Strikernr,
The doctor wouldn't consider me because I had just begun losing my hair. Guys have a tendency to look at it as if through an electron microscope. You hone into your loss and can't get your mind off of it. Sound familiar? It becomes all-important. More important than your education, work, or family. You start to see things in an exagerated fashion. Others don't see it like you do. The mind is a powerful thing. Take a lesson.
If you're in the early stages of male pattern baldness, you presumably will lose more hair down the road. If you proceed with a hair transplant early on, you might have to revisit surgery down the road...perhaps several times. No one can tell you the extent to which you will continue to lose your hair. Do you want to commit yourself to future surgeries as you continue to lose hair? If you don't, and someday decide that your hairloss isn't that important to you (which you WILL at SOME point), you'll end up with an area of transplanted hair and areas of naturally balding scalp. That looks downright goofy (much worse than natural hairloss), if you've never seen it, and I have.
My opinion, and it's JUST mine, but I think a reasonable one: if you're early into male pattern baldness, avoid surgery...maintain what you have until the next best thing comes along..do it under an MD's supervision... Unless you're 100% committed to going through surgery more than once, with no guarantee of cosmetic result (if you've ever seen a bad hair transplant, and there are plenty out there), don't consider it. If you haven't seen a bad transplant, you're not looking. Guess what? Most people aren't looking at your hair either.
If the results of surgery are less than your wish, you'll be wishing you hadn't done it. And surgery, my friend, is not reversible.
Again, I'm not saying that a hair transplant is bad. It is an absolutely wonderful thing for some people, with wonderful results. However, IMO, surgery should be an absolute last resort for a non life-threatening affliction such as male pattern baldness.
