On average, around a quarter of men will be showing some evidence of androgenetic alopecia – also known as male pattern baldness – by the time they are 25.
By the aged of 35 this figures has grown to 40%. And around half of men will be dealing with significantly thinning hair by the time they turn 50.
It is little wonder that hair transplants are on the rise.
Figures from the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery shows there was a 27% increase in procedures performed in the US between 2012 and 2014.
There has been a similar increase over here in the UK, particularly amongst younger men.
Previously, men would wait until their 30s before seeking help from a surgeon like Crown Clinic’s Asim Shahmalak.
Wayne Rooney – and other social influencers like Crown Clinic patient Calum Best changed all that.
When the England captain had his first procedure five years ago aged just 25, he sent a strong signal to men in their 20s that there WAS a remedy for male pattern badlness for younger men.
Wayne has since had further procedures which have been highly successful – all through the Follicular Unit Extraction method where grafts are removed individually from the donor area.
Crown Clinic saw a surge in bookings amongst younger men after Wayne went public following his first procedure.
Calum Best has been similarly inspiring to younger men. Calum is a successful model and has been the face of the menswear brand Burton.
Can you imagine Burton hiring Calum if he had significant male pattern baldness? Burton wanted Calum because young men want to look like him.
Not all Crown Clinic patients chose the FUE method favoured by Calum and Wayne. Some, like the TV doctor Christian Jessen, prefer the FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation) where a strip of skin is removed from the scalp to provide the donor hair.
There are clinically proven drugs such as Finasteride that can halt or slow down the onset of male pattern baldness but the only long-term solution to the problem is a hair transplant.
Both methods are equally effective but FUE has become increasingly popular over the last five years, thanks to Wayne and Calum.