Hi all, i've been checking out the forum from time to time and have finally decided to make my debut today.

I'm in my late twenties this year and started losing my hair as far as 5 years back. I'm from Singapore and there is pretty much no surgeons from IAHRS or anything like that for all that matters. In the initial 2 years when everything just started, it did not really bother me as i was having a full head of thick hair all these years. It came to me as a normal shedding phase that will pass eventually.

During the 3rd year, friends around me started commenting that i my hairline may be receding and i started working on my diet, taking all the possible VITs you can find in the market that claims to do your hair good. I've even consulted my doctors and have been feeding on propecia. Propecia helped a little, as i could feel that the shedding is slowing down a little. But the goodness of the pills only lasted for 3 months when it started all over again, and this time, it even affected my sexual lifestyle. I was devasted. i stopped all medication ever since.

As the days went by, people made passing comments on me like "you and your balding head." etc etc. It hurts within, but i learnt to ignore them eventually, and even tried laughing about those remarks. Every hairstylist i go to, every hairstyle they recommend, kept reminding myself that yes i'm pretty much gonna be bald like my dad. Like what a colleague of mine had joked about me, a walking lightbulb.

I didnt wish for this to befall on me. and i am pretty sure that none of you wanted any of this. the only reason why i decided to post my story hear was because i know you guys can truly understand the kind of emotions that i have to face and put up with all the time.

19th May 2011, just 4 days ago i have completed my first HT. There isnt any community here in Singapore to share the experience they had with any surgeons. I've spoken to a few of them and had decided to go ahead with the surgeon had my HT done with. To be honest, i've no idea if he is even as good as he seems. I did around 1000grafts of FUE and am currently on medical leave to heal up before i head back to office next week. I am praying that the scabs will come off soon and everything will be undetectable when i'm back for work.

I'm basically confining myself in the room every single day since the surgery, and the only time i left home was for the haircut to even out the hair from the donar area. That 15mins with my stylist was officially the worst day ever. you just wish you can just bury your head in the ground there and then, and someone can just come up to you and shoot you dead. Everyone was looking at me like i'm some kind of freak!

I have not even gotten to the stage where i start worrying if the HT will be a successful one, and now here i am worrying if my HT will be detectable. People will laugh, and who knows i might even lose my job? i cant put on a cap to work as my job requires myself to meet clients, and i have to look professional all the time. this whole chain of what ifs and what could be is kind of putting myself off into a slight depression. Its day 4 post op, and i have like 6 more days to pray that the scabs will fall off and donar area covered up.

am i thinking too much? or is this perfectly normal? i know its too early to pass any judgement on my surgeon and my HT, so i'll leave it for the latter to worry about. Sorry for the long post as i really need to get this off my chest.

Hi,

I hope you HT works out for you and you get the result that you desire. Can you let us know who did your hair transplant procedure?

Good luck.

Regards

Rod

Thanks for sharing. The time after a HT can be incredibly stressful. You're not the only one with these concerns, but just keep your head up and you'll be great before you know it

you'll be fine my friend. dont stress out too much. the hell with people. they can think what they want! youre not a freak. i was working myself up about what ppl will think as well as i have an op planned. but honestly who gives a damn about what others think.

in a couple of weeks consider putting toppik/nanogen on the donor area to cover any gaps or shock loss even if it is FUE.

looking forward to seeing your results. chin up and dont worry!

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http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com...asp?WebID=2329

thanks guys for the encouragement. It is day 5 post op. my eye bags just begin to swell. i am starting to worry that the scabs wun come off on time. i did consider using toppik, but not on my donor area as they are healing up just fine. more on the recipient area. but the thing is, the recipient area is across my frontal hairline all the way up to the temples. there is no way i can pass through without being detected.

which is why i am really hoping that the scabs will go off soon and i can just shave down the newly transplanted hair and look bald as usual.

RodG: this surgeon is an aesthetic surgeon as well and i dont think anyone has ever heard of him yet. i got to know about him was because a few years back i happen to come across his advertisment on some beauty treatment in another forum. so far from what i see of the job done on me, pretty much neat and well packed. he was the one who extracted and punched the holes on the recipient area. his team inserted the grafts on me. looks quite decent, just that i dont know how many grafts survived during the insertion.

In this day and age you'd think people wouldn't laugh at others with hair loss problems. You might be worrying too much about it. I mean its a very common complaint. Give it a little time and it will be fine.

Hi,

I know that it will be difficult but you need to sit back and wait for the results over the next 12 months.

I'm in Singapore late July if you want to catch up. I had my HT with DHT Clinic in Thailand.

Regards

Rod

no problem Rod, would be glad to catch ya over coffee or something. PM me ya email or something. we'll keep in touch from there on.

just some quick update, its day 5 post op. i've just taken my 2nd shower of the day, still praying hard that those scabs will come off soon. they seem to me like its gonna peel off in another day or 2, but once they get dried up, everything else seems as if they're gonna stay again. sigh.

i've also bought some vit E for healing, and also some hair growth supplements today at least to have my existing hair to grow faster to cover up the donor area as well as the frontal grafts.

keeping my fingers crossed.

Hi,

Whatever you do don't start rubbing the scabs off at this stage. Did the doctor give you instructions post operation? It is my understanding that grafts are secure about 12 days after the operation and there after you can gently rub them.

I was quite conservative and they took about 3 - 4 weeks to come off.

Good luck.

Regards

Rod

really? i have been reading lots of articles saying by the 8th day, the roots should settle down and the scabs usually comes off after first week or something.

i've checked out RockZ progress and his came off between 8-10 days... he soak them in water for quite awhile. thats wad he said. i'm gonna just do as that. i wouldnt start peeling them off... but i'll do the circular massage on the 8th day, at least i hope those scabs near the hairline will come off.