Tman

70/90/70

You are where I was a few years ago. I put it off it for 2 years for the same reasons. Shaved head, people finding out etc. I work in the city in an office so shaved head was a no but after 3 weeks off it was bearable and no one ever suspected a HT. In fact, these last 2 weeks is the first time anyone has mentioned the words 'hair transplant'. No regrets for me other than I wish I'd done it sooner but I'm 34 so wanted to wait a bit.

Paddy, I've uploaded a comparison pic. One is the day before surgery in July and one from yesterday. Excuse the lighting which makes it look like I've dyed my hair (summer v winter hair too). I'm pretty happy with it now when 1 month ago I was pretty downbeat. Crazy how it's changed in just 4 weeks. Good news is they say this is still only 50/60% of the final result. Did you decide on your surgeon?

I've added a 5.5 month photo, it has really thickened up in the last month. I'm started to get questions asked by friends and colleagues. 'Jokes' about have I 'done a rooney' are pretty frequent now which I am laughing off. I've still got a little patch on the right side that doesn't have as much hair in it, but I'm hoping this will fill in and is just in a longer resting phase than the rest. I'm seeing Dr Bisanga in London next month for a check up.

Paddy, I've uploaded some pics of my hair wet as well as I pic from 12 months ago with my hair pulled back (ie without me styling it to look less bald). From these pics a lot has happened in 4.5 months!! Wet makes it look fuller however.

Sitting here now I wished I'd pushed for a more aggressive hair line but I went with his rec as he's the doc and I'd decided it was definitely him for my surgery. I think the hair line will thicken up but it won't change much from where it is now. I've never had a straight hair line but as you say for £10k you want a big change and I fear I won't get that. So far not one person has commented on my hair and whilst that's good in a way, it's also a little disappointing as it means there's no big change to notice. Paddy, have you booked yours in with anyone yet?

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/Tman/blog/5068/ 4.5 month post op update in link above with pics.

4.5 month pics now added

I'm 4.5 months post op now. New hair coming through every day but still far from finishes article. Being patient is the hardest part. At this stage I am at 30% of the finished result, hair line is mostly in but there are a few patches to fill in on my right side. Part of me wishes I went for a more aggressive hairline but Dr Bisanga suggested I went natural. Anyway I'll post some pics. 4.5 month pics now added.

I've added an 8 week photo.

If I did it again I would buzz my hair down to a 3/4 grade in the weeks leading up to surgery so people get used to seeing you with the buzzed hair. i told people I shaved it as I was fed up with trying to hide my receding hairline. People tend to not comment too much when you say that. The issue I have is now I have flagged it I wonder whether they will remember it in 6 months when I no longer have a receding hairline.

Colleagues finding out was my number 1 concern and I very nearly pulled out in the weeks leading up to surgery. I didn't because id paid a 50% deposit!! I'm pleased I didn't as no one has noticed, people will comment on the buzzed cut but honestly no one will think you've had a HT. The redness at 3/4 weeks looks like sunburn. I had one comment about it and I said I burned it playing golf and this strangely was after being back at work for 2 weeks. I took 3 weeks off and that's plenty. There will be no signs of surgery after 2 weeks apart from the redness and new grafted hair (which will fall out).

Paddy, not much to update. I'm now 8 weeks post op. All grafted hair was gone by Day 30, so I was left with a cropped hair cut and massively obvious receding hairline. It's funny cos you do this to improve your hairline and during weeks 3-8 it looks the worst it's ever done. That's hard to deal with. Before the op I could style around it but with a cropped cut you can't. The good news to this is that a hair transplant will be the last thing anyone will think you've had as your hair looks worse and unless people have researched HTs they would assume a HT improves your hairline straight away. I was worried about people finding out as I work in the city but not one person has said anything other than "I didn't realise you were losing your hair as much" and "good on you for shaving it". It will be interesting to see people's reaction when over the next 6 months it starts to get thicker. As it's so gradual I doubt colleagues will even notice. Here's a thing I've noticed. You worry about your hair more than anyone. No one cares about your hair. Redness went at 6 weeks. It lingered longer than I thought it was so I was using a little of my wife's foundation to help. I started using regaine again after a few weeks but it made the redness worse so I stopped until week 6. I'm now using twice a day. I've grown the buzzed hair out so its pretty much back to exactly as it was before the op. I've got about 20 new hairs sprouting, they are tiny and hardly noticeable. Bearing in mind I had about 5,000 hairs grafted, 20 hairs make no difference visually. Over the next few weeks I should see some growth but it seems it starts to notice visually after month 4. I'm at the point where I am worrying that the hairs won't grow for some reason but I followed the post op care religiously so Im sure that's just my paranoia. I'll post pics at week 12. T

