How long to REALLY go back to work??!!

[zo1279]

Hi Everyone...I have been reading around this forum for a while now but want to get some more answers to the question how long before you can go back to work...reason being I have an office job and literally everyone will know i have had a transplant which sucks. I wish i could wear a hat! So how long before you can go back to work (meaning not so much medically...but from a looks perspective that you won't feel too uncomfortable to be around other people). The dr. I am considering shaves the area which is going to be even more fun!!! Also I use concealers (Toppik)...has anyone had an issue with using them post HT? Thanks in advance!

[Dutch]

Good question dude. It's been bugging me too & a big concern. I too work in an office & sit underneath bright lights.

Some ppl will tell you 2-3 weeks are enough. But how? Especially when your hair is shaved down & the scalp is still pink.

I'm planning to take 6 weeks off

[hsrp10]

3-4 months if nobody is supposed to know you had it done and if the doctor requires shaving.

 

Or grow your hair long behind the transplanted area and do a comb down until the shaved hair/new hair grows in. Still best to think in terms of months not weeks.

 

It's realistically not possible for most people to take months off from work though of course.

[ScottishGuy]

It depends on the size of the procedure and your healing characteristics as well.

 

I went to a doc who shaves the recipient area and it took about 3.5 months before I felt comfortable to always be without a hat.

[Dutch]

If you're having the front third or more done, you can't grow much hair to comb forward. If you're a Norwood 3 or less then yeah maybe you'll grow enough to brush forward & use wax to hold it together- you wouldn't want wind to embarrass you! Tough to hide the hairline

 

No one can take months off from an office job.

Two weeks 'holiday' plus four weeks unpaid maybe

[Thehairupthere]

There are many doctors who do not shave the recipient area, which will drastically reduce the amount of time you will want to wait to go back to work, and avoid the awkward look phase. Many patients return to work after a week or two because the rest of their hair can cover it, and you will have a little bit of pinkness left on your skin which resembles a sun burn, so it's not very noticeable at all.

[maddmaxx]

My case is/was probably unusual, but I was back 2 days later and, as far as I can tell, no one noticed. In fact, the day after my procedure I was hanging out at a public coffee shop surfing the internet. I could have gone back to work except that you're supposed to be spraying your head every 20 minutes or so with saline solution.

 

I had a fair amount of hair in front, so the grafts placed in there were not conspicuous at all, especially as I had grown my hair a bit longer than typical. As for the top, which was rather thin, the area was not that pink and the hairs within the transplanted grafts, slthough short, "hid" things pretty well. I worked in a small office at the time and could keep the door to my own office closed most of the time and did try to limit contact with others for the Thursday-Friday period (my proceure was on a Tuesday). By the following Monday, I wasn't too concerned about appearances. If anyone noticed, either at work or socially, they never siad a word.

 

Ironically, my head of hair now, some 9 months later, appears worse, i.e., thinner, than immediately after the procedure. It's causing me a fair amount of consternation, although reading the various posts here, I guess I have to be patient for everything to normalize and the transplanted grafts to start producing good, terminal hairs. A couple weeks back, I took the Con Air home clip set to my head in frustration and gave myself close to a "buzz cut" due to the thinness I was experiencing. I wish someone could assure me that this is just temporary and my hair will be thicker and fuller than last May when everything normalizes.

Edited April 9, 2011 by maddmaxx

[Dutch]

Mad Maxx- is it too thin? Grafts number? Surgeon? Pics? The hairs will only thicken & mature and will keep improving until 18-24 months from my research

[maddmaxx]

I had a session of approximately 2,200 grafts with Dr. Haber in late June, 2010. No pics. I posted a synopsis of my situation in another thread, but to recap, in my late 20's I had a bit of recession then thinning throughout the front and top, worse on top. In the early to mid-90's I had a total of about 1,000 micro and mini grafts done in my front in three procedures, spaced about a year apart. Nothing to the top/crown. I had a fairly good head of hair as a result throughout my 30's and early 40's, but in my late 40's, felt like I could use some augmentation and ended up with the session with Dr. Haber. I thought after the procedure I was due for a good result, just eyeballing my head with the new grafts in.

