Should Prince William Get a Hair Transplant?
Prince William may be doing something about his receding hairline. A source told OK magazine that the Duke of Cambridge is considering getting a hair transplant. The topic came up when the royal was talking with British football player Wayne Rooney, who has been open about his multiple hair transplants and has inspired thousands of men to have the procedure themselves, according to the Daily Mail.
“William has had a chat with Wayne about his transplant and told him how good it looks,” the source said. “There’s always a lot of banter when the prince meets football teams, and, of course, he might be joking, but he has said he wouldn’t mind some help with his hair.”
The source also pointed out that the royal 33-year-old’s hair loss is only increasing, saying that it’s “dropping out dramatically, and he’s not happy about it, but he is worried that he would be ridiculed if he had anything done.”
We think Prince William looks great as is, but research shows that hair loss can negatively affect self-esteem. The most common cause of hair loss is male pattern baldness, also known as androgenetic alopecia, and it’s an inherited trait, according to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. Prince William has the most common type of permanent hair loss, where only the top of the head is affected, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“You’re born with stem cells that make the hair,” Anthony Oro, MD, PhD, hair loss specialist at Stanford Health Care, told Yahoo Beauty. “Some hairs have longer ‘warranties’ and some have shorter ones. The hairs that are usually long and thick can become thin and miniaturized. With Prince William, the sides and temples have long ‘warranties,’ so they last much longer, and the ones on top don’t.”
Often, the first line of defense against thinning locks is medication, such as minoxidil (commonly known as Rogaine) and finasteride, which helps slow down hair loss. Laser treatments can also help prevent hair loss by increasing blood flow to the scalp. But these treatments don’t typically stimulate new hair growth.
That’s why some turn to hair transplants. With the procedure, tiny plugs of hair are removed from areas where the hair is still growing and then are surgically placed in the thinning areas. “It grows from there,” says Oro. The procedure typically requires multiple sessions spread out years apart. The treatment can cause minor scarring and in some cases infection, according to the National Institutes of Health.
As it turns out, Prince William isn’t too young to have a hair transplant if he wishes. In fact, you need to still be growing new hair on some part of your head to have the procedure done. “As long as you have enough hair at the donor sites to redistribute, then you’re fine,” says Oro. “The problem is if you end up not having enough to redistribute — then you have issues.”
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