Anyone who is interested in my progress I am updating a blog here: Hair Restoration Social Network - Hair Loss Patient Blogs

So it's now it's day 18 and I got back from vacation yesterday. As such I'll do an overview of what happened from day 6-18. I travelled via airplane to my vacation on day 6, pretty nerve wracking having to take off the hat for security/ passport Etc but as with all these things it's worse in your own head than the reality. Dinner at th hotel on day 6 was done with a hat on which got some funny looks but the scabbing and crusting was so bad I couldn't face anyone seeing it. On day 8 I could begin massaging recipient area and thankfully about 90% of the scabs and crusts came off to reveal a healthy pink scalp with lots and lots of grafted hairs. I cut my hair down too on this day (carefully with scissors not touching recipient area) and went to dinner that day without a hat on and no one gave me a second look! On day 10 I started to shed a few hairs and this has continued where now I've lost about 50% of the grafted hairs. I went back to work today (in the city - London). Trading / office environment, very broker / client focused environment where a buzzed cut isn't well received. I was pretty nervous about this but as with all this, its never as bad as you think it will be. I had a few comments about my new marine style hair cut but I just said that I'd finally admitted defeat with my receding hairline. No one could say anything about that!! Plus as I am looking very thin in the recipient region its very plausible. No one can tell I've had a HT at all. Wonder whether they will remember that comment in 12 months when I've got hair like David Beckham. I am now growing my hair out to its pre HT style and reckon I'll lose the remaining grafted hairs in the next 7 days. This is a worrying time as the hair sheds, you become convinced it don't grow back after the resting phase but I'm assured everyone thinks like this. I'll update again in a weeks time. I've included some pics now but haven't sorted them.

How do I add photos to this blog???

Ok so it's day 5 post op now and things are looking loads better. Sleep still a bit of an issue due to the itching and tingling but it's getting easier. I go on vacation tomorrow so will have to put a cap on for the first time at the airport which scares the hell out of me in case I damage the grafts. My wife very carefully trimmed my hair today and this looks better, I'm counting down the days until I can massage and wash the recipient properly as I want these scabs gone. Had my first beer in over a week last night (2 x San miguels) which was good. Plenty more of those to come on vacation. Please comment, I see this blog is getting lots of views so I will keep updating but would be good to hear from you guys.

So I'm now 3 days post surgery and am feeling pretty low to be honest. The swelling has well and truly set in and I look like the elephant man. Icing and massaging tonight and hoping it subsides tomorrow. I did a lot of reading pre surgery but no where mentioned the sheer amount of itching you get, especially in the donor. It's unbelievable and I've woken myself up during the night about the scratch my recipient site. I'm now wearing socks on my hands during the night, not for a suck puppet show but to avoid scratching my expensive grafts out. I've used all my saline solution so bought some more today and started washing both the donor and recipient sites yesterday. I haven't been out of the house for two days now which is getting very tiresome, the head has not healed anywhere near enough to be seen in public and I'm too scared to wear a cap in fear it will dislodge the grafts. I might try tomorrow but we'll see. I go on vacation this weekend so that will be interesting, I hope my head has rapidly healed by then. The redness and scabs on the recipient are pretty horrendous, you think you're going to be prepared for it but it's tough. Once I've worked out how I'll upload some pics tomorrow. Feel free to comment if you're viewing this.

So after years of research and 7 months of waiting here I am sitting in the hotel Catalonia after undergoing FUE surgery with Dr Bisanga yesterday. I'm 34 years old, work in the City of London and am Norwood 2. Most people reading this will know the drill on surgery day so I won't go into too much detail but I arrived at the bhr clinic at 7.50am, after a consultation with DR Bisanga I had my bloods done. I decided to keep my hair unshaven on top, but as it looks a right mess now I may shave it. I'll wait a week before making that decision as everything is short, red and crusty so it all looks pretty dreadful. The nurse shaves you down and begins the anasthestic jabs in the donor. Here's a little heads up, some of these hurt. Most are ok but 25% of them really hurt. Like a man, I didn't make a sound but I was gripping pretty tight to the chair. DR Bisanga then punches the holes, all 1700 of the them. The nurse then does the extraction. It's a long boring process which is pretty uncomfortable at times. I had lunch at 2pm with my wife then the afternoon was spent inplanting the grafts. Dr Bisanga makes the slits for inplantation. Again the anaesthetic Jabs hurt. The nurses plant the hairs with dr Bisanga coming in to check. With me, I needed a further 200 grafts done to fill in an area so the above process started again. I was done at 6.30pm. A pretty long day. My my overall experience of the bhr clinic is good, the word that comes to mind the most is professional. They know what they are doing and I felt in good in their hands the whole way through. I am traveling home today on the Eurostar complete with that awful bandana they provide. I look like a pirate, but it's par for the course. I've attached some pre and post op pics and will be updating this blog pretty regularly mainly because these blogs helped me immensely over the last few years.

