The humiliations of middle age don’t discriminate when it comes to wealth, but wealth can go a long way in managing the drawbacks that come with the passing of time.
Take Elon Musk for example, whose hairline back in 2000 while he was still CEO of PayPal was showing signs of recession and thinning.
Fast forward to 2018, and Elon sports quite an impressive mane. His secret? Most probably a series of hair transplants, experts say.
Indeed, hair transplant is a godsent to celebrities and men who are simply not having it when it comes to male pattern baldness. The procedure is the most advanced hair loss treatment and success rates are high.
According to hair transplant specialist Dr. Jeffrey Epstein, MD, who is based in New York, it’s highly likely that the tech mogul has undergone hair transplant surgery. In fact, if you look at pictures of Elon Musk that date back to 2000 you don’t have to be a hair specialist to notice some radical changes. According to Dr. Epstein, Elon Musk’s hair recession was a class 2 or 3 (out of 7) on the Norwood scale, which is a classification of the stages of male pattern baldness.
People with hair recession in stages 2 and 3 should consider hair transplant, because hair in the donor area becomes less and less with each stage to the point where they can no longer qualify for a hair transplant. In initial stages of hair loss, hair in the donor area (usually the back of the head and sides) is still strong and healthy, which means the chances of hair transplant failure are almost non-existent.
The reason why hair surgeons remove hair follicles from the back of the head and transplant them to areas of the receding hairline is because hair at the back of the scalp has a higher resistance to Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is the hormone behind male hair loss.
When follicles from the back are transplanted to the front, they have a better resistance to the effects of DHT and allows people to once again enjoy a full head of hair. Hair transplant surgery is carried out in one or multiple sessions, depending on the number of hair follicles needed and the extent of hair loss. The surgery itself is not painful, both the donor and recipient areas are numbed.
Recovery times take a few days to a few weeks, once again depending on the type of surgery performed. The results of the surgery aren’t immediate, it takes a few months for the new follicles to grow. The full effects of the surgery may be noticeable only after 8 to 12 months.
The costs of the surgery are not negligible either, with one surgery costing anywhere between £7,000 to £15,000, which can double or triple if you need more than one surgery. To save money, many choose to travel abroad for hair transplant surgeries, but not all hair transplant destinations are safe.
Countries like Turkey can become a game of Russian roulette when it comes to surgery success rates, so hair specialists advise choosing destinations within the EU like Hungary. And because getting a hair transplant is somewhat a time-sensitive issue, if you do decide to get one, it’s best to get it done as soon as possible while hair in the donor area is still healthy.