The Hospital Group and their lies?

[Dr. William Parsley]

James,

 

I would strongly recommend that you see a hair doctor or a dermatologist and start both finasteride 1mg daily and 5% minoxidil twice daily. You may also alternate Nizoral 1% shampoo and Head & Shoulders shampoo. Use these for at least 12-15 months before evaluating their effect. Be sure to use the minoxidil (I like the Rogaine foam) over the entire top of the head and also the temples.

The response varies from person to person but when the response is good, it can be quite dramatic. But you won't see anything for at least 3 months.

If you decide to do this, start immediately. Every month some weak hairs drop below the line where they cannot be retrieved.

Agree that you are not a candidate for hair transplantation. Not even close.

[Sparky]

This really tells us all what kind of clinic the hospital group is, because they were willing to operate on you.

[Forrest Gump]

James, based on the photos that spex posted, I agree that you are NOT a candidate for HT.

 

You can get started on Minox and Propecia to stop and perhaps even reverse the loss to some extent. Also see if the shaved look fits you. I have a colleague with a shaved head and he attracts some of the hottest chicks... I think he looks better shaved than he did a few years ago with scanty hair.

 

Good luck!

[James_1986]

I'm definitely up for trying the medication. Even if it just makes a little bit of difference, its better than nothing.

 

However I was just wondering, has anyone had any negative side effects from using the medication? Anything I should be aware of?

 

Thanks.

[Sparky]

Some people do, I never have though.

[EpilepticSceptic]

Watery semen -- but that is the effect of the drug IMO, not a "side effect".

[TC17]

James1986,

 

I know hearing you're not a candidate has been extremely difficult, but it's not all bad news.

 

Perhaps most importantly, by consulting with Dr. Feller and H&W, you were able to avoid making a catastrophic mistake that would scar your physically, as well as emotionally, for the rest of your life.

 

In addition to saving yourself from disfigurement, you are blessed with a nicely shaped head that will look great shaved down. We're all fortunate that we live in an era when it's acceptable to shave our heads, but not all of us are as lucky as you are to have a head that will look nice shaved.

 

These might not seem like much consolation in light of the fact that you were set on having a full head of hair again, but I trust that in time you will see that your hair loss does not define you, and that foregoing this surgery will pay future dividends.

 

Take the money you were going to use on the surgery and go on vacation, donate it to charity, buy a car, do anything that you want to do with it!

[Guest wanthairs]

James1986,

 

I wanted to chime in here.......I lost my hair starting at 14 years old. Luckily I had agood donor so a Hason and wong transplant has done wonder. However, After I had the transplant I kept my head shaved for almost a whole year and got used to the look. Funnily enough I started alos getting very successfull with women with a shaved head (even with a huge scar showing)I worked out physically and stopped worryign about the depresion hair loss caused me for 3 decades. In retrospect, even though the transplant from hasson and Wong was great, I would probably have just shaved my head and maintained a muscular physique and not worried about it. So--in other words, there is light at the end of the tunnel for you, even if you lose your hair. Just shave it...You'll feel much more liberated and much better, and youll get the women you want.

[EpilepticSceptic]

Yes, but do you find that framing of your face from the HT (even as stubble) improves your look with the shaved head ? I ask this because most all of the men I see with shaved heads that look really good still have some outline of stubble on top. I have rarely seen ones completely bald (NW6/7) that looked good shaved.

 

I also commend you for shaving down and not letting the strip scar stop you. I think in real life most people are not going to be focusing on the back of your head anyway, and that on these boards people make it seem like it will be the end of the world if anybody can ever see their strip scar.

 

I'm a very daring and physically active person, and hence I have had many accidents. I literally have scars all over my body, and some are quite large. I have found that certain women (the kind that I find attractive)actually LOVE these scars on my body and it's a huge turn-on for them. If I worried about them and tried to hide them all the time I believe it would be the projection of that insecurity that would turn people off, not the scars themselves.

 

So many on these boards incessantly worry about what othr people think about them and their appearence. Man, they are just people and they ALL have imperfections. Don't take them so seriously, and if they are jerks then just blow them off. Life is too short to live in a constant state of insecurity.

 

I personally think a large # of people on these boards contemplating HT surgery are actually not good candidates because of this. They are expecting the HT to fix all of their emotional problems, and that is just a recipe for disaster IMO.

