Feelings of Fear and Doubt - Anyone Else?

[Martino]

I'm currently in the process of getting my first 2200 graft FUE early next year and I'm filled with many conflicting feelings. The more time I have spent on here researching the more I realise that not everyone gets a good results we see on the surgeons websites. Many people need multiple HT's despite only being Norwood 3s.

My fears and doubts:

1. The results may be disappointing and I wont get density on my hairline.

2. I damage my donor hair.

3. Choosing the right surgeon (all the surgeons I've spoken to have amhrs certification, so no cowboys, but its still hard to know who to choose).

4. Cost: its using up nearly all my savings (not much anyone can do to reassure me on this - if the success was for certain I wouldn't care)

5. I could continue to bald after my transplant, making my transplanted hair look weird.

6. Looking really bad for four to six months during recovery.

7. Judgement from friends, partner, and workmates if they can tell I've had a HT.

Anyone else have similar fears? Anyone else with advice?

[Awarem3]

1. This is always going to be a possibility but odds become lower based on the doctor you choose as well as how your body itself responds.

2. Again, mostly based on doctor choice, I chose HassonandWong and my donor area appeared as if nothing happened a week later after FUE.

3. After you narrow down your choice of surgeons, choose based on who you are most comfortable with in addition to whos hairline designs appeal to you.

4. I felt the same way but I realized that money comes and goes and being a young diffuse thinner in the front, my health is first as it was getting to the point where it was starting to affect other aspects of my life negatively which was giving me unnecessary stress.

5. Get on finasteride if you want and you should be fine for at least awhile. This also depends on how old you are.

6. This I can’t really deny because depending on your hair loss pattern and how your body reacts. With the redness, regrowth, etc. However I have been struggling with this for a couple years now so another couple months aren’t going to hurt knowing that it’s only temporary. Being a diffuse thinner and having a decent amount of hair before and an intact hairline is helping so far a month post op but time will tell.

7. I fear this as well but again the positives outweigh the negatives and going to a good doctor will make it very difficult to spot your hair transplant. Just try to wear a hat and when the redness starts to become hard to notice, you should be in the clear and good to go. Good Luck

[Dazed]

“Imagination frames events unknown,
In wild, fantastic shapes of hideous ruin,
And what it fears creates.”

― Hannah More

Read and reread that quote until you fully comprehend what it means.  Understand the power of your subconscious and exchange your negative thoughts for positive thoughts.  That is one of greatest quotes I have ever heard because it speaks to human nature.

After the transplant you will have buyers remorse.  You are just having natural reactions.  Try this on for size, in 2008 I had Fraxel Repair when it was first introduced at a cost of $5,000.  Do you think I didn't have all those doubts.  There I was basically undergoing an unknown procedure.  Hair transplants have been around for a long time and the procedure has been greatly refined over the years.  I am 71 and just had my 2nd transplant - 6 weeks post-op and I don't have as many doubts as you.  In January I travel to Costa Rica get a facelift, and I am more concerned with the travel plans than the actual surgery.

I suggest you just get a buzz cut a few days prior to the transplant so people get used to it.  Why should you look bad for 4-6 months?  Only because I didn't buzz I had to put up with a bad haircut for 5 weeks.  Nobody knows I got a transplant this time or back in 2011 with my first.  You worry too much.  Go get a drink.

[Betterhair]

I am 3 1/2 months post op. 2500 grafts frontal region. I did my research and will honestly say, I've had my ups and downs but realize that I will have more hair where I was previously balding. To me the money I spent was ridiculous at the time but I am a cheapskate of sorts. I am currently getting a little impatient which is not good since I have a long road ahead of me. From time to time I develop low forms of anxiety as one side is growing and the other side is lagging. I have faith in my doctor , that the end results will supersede my original expectations. A myriad of emotions will abound you, especially if you are a perfectionist. You must prepare mentally for this journey , this is a must.

This is my second transplant. First was not good (diff doc), so for me to try again was risky, as I had no confidence in the industry but I did not research the first time. This time I made certain I went to a reputable clinic. One that would take the journey with me and see me to the finish line.

Good luck !

