Best advice to get away with a HT without anyone knowing?

[getting4000]

Hello, I had to cancel my ht a few weeks ago because I couldn't get enough time out of the office to get away with no one knowing I was having a ht. I'm really bummed. I've asked a bunch of different people and asked for different ideas on how to minimize the redness and to promote growth and healing in order to cover up the ht in the recipient area after a few weeks. I"m just wondering, from Drs. and patients, if you can't wear a hat, and you need a large 4000-6000+ procedure, how the hell can you minimize the redness and increase the recovery so you can go back to work after 2-3 weeks without anyone knowing? I saw on another forum some people said to take human growth hormone, others said they took anti inflammatory meds, others said they wore makeup and used concealers. I've heard about aloe vera and witch hazel and other stuff but no one says they definitely help. Some Drs. I've consulted with say the redness only lasts a week or two, others say it can last up to 6-8 weeks or more. Which I understand a lot depends on me, my skin tone, my healing, etc. But how do you take the chance that it won't be red, and then after two weeks I have to go back in the office with a really pink scalp? If I have to I understand but what do Drs recommend or patients that have hardly any recipient native hair to camouflage the procedure, what do you do? I'm so frustrated right now, where I see so many people getttng ht's and I can't figure out how they can get away with it if they have to go back to work? I'm envious. I can't wear a hat or stay out of my office for over a month? So please for the love of all that is good in this world of hairlessness can some Drs. or experienced patients tell me, what to do if my head is still pink how do I get it to look somewhat normal so I can have an ht and go back to work and not get noticed?? Thank you for the help!

[esrec]

Impossible. Particularly with a session that size. If you're getting FUT and the hair on the back of your head isn't already long, the incision and scarring will be visible. Judging by your degree of loss, I assume you wear the sides and back short. I would wait at least a few weeks to cover the scar with couvre or dermmatch. You really don't want anything on it while it's healing and reshaping.

 

If you're going FUE, no issue with scar visibility, but then that leaves the recipient area which will have hair for a few weeks (which you'd have to explain, and then it will fall) and then you can sit back and watch it grow from there. You could probably shave the recipient hair that hasn't already fallen by say then 4-5 week mark (maybe sooner, ask someone that's done it) but again, probably better off to let it fall naturally.

 

As for redness, it really does vary. Some guys look fine a week later, others it can linger for a while. There's really no way to know until you proceed unfortunately. Best of luck.

[Davis91]

Hang on now hold your horses. First you have some very good things happening. You have grey hair already relatively short, you at nw5-6 so you aren't going for anything radical like shaving a relatively more full recipient area where It may REALLY stand out that you had something done.

 

Here's the thing: when you get it done at about month 3 and it starts to grown in people WILL know something went down anyway. My advice: go get it done, and when you get your stitches /staples out at week 2 or before, you will get a sense of how to adjust your haircut via-a-via the remaining grafts which will still be on your head but starting to fall out.

 

Redness will almost certainly be there but if you get a little tan before you go you may be able to say you went to a sunny spot and got a little frazzled up top. But you are going to have to own up at some point once the grafts come in and you look kinda weird for a bit as it grows in.

 

While not 100%, if your doc uses blades vs needles there may be less trauma and maybe less redness. Liposomal ATP spray, used by some docs, may also help with local healing and inflammation. And yes, inflammatory diets may not help heal as quick, but it won't make or break redness--you have to expect some light discoloring fir a bit.

[king0564]

I did fue and went back to work after 3.5 weeks and no one batted an eye lid.

[martyboy]

I'm 2.5 months 2900 grafts post FUE, and my advice you just have to take it on the chin and be prepared for the questions esp with the amount of grafts your looking at,

 

TBH if your open from the start pretty much everyone in your office won't care and they'll be more intrigued about it and the journey your going on.. that's what I've found.

[pkipling]

First off, your concerns are very valid - and I'm glad you're at least aware that the redness could last quite a bit longer than what a lot of doctors would lead you to believe. Mine was red for quite some time.

 

I had the best case scenario: I wore a hat for the first two months or so. However, if that's really not possible, you could always have the procedure and hope that you're healed enough by the time you're ready to go back to work that nobody will even question you. BUT, if by chance it doesn't work out this way, you could also consider being more open about it. Honestly, most people won't ask questions - and in my experience, every single person I did share with just found the whole thing fascinating. I ended up having all these little secret allies that would cheer me on as my hair grew back in and they were blown away by the results and the whole process in general. It's like I had my own personal cheerleaders to help provide me moral support and validation. (And who doesn't like that?)

 

The biggest point I would make though is that eventually, people will even forget that you ever had anything done at all. I can't tell you the last time any of my coworkers ever mentioned it to me. My new hair has just become a natural part of my appearance, and I genuinely believe they don't even think about it when they see me. It's always a lot bigger deal in our heads than it tends to be in reality.

 

Not sure if any of that is of any help, but it's something to think about. Unfortunately, there's not a fool-proof way around it at all aside from taking several months off from work and going into hiding, which doesn't happen to be very practical.

[robc]

I work from home and only missed work on the day of procedure. I really worked some that day on the breaks.

I do travel to see clients but have been wearing a hat or blue surgeons cap.

 

My pitch is that I had some bad spots on my head that the Dr had to take care of and it doesn't look very good and needs to heal. If they press I tell them pre cancer areas they where worried about.