 

 

Originally posted by wanthairs:

James1986,

 

I wanted to chime in here.......I lost my hair starting at 14 years old. Luckily I had agood donor so a Hason and wong transplant has done wonder. However, After I had the transplant I kept my head shaved for almost a whole year and got used to the look. Funnily enough I started alos getting very successfull with women with a shaved head (even with a huge scar showing)I worked out physically and stopped worryign about the depresion hair loss caused me for 3 decades. In retrospect, even though the transplant from hasson and Wong was great, I would probably have just shaved my head and maintained a muscular physique and not worried about it. So--in other words, there is light at the end of the tunnel for you, even if you lose your hair. Just shave it...You'll feel much more liberated and much better, and youll get the women you want.

[hairthere]

james, buzz down and maybe grown some cool facial hair i.e. a goatee, fu manchu, etc. Get some cool threads. An image can be so much more than just hair.

[Guest wanthairs]

Hey Labrat.....

 

For the first 5 months there was barely any stubble showing when I shaved it. I looked as bald as an egg. But I found that my attitude changed dramatically when i was no longer trying to hide my hairloss as this was the moment I hasd absolutely no hair showing. I wet shaved it with a razor every two or three days....I did other stuff, like get fashionable clothes, pump iron like mad, and I was truly shocked by how many women I could seduce, and the type of women that were far beyod my reach before, and far beyond the reach of most men. Most of them were too polite to ask me about my scar and I just said to the ones that did, that I had an operation and left it at that. To be honest, in that one year I shaved I had more girlfreinds than I did my whoile life combined. They prefer a clean bald man with an attitude than a balding man with wispy hair or one that tries to hide it, with no confidence, which was my life story for abotu 20 years.

 

So I hope that the guy who started this thread, listens to me, shaves his head, gets a sun tan, spend the next 9 months pumping iron and doing kickboxing, and soon he wont care anymore and will feel liberated and 100% confident of himself. Right now this poor guy feels that his life is finished because he cannot have a hair transplant. I can certainly rememebr my whole past being just like him.......

[thinkingaboutit]

James,

Man I am sorry that you are hurt because you did not get the news that you wanted and had your hopes broken. Some people are not good candidates and it is a good thing to know before you made a mistake.It would be far worse to get grafts before finding that out.

We all have things that we have to face. You know this, now do what you can to make yourself strong and proud in other ways. Work hard to develop the other things about. Develop a strong body and a strong mind. Have faith in yourself and make challenges for yourself that you strive to be successful at. Keep at it and eventually you will develop the self confidence that you thought hair on your head would give you. You will find that its not what's on your head that makes you appealing,but what's inside it.

[Garageland]

James there is alot of good advice in this thread, you are lucky that you consultated with other clinics and didn't go down the road of a ht cause the agony I feel of a bad ht is alot worse than just coming to terms of being bald.

 

Shave you head to a grade one, invest the money on some new clothes a great holiday, focus your energy on trying something new, make yourself busy, just try to forget about your hair for a while and move on.

 

I wish you all the best

[James_1986]

I agree with everyone who suggests that shaving my head would be the best decision. However I think it's going to be hard for me to build up the courage to do it. Partly because I've never wanted a shaved head. But also because I imagine the initial period after doing it would be very difficult, because it would inevitably lead to a heightened level of self consciousness, even more so than now. But I realise its the only thing I can do, especially now I know that a HT is not possible. It's just a bit hard to come to terms with that, especially after the initial jubilation a week ago at the prospect of a HT.

[James_1986]

Originally posted by Garageland:

James there is alot of good advice in this thread

 

 

I completely agree. I really appreciate everyone's help and support.

[Dr. William Parsley]

James,

It is not the only thing you can do at this point. Please consider starting finasteride (1 - 1.25mg) daily along with 5% Rogaine twice daily to your entire scalp. Give it at least a year and conscientious use. I treat patients constantly with this regimen and am often surprised with the results.

If you get a reasonable growth (but not enough to be satisfactory), these additional hairs allow the camouflage agents like Toppik, sprays and DermMatch to be very helpful.

I don't want to give you false hope as I know it is no sure thing; but I think it is too early to give up yet. If you delay medical treatment very long then any chance of success will be lost. I have seen some amazing results. The only way to find out if you will be one of them is to start IMMEDIATELY.

Good luck. But I agree with the other writers. If regrowth is not to be, remember that the primary problem socially is not with your hair but with your self confidence. If you don't respect yourself, then how can you expect women to do otherwise? Forget the ones that have to have a guy with hair. You don't need anyone that shallow anyway. Just take what you do have and build on it. You'll be fine.

