Realistically -- Will People Notice After a Couple of Weeks

[Not Sure]

Following up on a reply to my earlier thread - I was wondering for objective answers to the following:

 

I work in a profession in which I go to my office every day and I meet with existing and new clients on a regular basis. If I had a HT and waited two weeks before going to work, would it be noticeable that I had a HT. Will my scalp still be red? Will I have a lot of peach fuzz still? I simply can't be out of the office more than 2 weeks -- not with my job.

 

Thanks.

[John_in_NC]

ignore the cheerleaders: people WILL notice if you have more than a few hundred grafts. If a doctor says otherwise to get you in the chair, tell him to make a $10K bet. If it's obvious that you had a HT you get the cash, if not, he wins nothing since he didn't anything to lose to begin with. Frankly, for a full HT you will look odd for 3 months.

Don't listen at what people say, look at their pictures.

[NervousNelly]

Notsure,

 

John tends to usually be blunt about things which isn't all that bad. I think that you need to prepare yourself for the worst case scenario. There are so many variables that it is hard to give you a simple answer. It will depend on many factors and even then it still is questionable.

 

John is right about one thing. Don't just listen to people that say "I was back to work in a week and no one noticed." It is never just that simple. What was OK for them might not be for you.

 

Here we go, I'll try to elaborate in point form:

 

-It will depend on how much work you are having done

-It will depend on how much native hair you have to help conceal

-It will depend on what type of surgery. Strip surgery or FUE (no linear scar)

-It will depend on if you have to shave your head for procedure

-It will depend on where the hairloss is

-It will depend on what Dr. you go to. Some are doing more refined work

-It will depend on the color of your skin

-It will depend on the contrast of your skin and hair

-It will depend on if everything goes according to plan. Shockloss can be unpredictable

-It will depend on how thick your donor hair is

-It will depend on how tall you are. If people look down at you all day they might notice.

-It will depends on what you consider to be acceptable

 

As you can see there are several variables. Myself, I was back to work in 10 days with the public and looked like I had a bad haircut. Personally I wish I had 3 weeks or more before going back. I was at the point where I was just so tired of worrying about my damn hair that I really didn't care too much if someone noticed. I hope this helps.

[nobuzz4me]

notsure

 

listen to the wise ones above. I can only add that the infomercials are the worst with claims like:

 

"I went back to work the next day"

and

"It's like going to the dentist"

 

This is BS.

 

 

 

Now,

 

If you have a lot of native hair and can do somewhat of a combover, use concealer and do not shave the recipient area, you have a chance after two weeks. I did it but was able to wear a ball cap for some time after.

[MrJobi]

I just posted a thread in a similar one about a week ago. Spot on Nelly my twin brother

 

I got three HT's without anyone knowing but here was the plan

 

1- Didn't shave my head

2- Left donor area and HT site longer to cover work

3- Had at least 10 days off

4- used dermatch

 

It worked well but then again it depends(as NN stated), I only had max 2100 grafts each session

[blowdry]

This is not a simple answer and depends on the location where the work was done. If its the front third, then 3 months is a fair estimate. People will notice not that you had a hair transplant, but something is off.

Here is the dilema,you keep your hair long in fear of the scar showing or shock loss.

The redness gets better, but not quite there yet.

The Bozo affect because the transplanted hair is not long enough.

[TheHairLossCure]

As a greneral rule, people do not look at you as critically as they do themselves. While folks are going to notice obvious signs like scabs etc., they will most likely disregard temporary scalp pinkness (and things of that nature) if you make even small attempts at concealment.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Not Sure,

 

You have already received some excellent input from our forum members.

 

Though people do not typically like the phrase "it depends", it is a phrase used commonly in hair transplantation and is highly accurate.

 

I have also written something on this worth reading called: When will I look "normal" after a hair transplant?

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill

[wylie]

Good answers all, I think the general consenus is that there are too many things to consider here to give you any definitive answer.

 

Say, for example, you have a relatively dense hairline that is receding and you want to do between 500 to 1000 grafts. Small grafts. Right along the receding areas, and your native hair is light colored and your complexion somewhat dark. You could be off for a week and back to work with no one knowing. But all the factors NN mentioned must be taken into consideration for anyone to be able to notice. If you are rebuilding a non existing hairline (or reinforcing a small patch of hair with a large session) then even two weeks may not be enough time to keep it from being noticable, and if its a large session, its even more likely to be true. If this is a problem for you (concealment) my advice would be small sessions. But I dont know how ambitious your plan is, and you may find such an approach will take too long.

 

All factors to consider, but generally after three weeks most of your scabs are gone and not alot remains visible of the procdure if there is native hair around it to help conceal it.

[hairbank]

This is ALWAYS a concern and there have been some great replys to the Q!

 

Nervous Nelly has some great points for you to ponder.

 

I can tell you, personally, I received 3886 grafts from HT #2, did shave down, went back to work at the 12 days mark and I can GUARANTEE you.........no one I work with knows I had a HT. I work in a professional environment, too, suit/tie every day.....meet w/ clients so if was likely a worse-case scenario for me. I am tall, and did have some native hair in front before the HT, but it was all clipped down to betweeen 1/8-1/4" while strategically going around the scar.

 

Now, I've considered going back for a 3rd HT and, would I want to shave down given the choice, NO! But, I believe if you are getting dense-packed grafts - and lots of them - I believe the benefits outweigh the cost.

[Robert_]

I believe that my "hair loss weblog" (in my sig) has a pretty good timeline of what I looked like during the days and weeks following my HT.

 

Here's a couple of pictures of me at two weeks post-op .

 

I am a fairly quick healer and had the benefit of the extraordinarily talented Dr. Cooley as my physician so every one else's mileage may vary, of course.

 

-Robert

[SlowlyThinning@59]

Not Sure, it will be noticeable but if you are like me, who cares and in about 4 months you will be amazed at the results. I had a little over 3300 grafs ( 2300 frontal, 1000 crown )and will be going back in March '08 for 1500 ( Crown ) more. It's actually nice to have a nice frontal hair line where your scalp doesn't show thru anymore. Dr. Brad Limmer in San Antonio, TX did an excellent job on me so I will go back to him, can hardly wait cause the wife and I will be taking a trip to Italy in July and it will be nice having hair again. Good luck. Slowly

[Middleson]

I had about 3k transplanted mostly to my crown area and some along the hairline.

 

I don't believe casual observers would have noticed I had a HT at the 2 week post op point since all the scabs were gone. I recall that I still had pretty much all my transplanted hair in place and at that point it felt like stubble and could be seen up close. But even so, I really don't think anyone would have thought "that guy had a HT" when I was 2 weeks post op. Even my donor site was sufficiently concealed from the casual observer.

 

Your barber will definitely notice, your wife will notice, and females who might have more than a casual interest in you will notice if given an opportunity, but in my opinion, most guys probably wouldn't notice/spot a HT after 2 weeks at least for cases similar to mine.

 

I realize people will heal differently, and as others have already said.. "it depends". I would think your surgeon would be able to give you a pretty straight up answer about what you might expect at the 2 week post op point given your own factors (hair/skin color/number of grafts/areas transplanted, etc..)

 

Good luck to you.

[John_in_NC]

the other side:

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?t=151185

"still have redness at 4.5 months"