 

You have to get creative, technically everything that isn't cancer is pre cancer LOL.

 

You can then just wear the blue hospital head cover to work for a few weeks, you are off the hook and won't miss any work unless you want to.

 

I'm one month out from the HT, and I just talked to the lady @ Walgreen a bought some make-up. It makes the redness look 50 times better.

 

IDK, some may think I'm a bad person for this, but the end of the day it's none of their business and I don't want people staring at my head and I don't want my HT to be a topic of discussion.

Everyone is different I guess.

 

Hope this helps.

[MrGio-WHTCClinic]

Consider some makeup foundation to conceal the pinkness.

[pkipling]

I work from home and only missed work on the day of procedure. I really worked some that day on the breaks.

I do travel to see clients but have been wearing a hat or blue surgeons cap.

 

My pitch is that I had some bad spots on my head that the Dr had to take care of and it doesn't look very good and needs to heal. If they press I tell them pre cancer areas they where worried about.

 

You have to get creative, technically everything that isn't cancer is pre cancer LOL.

 

You can then just wear the blue hospital head cover to work for a few weeks, you are off the hook and won't miss any work unless you want to.

 

I'm one month out from the HT, and I just talked to the lady @ Walgreen a bought some make-up. It makes the redness look 50 times better.

 

IDK, some may think I'm a bad person for this, but the end of the day it's none of their business and I don't want people staring at my head and I don't want my HT to be a topic of discussion.

Everyone is different I guess.

 

Hope this helps.

 

I don't think there's anything wrong at all with a little creative storytelling.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Everybody has already given some very valuable input and advice. Unfortunately, there is no way to predict and know for sure whether or not you will have extended post operative redness and how you will heal after the procedure. The reality is, it is virtually impossible to conceal a hair transplant from the outside world during the first couple of weeks unless you can get away with wearing a bandanna or a hat at work and other places. Some physicians do offer long-haired hair transplantation which prevents any shaving and hair is literally extracted and transplanted in its current state leaving the patient looking quite normal just with more hair after a couple of days. Redness is usually at least somewhat concealed by the transplanted hair and the only thing that people might notice is that you have more hair now.

 

Here comes the but...

 

In 4 to 6 weeks new transplanted hair will most likely shed. Moreover, you may also experience shock loss, which is a temporary loss of existing natural hair in and around the transplanted area due to trauma from the surgery. Depending on How well you heal, there may or may not be obvious post operative redness 4 to 6 weeks after surgery. Consistently applying aloe vera or vitamin E oil may help reduce the redness and it might even be gone by that point in time.

 

But any shaving of the donor or recipient area will make it more difficult to conceal the fact that you had something done.

 

Not to add insult to injury, but keep in mind that just because people don't "bad an eyelash" doesn't mean that they haven't noticed something. Most people just have enough couth not to say anything.

 

On a positive note, you are doing this for you. Who cares what people think in my opinion. Everybody who has hair transplant surgery has to go through that awkward stage. But at the end of the day, you will look and feel better and you won't even care that people saw you through an awkward stage when people will see you for the rest of your life with more hair and looking more youthful

 

Personally, I think honesty is the best policy. I would consider telling your boss that you are getting a hair transplant and are going to take some vacation time. And then come back to work when the vacation time is over and just go on with your life as if you never got a procedure done. If people ask, tell them. Most people in my experience are fascinated by it. I have yet to run into anybody who has been judgmental or laughed about it or thought it was weird. People find it really hard to believe that my hair was transplanted because it looks so natural. And I suspect this will be true for you as long as you pick the right surgeon.

 

Ultimately, you have to decide what to do. But I think you're going to drive yourself crazy if you worry so much about somebody spotting something different about you. The reality is, you want people to notice something different about you by the time the results grow in because otherwise, what's the point? You should look different, better, etc. when the results grow in and people will notice something is different about you. They may not know it's your hair but they will see an improvement and like it. So in my opinion, don't sweat the interim stages too much. They are temporary and nobody is going to really care. You are your own worst critic, remember that. Most people might notice something a little different and then go back to their lives because they don't care.

 

I hope some of this helps.

 

Bill

[getting4000]

Thanks everyone I really appreciate all the info. and advice! It's great to have this forum to discuss these issues knowing that everyone is talking from experience. My problem is I'm the boss, and I have 40 people who work for me and I also have clients I have to meet in person quite often. All my employees see me in the office everyday working and I am in a professional setting, business casual and I have to be at my office to keep my business running. I'm also in a very small community where I know almost everyone so I can't hide from my office or my town and hats and medical caps won't really work for me, it would cause too much of a discussion and also attract too much attention in a small community where I know everyone. I'm sure twenty years from now I could have my business setup to run for a month without me but right now it's in growth mode so I can probably only get out of the office for 2 weeks or so. I'll probably pull the trigger sometime next year, maybe in the winter when my business is in the slow season and try and take two weeks and hope to heal well and use concealers and makeup to cover it up. Just a question has anyone heard of taking human growth hormone to help with the growth and recovery period? I've read from 3 different people on other forums that they did this and the redness, and shockloss was really minimal and the regrowth was impressive and quick? They said this is why athletes take it after an injury because it aids in recovery, just wondering if anyone can validate that it would help in a ht? Thanks again for all the help!