Hair System after HT

[iIncepted]

Hi,

 

So I already have made my mind of having an HT around next June ('11), I have already applied and been granted holiday for 1 week in Jan where I will be touring few places to visit some clinics. I have also told the management that I would need around one month off in around June/ July due to some personal work which i really have to attend. They said they will think about it, but I am sure I will be granted the leave. In the mean time in researching as much as possible.

 

So what I am doing right now is using Nanogen to cover my hairloss, which is working very well. I have also ordered dermmatch which should be here by next week or so. I am just 24 so I had many sleepless nights and wouldnt go out much until nanogen arrived. I know nanogen is just a gimmick, but it helps to build some confidence. Now after I get my hair transplanted, I will be staying home for like 3weeks and then return back to work. I dont want anyone to know I have had hair transplanted so was wondering will a hair system work? I mean will it hinder in growing transplanted hair? Luckily I am not too worried about the cost of maintenance. I am only not sure if it will be right decision to wear with recent HT.

 

Thx alot

[wb280]

Hi there! First of all, at age 24, u might be a tad little young to have a ht. I would sugges u post some pics so the seniors can have some comments. If not, most recommended clinics here provide free online consultations. Though it might be brief, it could give u an idea if u r indeed a suitable candidate n if so, the no of grafts needed!

 

Next, when I did my ht, I had the same idea of wearing a hair piece during The recovery period. Even though in the end I did not go with it, I feel that with all the glue or stickers, It just worry me too much that I might be hurting the grafts. Bear in mind that grafts r v safely anchored one week to 10 days after surgery. It just din sit well with me.

 

Do what I did. I faked that I had scalp infection and by no time your colleagues would be too busy to bug u about it! Think of the end results n bear with it for a few months!

 

Hope that helps!

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

Your situation is a little different from the usual one we encounter. It sounds like you are going to go out and get a hairpiece to help cover what you view as the obvious signs on your head that you had a HT. I am assuming you must have a fair amount of native hair still on the top of your head, since otherwise suddenly presenting to your friends and co-workers with a new hairpiece on would seem to me a much more jarring change than that of recent HT grafts.

For one thing, if you have the luxury of taking three weeks off (most of my HT patients go back to work after one week), I don't know why you would even want to bother with the hairpiece, as you could wear a baseball cap out in public in the meantime. After 2 or 3 weeks, most HT's are undetectable and most of the small hair stubs and scabs have all fallen off. Then the hair comes in very gradually, with different hairs emerging at all different times over a few month period. If you wanted to prepare your family or friends for a little more dense appearance on top, then possibly adding a little Dermmatch prior to the hair emerging might be a good strategy.

There is a certain percentage of hairpiece wearers for whom the transplants just don't grow as well as in non-hairpiece wearing patients, I would say around 25% of them. It helps to have them not wear the piece the first week and keep it off as much as possible while around the home. Also, in my opinion the hairpiece must be a clip-on type, and if worn over several months, it helps to rotate the position of the clips to avoid small areas of circular tractiion alopecia.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[Cant decide]

Dr. Beehner - I assume you mean 25% of HP wearing patients see HT not growing for them but if you never wore a HP, I am told the % of patients hair transplants not growing is far less than that correct?

 

Thanks

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

I don't think that distinction would matter at all. I am not aware of any experience by any hair transplant doctors specifically with men who started wearing a hairpiece at the time of or shortly after their first hair transplant procedure. All of the experience I am talking about, from my own practice and from that of several very experienced and well-regarded surgeons, was from patients who had been wearing a hairpiece for several months or years before their procedure. This has not been scientifically studied, but is a clear impression by myself and others. Most of us think this is probably due to some sort of "shuffling" mechanical effect that the hairpiece has on the newly placed grafts during the days and weeks immediately following the procedure.

One other situation I have often encountered is the man who wants the front hairline area transplanted and then intends to wear a hairpiece behind it. Often, this person has been wearing a full-cover hairpiece prior to the procedure. I have to emphasize that 75-80% of my hairpiece-wearing HT patients have wonderful, normal appearing growth. Those are still pretty good odds, and I do feel that simply not wearing the hairpiece during the week after surgery and then minimizing its use at home whenever possible helps those odds for good growth along a lot.

Mike Beehner, M.D.