Who knows about your HT?

[HopeItWasWorthIt]

I had my procedure done over three years ago. Six months prior I had my photo drivers licence taken, and it was then that I knew I HAD to do something. (I am 41 and have kept every old licence I've had since I was 17). It is amazing what you don't notice day-to-day...but keeping all of your drivers licenses for comparison is a real jolt!

 

Anyway, it was my original intention to tell NO ONE! Even my live-in girlfriend. I took 4 weeks of vacation to hide from my co workers, and wore caps and hoodies in the fall and winter.

 

Of course my father knew because the surgeon would not let me drive myself home after the procedure, so I had to call my father to come get me. Obviously I could not keep it from my gf due to the bandages. (Forgot about how to hide that part of the procedure). Plus I didn't realize the swelling I would soon have.

 

Long story short, my dad told my mom, who told absolutely everyone she met! Despite me asking her not to say anything to anybody.

 

I was very self conscious for months wondering if my procedure was obvious to anyone who I dared make eye contact with. Then came that horrific day that I feared the most...a large family gathering (two years ago)...where my mother was telling absolutely everyone...even going so far as yelling across the house for me to "Come over and show everyone your new hair!"

 

Well for the last three years I felt the need to "hide it". I even felt a sense to hide from myself even when looking in a mirror. (I would never really look, only glance.) Until last week... it was time to have my drivers licence renewed...

 

Once I saw the new photo, and compared it to my last, I was floored! I didn't quite look like a 17 year old, lol, but I now look very close (hairline wise) as I did in my 20's!

 

As a matter of fact none of my coworkers ever suspected a thing until I finally said something this week. I even showed them my old and new photo licenses to give it perspective. They were amazed how much hair I have, and even more amazed they didn't realize how bald I was before. I've worked with the same people for over 20 years, yet no one knew.

 

So now everyone knows, and I'm relieved. I no longer feel stressed thinking that people have been whispering behind my back all this time.

 

Give it time, and when that time comes, you'll know when to confide in others.

[canadian_buba]

HopeItWasWorthIt

 

Thank you for sharing your story. It sure puts things into perspective. Im not sure what the future has in store for me, but I can tell you one thing, Monday cant come soon enough.

 

Thanks again

[Sir Fivehead]

I've been battling with this for months now. As I wait (in agony) for the hair to grow out, I have stressed out about what to say/do when the subject arises in the future. I mean, come on, we all have friends and family that we don't get to see very often that that have known us for years as being bald. I have several buddies that I see maybe once a year. I am having a hard time believing the guys that say "no one noticed". Dude...you were bald, and now you're not! How wouldn't your best friends or family notice?? The only fib that could possibly work is that you've been taking meds and they've worked very well. However, you still will be forced to discuss it, and it might be in an atmosphere (i.e. party, restaurant, etc.) where you would rather not.

 

I'm SO sick of wearing a hat. However, I am having more anxiety thinking about taking the freakin' thing off than I had by being bald! As of now, the only people that know about my HT are my wife, kids, and doc. I'd love to hear from anyone that has had to deal with an akward or embarassing confrontation and how they handled it.

[flyby]

Hi Sir,

 

I think that in cases where someone was just about completely bald in a certain area or all over it would be noticible if a year later you show up with a bunch of hair in that formerly bald area. Whether or not someone says something I'm sure there would be people thinking about it.

 

In my case it was more of a diffuse thinning where I filled in the frontal 1/3 without really changing the hairline either. I was also pretty good with Toppik. So over the past year as the new hair has grown in, my hairline hasn't been changed and the hair that was already there appears thicker and fuller and it was a gradual process. I have some pretty hard core ball busters amongs friends and family who wouldn't hesitate to bust my balls about the HT if they had any incling at all and that's never happened so I'm VERY very confident no one has a clue.

 

I think in the end even if there are people that notice you had a hair transplant because they new you as formerly bald then as long as you're happy with your results and people that didn't know you as formerly bald have no idea you had a transplant because it looks so natural then you're in great shape. From the work I've seen from Dr. Keene you should end up with a great result. Take a look at Gorpi and his transition and I think his transition has been very gradual and natural looking. Best of luck to you.

 

I just noticed that you had 3600 done over 2 days. I've never heard of this with strip surgery before. Did they take half the donar from one side the first day and suture it up then take the other half from the other side the next day? Would be intersted to hear from others that had it done this way.