So after years of research and 7 months of waiting here I am sitting in the hotel Catalonia after undergoing FUE surgery with Dr Bisanga yesterday. I'm 34 years old, work in the City of London and am Norwood 2. Most people reading this will know the drill on surgery day so I won't go into too much detail but I arrived at the bhr clinic at 7.50am, after a consultation with DR Bisanga I had my bloods done. I decided to keep my hair unshaven on top, but as it looks a right mess now I may shave it. I'll wait a week before making that decision as everything is short, red and crusty so it all looks pretty dreadful. The nurse shaves you down and begins the anasthestic jabs in the donor. Here's a little heads up, some of these hurt. Most are ok but 25% of them really hurt. Like a man, I didn't make a sound but I was gripping pretty tight to the chair. DR Bisanga then punches the holes, all 1700 of the them. The nurse then does the extraction. It's a long boring process which is pretty uncomfortable at times. I had lunch at 2pm with my wife then the afternoon was spent inplanting the grafts. Dr Bisanga makes the slits for inplantation. Again the anaesthetic Jabs hurt. The nurses plant the hairs with dr Bisanga coming in to check. With me, I needed a further 200 grafts done to fill in an area so the above process started again. I was done at 6.30pm. A pretty long day. My my overall experience of the bhr clinic is good, the word that comes to mind the most is professional. They know what they are doing and I felt in good in their hands the whole way through. I am traveling home today on the Eurostar complete with that awful bandana they provide. I look like a pirate, but it's par for the course. I've attached some pre and post op pics and will be updating this blog pretty regularly mainly because these blogs helped me immensely over the last few years.

Another.

Attached pre-op pic.

Firstly, I'd like to say thanks to everyone on this forum. It has helped me immensely over the last few years. This is my first post but I will be updating it over the next 12 months as next Monday (6th July) I go in for my HT with Dr Bisanga. I'm 34, work in The City (London) have have been on finasteride and minoxcidle for the last 4 years. I'm Norwood 2 and will be having 1500 FUE to repair my hairline. Since taking the finasteride my hairline hasn't deteriorated. I will not be shaving it all down but will instead attempt to style this out so no one notices. I'm taking 3 weeks off work and will be going on holiday on day 6 with my family (wife and two kids). Naturally I'm a little nervous but mainly around the unknown, the final result and people at work finding out. I'll update next Monday (surgery day) and quite regularly for the first few weeks and then monthly from about 2 months. There is very little on the sites about keeping the hair unshaven and best ways to keep the HT hidden so I'll try and help others with this. Im not afraid to shave it if it looks terrible but would prefer to not be like Grant Mitchell when dealing with clients etc at work. Be interesting to know if anyone has any advice or experience of Bisanga. My research was thorough and so far they have been very professional. This has booked since November last year so it feels weird the waiting is up. Can't wait to be a bandana pirate in 8 days time.

Firstly, I'd like to say thanks to everyone on this forum. It has helped me immensely over the last few years. This is my first post but I will be updating it over the next 12 months as next Monday (6th July) I go in for my HT with Dr Bisanga. I'm 34, work in The City (London) have have been on finasteride and minoxcidle for the last 4 years. I'm Norwood 2 and will be having 1500 FUE to repair my hairline. Since taking the finasteride my hairline hasn't deteriorated. I will not be shaving it all down but will instead attempt to style this out so no one notices. I'm taking 3 weeks off work and will be going on holiday on day 6 with my family (wife and two kids). Naturally I'm a little nervous but mainly around the unknown, the final result and people at work finding out. I'll update next Monday (surgery day) and quite regularly for the first few weeks and then monthly from about 2 months. There is very little on the sites about keeping the hair unshaven and best ways to keep the HT hidden so I'll try and help others with this. Im not afraid to shave it if it looks terrible but would prefer to not be like Grant Mitchell when dealing with clients etc at work. Be interesting to know if anyone has any advice or experience of Bisanga. My research was thorough and so far they have been very professional. This has booked since November last year so it feels weird the waiting is up. Can't wait to be a bandana pirate in 8 days time.