[Guest wanthairs]

james....

 

Dr. parsley is giving you great advice. Your skin if shaved would absorb more of the rogaine too.

 

I was self conscious for one day after I shaved my head and you will be too. After one day when you see noone cares at all you will feel better. It was much better than me hding away in light conditions and forever trying anything to make my wispy strands look thicker when it was such an obvious cover up.---I assure you---You will be amazed at how different you feel after a week....take it from me, I spent 20 years in a deep depression over hairloss.

[Guest wanthairs]

I assure you----if you went the with hospital group, 12 months from now, you would be totally suicidal.

[Sparky]

I agree, a bad HT can totally have that effect on you, even if you think your a level headed guy, you'll end up looking up ways to time travel to the past to stop yourself from doing it! A bad HT messes with your mind, and it takes a lot of willpower to get past it, I went through hell because of The Hospital Group, but I'm definatly feeling better now, but only because I'm being repaired.

[MikeTheDane]

I suggest that you do what Wanthairs is suggesting. Lift some weights, find joy in other parts of yourself etc.

 

Get on propecia as it will slow down your loss.

 

You can consider concealers and hairpieces, though for some people it gives a 'false' sense of security instead. The choice is yours.

[EpilepticSceptic]

James,

 

Seriously dude, just go ahead and shave it down to a #1 guard. I saw your photos and it looks like you're already at Norwood 6 and there's very little up on top anyway. You have absolutely nothing to lose. I have a very close friend who mother nature dealt some pretty serious blows, but he overcame it all and is today (at age 33) married to a GORGEOUS woman from Argentina. This dude is as bald as you are, was born with a cleft palette (so he has a very weird looking nose), and is only 5 feet 1 inches tall !!!!!!!!! But his body is ripped and he has alot of confidence cause he is a really good saxophone player. He shaves his head too !

 

Most guys who fear shaving their head are only at Norwood 3/4, and they fear what they will look like. But at Norwood 6 you'd only be ridding yourself of the thin fringe of horseshoe hair that does nothing but bring ALOT more attention to your baldness. There are MANY women who love shaved heads, but who are absolutely turned-off by the horseshoe fringe.

 

Dude, you are 23 !! I see alot of guys your age that have shaved to the bone heads and cool tatoos, and MANY are very bald on top. But they have no problem with chicks because they portray a cool, confident "bad boy" image. And you are LUCKY to have a very attractively shaped head !! I mean it, man !!

 

Shave it down, get some cool sunglasses, get ripped and get busy livin' !!! Go to Argentina where the women are super horny and outnumber the men 3 to 1. You WILL GET LAID -- no problem bro !!! Get the hell out of the UK as fast as you can. Even with a full head of hair the women in the UK and USA will still rape your soul and leave you with nothing but miserable regrets.

[Maxxy]

Get the hell out of the UK as fast as you can. Even with a full head of hair the women in the UK and USA will still rape your soul and leave you with nothing but miserable regrets.

 

Haha, that's a bit harsh.

[James_1986]

A bit of an update. Got a call out of the blue today from Tarquin at The Hospital Group saying that there had been a mix up with the sim cards on which the photos from my consultation were, and the surgeon had accidentally been sent photos of someone elses hair. Once the surgeon had seen the correct photos, he determined that I wasn't a candidate for a Hair Transplant.

 

This is obviously a complete lie, and proves to me that The Hospital Group read these forums, and are trying to cover themselves. At the consultation when Tarquin examined me he said I was an absolute perfect candidate for a HT. I know he's not a surgeon, and only a salesman, but you would think he be able to spot someone who is not able to have a transplant.

 

Apparently their head office are sending me a letter, so I will wait to see that. He also mentioned that 'a head specialist from London' said I would be suited to FUE transplant, but from what I understood, this isn't possible either.

 

Anyway, it makes the Hospital Group look even worse. I mean, in the photos I was holding up a piece of paper to cover my face which actually had my name etc on. So there is no way they could have 'confused sim cards'. Plus I was physically examined before the photos were sent.

 

So frustrating.

[Bowdie]

Hey James, sorry to hear about your situation. Thanks Christ you didn't go to the Hospital Group, it would be horrible if you went there, you'd probably have to end up shaving your head from lack of decent results afterwards and you'd be left with an atrocious visible scar.

I guess thats something you've got to be thankful for.

[maxhair]

Originally posted by labrat69:

Even with a full head of hair the women in the UK and USA will still rape your soul and leave you with nothing but miserable regrets.

 

Ha.