[Sir Fivehead]

Hey Flyby,

Yes, that is exactly what happened. The first day they took from the center to up over the right ear, and on the second day they took the left side. There are two main reasons why Dr. Keene does this for large sessions. First, is because she does all of the graft placement herself. The second is because she feels that it is easier on the patient than having to sit for 14-16 hours at one time. Some would disagree and say they just want to get it over with. However, I actually had no problem with it. Actually, the second day is much easier becasue a) It is usually a shorter day and b) you know what to expect and aren't as nervous.

 

I'm actually more of a NW4, so I wasn't completely bald either. However my temples had receeded big time and I had a prominent tuft in front. The good thing is that I kept my hair clipped anywhere with a #0-#2 guard. You could see some of the diffuse thinning, but not as much as if I had kept it longer. The biggest area of change is my temples. I had Dr. Keene keep them recessed somewhat (NW2-3ish), but it is stll a rather drastic change.

[zeroaffinity]

It's interesting to see how everyone has handled disclosing their HT - neat thread. Personally, I have only told my friends since it's kind of hard to hide a bunch of staples, swelling, and a mean "rash" on top of your head. I had my mom pick me up from the doc's office, so she knew as well. I keep coworkers, acquaintances, and perfect strangers in the dark. I suppose if someone point-blank asked me, I would tell them, but that hasn't happened yet. My guess is that the coworkers figured it out.

 

Sort of a funny story, speaking of coworkers: a guy I rarely see at my company was in the office about five months after my HT. By that point I had grown my new hair out about an inch (top of head) and it was pretty dense compared to pre-op. (That's the idea, right??) I was talking to him that day and he said he liked the new haircut, that I looked a lot younger with shorter hair. Meanwhile, my hair was now longer and denser. Memory is a funny thing, but I was glad to take the compliment!

[Chuckisduck]

S5H,

 

I am a Keene patient also. You have any updated photos for your procedure?

[Sir Fivehead]

Hey Chuck,

Yeah. I've been kind of lazy. I took 4 mo pics. Just haven't added them yet. I'll try to do that in the next day or two.

[Chuckisduck]

Originally posted by Sir Fivehead:

Hey Chuck,

Yeah. I've been kind of lazy. I took 4 mo pics. Just haven't added them yet. I'll try to do that in the next day or two.

 

Thanks. If you are in Tucson lets grab a beer sometime and talk about how it sucks to wait.

[Sir Fivehead]

Sounds good, Chuck. I'll have 5 mo. pics in about a week. Things are progressing, but man, it's a killer! I want my results now, dammit!

[Chuckisduck]

Originally posted by Sir Fivehead:

Sounds good, Chuck. I'll have 5 mo. pics in about a week. Things are progressing, but man, it's a killer! I want my results now, dammit!

 

Sounds good. We can grab a beer and talk about it sucks or wait till your satisfied. I op for the second.

[Acrobaz]

depending upon how things progress the next ~6months I may or may not be even more open about the HT. It has been such a positive; though, I figure I will always be rather secretive about it due to the stigmas associated with it.

 

thanatopsis_awry, now that six months has passed, do you feel any different? I wonder which is easier: to explain away the ugly phase post-op, or to explain away your wondrous new meadow of hair (which, indeed, it is)?

[imissthebarber]

3.5 months post op I met up with some people I haven't seen for over a year. I could tell they couldn't figure out what had happened and were talking about it to each other but no one said anything directly. Some other people there must have heard them talking because all these people I didn't know were giving me grief for wearing a hairpiece. I did feel a slight sense of smugness that they didn't know the truth but, mainly felt pretty lousy about it. Anyone else had experiences like this? I think the people I already knew were not all convinced it was a hairpiece but maybe did not know what to think or say.

 

(I guess some good news is that the HT must be working to get this reaction.)

[Dr. Ricardo Mejia]

I have one patient whose wife doesn't even know. Only those that you tell or see you post op will have a clue.

[regretht]

Nobody knows and for me it is a horrible way to live. You cannot leave this thing in the past. It is always with you. One HUGE regrettable mistake. Ahhh! It is so frustrating! I hate keeping this secret. I hate that I was fooled into thinking this was a good idea. Got me in my 20s... which of course is wrong, morally and ethically by the HT doctor.

[stamos]

Originally posted by Dr. Mejia:

Only those that you tell or see you post op will have a clue.

 

Hi Dr.,

 

I do not agree with what you wrote above. If somebody is at an advanced NW scale and has successful mega session, most people who know him, will know that he had HT when they see him after a year post op.

[Dr. Ricardo Mejia]

Yes you are correct. There are exceptions to the rule taking into account the variety of factors number of grafts transplanted etc.

[Spanker]

I am still in the consideration stage but I do not think that I will be too hush hush about it....I have told a few friends that I was thinking about it.

 

Women don't usually hide botox or boob implants, so what is the big deal?

