A reputable surgeon will emphasize that it is only an estimate and that things may change once the procedures are started. Also, she will give an honest accounting of what she expects the procedure to cost. An unscrupulous surgeon, on the other hand, will distort the facts about his hair transplant procedures. He will ask the patient to come back for a final consultation in six months or so. Many doctors will refuse to do immediate hair transplants if they are put to the test. There are advantages to getting hair transplant surgery under the age of 25. Most of these patients are healthy. They do not usually take medications. Contacting professional organizations is also a good idea. Once you have found a doctor or doctors to consider, make sure they let you see examples of their work. It will not be enough to see what they can do with a virgin scalp. You need to see how successful they have been in dealing with problems such as the ones you have. One way surgeons used to move the donor follicular units to the balding areas was by single strip harvesting. This is done by moving small strips of tissue containing follicular units. This method keeps the units intact and ready to transplant. Earlier methods such as mini-grafting and micro-grafting broke up the follicular units. These areas have healthy hair follicles and make excellent donor sites for hair transplant surgery. These are called stable sites because they remain unchanged over time rather than shrinking like the hair follicles affected by DHT do. Female pattern baldness is different. In most cases, they do not have large areas of stable balding-resistant hair follicles. If you do not have enough hair, you cannot have a normal hair transplant surgery. However, there are other surgeries that can be used in conjunction with hair transplant to achieve similar results. The difference is that these procedures are generally more painful. 6. The grafts may not survive. Few surgeons will divulge to you the fact that hair grafts do not always survive after hair transplant surgery.