant procedure’ undertaken in England.
After a consultation with Dr Martinick
he learned that along with providing the latest in natural looking
hair transplantation she could successfully treat his scarring from
past procedures.
A procedure known as a trichophytic
closure which is used routinely in her practice is achieving
excellent camouflage results in the donor areas of patients.
Declan said the hair restoration surgery and treatment of his former scarring has changed his life.
“In my early twenties hair loss
stopped me from doing a lot of things,” Declan said.
“Now I am completely back to my old
outgoing self. I am swimming, playing football again, dating and
enjoying a full social life.
“I’m sharing my story because I
want to help other young men. I’d hate to think of anyone else
missing out on the best years of their lives because they feel bad
about their hair loss.”
Dr Martinick, the immediate past
President of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery,
(ISHRS) said she hoped young men would share their concerns about
hair loss with a medically trained hair loss specialist.
She advised young men with male pattern
baldness to seek treatment as early as possible to prevent further
hair loss and, in the event that they eventually chose to have a hair
transplant, ensure they preserved precious donor follicles
She said she received a lot of requests
from young men for hair transplants, but as a general rule she
doesn’t perform hair transplants on men under 26.
However, she believed there were
circumstances, where a more flexible approach was needed.
She says her professional concerns were
that young men could be unrealistic about what could be achieved from
a hair transplant and expect to regain the hair line of an eighteen
year old.
In many cases, these young men do not
comprehend that they only have a limited number of follicles for
transplanting to achieve the results they desire.
“But if I am presented with a mature
21 year-old with a realistic perception of what hair transplanting
can achieve - and his hair loss is interfering with his quality of
life – then I’ll consider undertaking a transplant.
“I have a much more open mind about
transplanting young men than I had a couple of years ago as I
understand they are only young once.”
