Men Perceived as Younger and More Attractive After Hair Transplant
So much for the saying bald is beautiful.
According to a new article published online by JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, men are judged — by other women and men — by the number of hairs on their head.
Researchers surveyed 122 people (about 48 percent of these volunteers were guys), who were asked to rate 13 pairs of images. Seven of the males in these photos had hair transplant, while the other six did not.
As a result, the participants viewed the men who underwent the procedure as being “more youthful, attractive, successful, and approachable.”
“These findings are relevant in building an evidence-based body of literature surrounding the efficacy of hair transplant in the treatment of AGA [androgenetic alopecia, aka pattern baldness],” stated the study authors in a press release.
“I think the survey is very accurate, and I think it’s very representative of the patients that I see in my private practice,” Ken L. Williams Jr., DO, a hair-restoration surgeon and author of Hair Transplant 360: Follicular Unit Extraction and founder of Orange County Hair Restoration in Irvine, Calif., tells Yahoo Beauty. “Most of the patients who come in here, we see a lot of low self-esteem — a lot of men who feel as if they can’t go on the dating scene because women don’t look at them.”
Related: How Should Balding Men Style Their Hair?
Williams, who treats men, women, and teens, admits that he’s also speaking from personal experience. “I, myself, am a hair transplant recipient — a hair loss sufferer,” he says. “I was a Norwood 6 [a scale that measures the extent of hair loss in men; one being the least, seven being the most], so I’ve had over 10,200 grafts transplanted.”
And he says this surgery “absolutely” changed his life for the better, “giving me more confidence and a more youthful appearance.”
He also wasn’t surprised that the men in the survey who underwent hair transplant were rated as more successful.
“We are in a social environment where a younger-looking appearance is so very important to success,” says Williams. “I can’t give away any names due to private confidentiality, but I can tell you some very well-known persons that have had the surgery are on TV on a regular basis. These individuals have to do this to maintain an income, and they’ve been able to stay in the workplace because they maintain their youthful appearance.”
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Men in other dealing-with-the-public-type jobs (such salesmen, lawyers, and judges) would likely benefit from this treatment, he adds.
However, all men with less hair don’t necessarily suffer from low self-esteem. As reported by HealthDay, Jeffrey Epstein, MD, a specialist in hair restoration in Miami, stated: “As comedian Larry David … who happens to be bald, reflected: ‘Anyone can be confident with a full head of hair. But a confident bald man — there’s your diamond in the rough.’”
Two words: the Rock.
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