ktnouby

i will be honest. The consultant did not really put me at ease, it was quite clear I was just another patient to him, I did not feel as though they went out of their way to reassure me that I would be ok, or describe what to expect. I was very emotional, particularly after the first set of anaesthetic injections around the back of my head. I would be lying if I said they didn't hurt. Next came the strip extraction. My head felt numb and like a block of ice and I felt no pain, but all I could focus on was the horrific crunching sound of the procedure, which lasted longer than I expected. I was not offered headphones or anything to calm me. Then came the injections in the forehead to numb the top of the head. These were also painful but quickly numbed my head. Then the Dr made 1500 incisions in my head. I was considerably shaken up by this point. I was told that during the procedure I would be able to watch films or read a book or use my iPad..... Nope! I was in a reclined position so I couldn't do any of that, and to be honest, I wasn't really offered it. Then the painstaking procedure of the technicians planted the grafts into my head began. Hours and hours of feeling like a pin cushion, and nobody warned me about the numb bum! I was then given conflicting information regarding aftercare (from the technicians and then the consultant himself). So it was all a bit confusing. Thank goodness for this website! I was so relieved to get it over. It was a lot more traumatic than I ever thought it would be. I am 2 days post op now and am improving. The back of my head feels sore and tight it much better than yesterday. I am sleeping on my back with a rolled towel behind my head and trying to avoid any contact with the graft site. I am spraying my head every hour with a special spray and will attempt to gently wash it tomorrow with baby shampoo. I don't know if this surgery will be successful, I am just praying it will give me some confidence back. I just want to be able to leave my house without worrying about being bald. Fingers crossed!

ive never blogged before, but feel this is such a huge thing I have done, it would be nice to be able to share my experience with others, and also be able to reflect in the future. I started losing my hair about 10 years ago. I don't know why exactly. I reckon a combination of factors: stress, genetics, , hypothyroidism, hormones. Anyway, after numerous trips back and forth to the GP and getting nowhere (the advice given to me once was to "just stop worrying about it") I explored different avenues of disguising my increasingly balding head. For the last few years I have been wearing hair pieces, which look realistic and nice, but they are uncomfortable and in fact made my balding worse (traction alopecia where the clips dig in!) So I started using powders such as Super Millions & Toppik which are great, except when you scratch your head or get caught in the rain. One day I was getting ready for work and went to apply my magic powder on,y to realise I had run out. Well I attempted to leave the house without anything on my head and I had a meltdown. That was it. I thought I can't carry on like this much longer. And that day I booked my hair transplant. I had the FUT procedure in Manchester on 9/1/15 under Dr Diaz. I had previously had a consultation with a rep from the Elite Hair Restoration company who was nice, but made the procedure out to be much easier than it actually was