 

By September, my hair was as thin as it has ever been. It seemed that all the transplanted grafts had yet to grow and had long shed their hairs. Plus I believe I had some shock loss. By December, however, a lot of it had grown back and I was feeling pretty good about it and looking forward to more filling in in the upcoming months. Then, surpisingly to me, it worsened starting in February so that my top is very thin and the front isn't that great either. I'm pretty much back to where I was in September, with as bad a hed of hair as I've ever had in my life. I guess there's little to do at this point but to wait it out and hope for the best. Since it seemd as if I had improvement in December over my pre-transplant condition, I am hopeful that this is just a temporary phenomenon. Additionally, since I had good results from the procedures in the early to mid 90's, there is every reason to expect this will turn out well given that the art of transplanting has clearly moved forward in thos 15 years. It's just been frustrating and anxiety producing because, "whi knows?"

[hairsprint]

zo1279 - I guess I inadvertently found a solution though this isn't advisable. You might've read one should start washing the recipient area slowly with circular motion with your fingers starting the 10th or the 12th day of your procedure. In my case, I was too paranoid about losing my grafts that I wasn't applying enough pressure on the recipient and as a result still had some grafts till around the end of 2 months

 

I took a few weeks off and then managed to work from home for another couple. But, to somehow look normal, I started using a concealer when I started going to my workplace. Since the recipient area wont have lots of hair (my recipient was shaved before the procedure) I had to be very careful in using the correct quantity of concealer... just enough to make the recipient area appear as if its just thinning and that people don't smell anything fishy. The concealer was really helpful in that sense. I still get a 'second' look from people just to empathize with my thinning hair. No one has managed to find out my concealer usage afaik. But, I did felt strange for the first few days of my concealer usage. I felt self conscious, you somehow feel that everyone is watching you But, you get used to it over time

 

And, one final small piece of advise. As I found out from my own experience, its always lesser the better when it comes to concealer usage. The correct quantity also blends well and looks real. Also, when you apply it yourself, you somehow wont get the correct quantity, its always trial-and-error. If you can get someone to apply it for you, nothing like it. Hope these tips help...

[RodG]

Hi,

 

I didn't bother trying to hide the fact that I had a HT at work. I told a number of people I was going to have the procedure done and I'm sure a number of people thought I was crazy.

 

I was a bit scared to rub my recipient area and my scalp was quite scabby at 1 month. I would say if you are quite bald it would be difficult to conceal that you had a HT for about 2 months.

 

Btw many of my office workmates give me positive comments about the procedure.

 

Regards

 

Rod

[Spellis]

This is a really good question. I recently had a HT with Dr. Keene in Arizona, three weeks to the day. I am a norwood 2, maybe 3, not too good at the Nowood scale. I had 1050 graphs in the frontal one third of my head to fill in the hairline and add density behind. I also work in an office and took two weeks off. My recipient area is still a little pink and I had shockloss which didn't help. Most people don't notice and if they do I say I have psoriasis of the scalp

(I know i'm basically lying but sometimes it has to be done). I chose Dr. Keene first for her great results and reputation and second because she doesn't shave the head. There are many great coalition Doctors that don't require a shave so I would focus on those. I ususally keep my hair fairly short on the back and sides but I grew them out to hide my donor scar. Hope this helps!

[bobjenkins29]

I was told that my hair would grow back to its pre-transplant state in 6 weeks. I'm a few days short of that now, and it's not even close. From my own personal experience and from the hundreds of pictures I've looked at, 3 months is a realistic time frame for looking normal again due to temporary shock loss. Some people claim they can go back to work sooner than that, but as someone who works in a very cluttered office, I wouldn't dream of it. I just couldn't handle all the awkward questions, which I would inevitably get because its obvious that something drastic happened to my hair.

 

ON THE OTHER HAND.... everything I wrote above is rendered false if you're willing to use the brown magic that is Toppik. Take a look at my pictures (link below) and you will see that I look completely normal at 1 month with Toppik, maybe even better than I did before surgery. And I probably could have started using it at 3 weeks with a similar result (but I only decided to get it at the 1 month mark).

 

Ever since I started using Toppik, I've been able to go out and be social, hang out with friends, ect. Every friend I've asked said it looks completely natural and they would never know I'm using concealer. I feel completely comfortable going outside without a hat now, and I would be comfortable going to work with the Toppik on.