[Tao]

I only told my brother and father (he drove me) when I had my first HT. I was getting pretty bald and felt like crappola and frankly felt a little cheesy getting a HT because I wasn't sure what the results would be and I was gonna be pretty humiliated if I shelled out $10k and looked really bad (thanks to this site, I chose a great doc). Well, the results were nothing short of spectacular for me as far as I was concerned. Having a restored hairline to frame my face made a huge difference in my appearance. Everyone noticed a very positive change but people were just stumped. Most couldn't even pinpoint it to my hair being different - just something was different about me (many thought that I was dying my hair - ha! ya gotta have something to dye to do that!). I was lucky in that my doc did not require me to shave down so after two weeks off work (during which I said I was on vacation) I came back and no one could tell I had done anything. Then over the months, it just started growing in slowly but surely so there wasn't this big sudden dramatic change - just a nice gradual change that everyone I knew experienced with me (of course, I was the only one who knew why things were changing for the better). It was really fun to see the reactions of people around me. They were just stumped.

 

For my second HT, it was a bit harder to explain where I was going for two weeks again. By that time, my thinking had changed a bit. Now I was convinced about how good modern HTs can be so I was less concerned with who knew. Instead of making up bullsh*t lies and worrying about how I was going to keep the second HT secret, I told several friends, co-workers and family members. They were shocked but impressed with my first results. I know some people have talked but I don't care. I've found that most people are more concerned with their own lives and not my hair to really even notice. Now my second HT is growing in very well and if people ask I say hell ya I got some work done. I was damn near bald and I decided to do something about it - like anyone would if they could. Ask any women if she would do something about it if she were going bald. Hell yeah they would - you know they would move mountains to do something! So screw it, the cat's out of the bag and I couldn't give a damn. Yeah, I took control of my life and my happiness and it was one of the best decisions I've made.

Edited October 21, 2010 by Tao

[j1j9j85]

i ran away traveling for 4 months,

 

the only people who know about it are,

my best mate who is also my hairdresser so i he had to know, and my other best mate who is running my company whilst im away! so he had to know!!!!

 

how ever i have threatened them with death if they tell a soul,

 

other than that, i have been open bout it to my, mum n dad and my aunty and cousin! how ever i hope and feel i can trust them with my life!!!

 

if any one else asks im just going to say " no, but if my hair gets much more bald, im deff going too ha ha" and shrug it off

 

fcuk them, i hope the people who make fun get bald too then when i have hair due to my HT they wont say bugger all

[Spanker]

I only told my brother and father (he drove me) when I had my first HT. I was getting pretty bald and felt like crappola and frankly felt a little cheesy getting a HT because I wasn't sure what the results would be and I was gonna be pretty humiliated if I shelled out $10k and looked really bad (thanks to this site, I chose a great doc). Well, the results were nothing short of spectacular for me as far as I was concerned. Having a restored hairline to frame my face made a huge difference in my appearance. Everyone noticed a very positive change but people were just stumped. Most couldn't even pinpoint it to my hair being different - just something was different about me (many thought that I was dying my hair - ha! ya gotta have something to dye to do that!). I was lucky in that my doc did not require me to shave down so after two weeks off work (during which I said I was on vacation) I came back and no one could tell I had done anything. Then over the months, it just started growing in slowly but surely so there wasn't this big sudden dramatic change - just a nice gradual change that everyone I knew experienced with me (of course, I was the only one who knew why things were changing for the better). It was really fun to see the reactions of people around me. They were just stumped.

 

For my second HT, it was a bit harder to explain where I was going for two weeks again. By that time, my thinking had changed a bit. Now I was convinced about how good modern HTs can be so I was less concerned with who knew. Instead of making up bullsh*t lies and worrying about how I was going to keep the second HT secret, I told several friends, co-workers and family members. They were shocked but impressed with my first results. I know some people have talked but I don't care. I've found that most people are more concerned with their own lives and not my hair to really even notice. Now my second HT is growing in very well and if people ask I say hell ya I got some work done. I was damn near bald and I decided to do something about it - like anyone would if they could. Ask any women if she would do something about it if she were going bald. Hell yeah they would - you know they would move mountains to do something! So screw it, the cat's out of the bag and I couldn't give a damn. Yeah, I took control of my life and my happiness and it was one of the best decisions I've made.

 

 

+1, I totally agree....nobody really cares anyway, not that it is their business, but I think the up front approach if asked is good.....ALL KINDS of men worry about going bald....and most would apperciate the honesty.

[j1j9j85]

i live in a small country town that has only just given up duncking for witches, if any one started gossiping it wud be hell