 

[Martino]

1 hour ago, made2care said:

I am 3 1/2 months post op. 2500 grafts frontal region. I did my research and will honestly say, I've had my ups and downs but realize that I will have more hair where I was previously balding. To me the money I spent was ridiculous at the time but I am a cheapskate of sorts. I am currently getting a little impatient which is not good since I have a long road ahead of me. From time to time I develop low forms of anxiety as one side is growing and the other side is lagging. I have faith in my doctor , that the end results will supersede my original expectations. A myriad of emotions will abound you, especially if you are a perfectionist. You must prepare mentally for this journey , this is a must.

This is my second transplant. First was not good (diff doc), so for me to try again was risky, as I had no confidence in the industry but I did not research the first time. This time I made certain I went to a reputable clinic. One that would take the journey with me and see me to the finish line.

Good luck !

 

Do you think the first surgeon was a bad surgeon or did you just get unlucky?

[Martino]

10 hours ago, Awarem3 said:

1. This is always going to be a possibility but odds become lower based on the doctor you choose as well as how your body itself responds.

2. Again, mostly based on doctor choice, I chose HassonandWong and my donor area appeared as if nothing happened a week later after FUE.

3. After you narrow down your choice of surgeons, choose based on who you are most comfortable with in addition to whos hairline designs appeal to you.

4. I felt the same way but I realized that money comes and goes and being a young diffuse thinner in the front, my health is first as it was getting to the point where it was starting to affect other aspects of my life negatively which was giving me unnecessary stress.

5. Get on finasteride if you want and you should be fine for at least awhile. This also depends on how old you are.

6. This I can’t really deny because depending on your hair loss pattern and how your body reacts. With the redness, regrowth, etc. However I have been struggling with this for a couple years now so another couple months aren’t going to hurt knowing that it’s only temporary. Being a diffuse thinner and having a decent amount of hair before and an intact hairline is helping so far a month post op but time will tell.

7. I fear this as well but again the positives outweigh the negatives and going to a good doctor will make it very difficult to spot your hair transplant. Just try to wear a hat and when the redness starts to become hard to notice, you should be in the clear and good to go. Good Luck

Thanks for that.

I am on finasteride. I think it was when I read that someone started to lose after 10 years on fin and that scared me a bit. That I could look good for 10 years and then start losing the hair behind the transplant.

[Betterhair]

The first doc was Blaine Lehr in Oklahoma City. He got out of the business. He only excised the strip, the techs did everything else and they obviously had no clue on what they were doing. Never got a follow up phone call, nothing.

Second Dr is Arocha out of Houston. He excised and made recipient sites. 2 techs implanted grafts, one on the left was very quiet , one on the right the total opposite. Each time I have called Arocha clinic, the doc calls me back personally. 

Its extremely important to find a clinic that keeps in touch, that way if results were not to meet your expectations (we have to be realistic), they could make the situation right. 

[Dazed]

6 hours ago, made2care said:

The first doc was Blaine Lehr in Oklahoma City. He got out of the business. He only excised the strip, the techs did everything else and they obviously had no clue on what they were doing. Never got a follow up phone call, nothing.

Second Dr is Arocha out of Houston. He excised and made recipient sites. 2 techs implanted grafts, one on the left was very quiet , one on the right the total opposite. Each time I have called Arocha clinic, the doc calls me back personally. 

Its extremely important to find a clinic that keeps in touch, that way if results were not to meet your expectations (we have to be realistic), they could make the situation right. 

Are you in OKC.  Tim Love did my first transplant and it turned out great.  I am in Florida now.

[Betterhair]

1 hour ago, Dazed said:

Are you in OKC.  Tim Love did my first transplant and it turned out great.  I am in Florida now.

I actually was going to have my 2nd transplant with Tim Love but his office never returned my call. I'm in NW Oklahoma.

[Spaceman]

No judgment here, but I would not recommend using all of your savings on a hair transplant. Few things in life are more stressful than financial insecurity. Ideally you would wait until you have additional funds set aside just in case the HT, or anything else in your life, does not go as planned. 

[Martino]

2 hours ago, Spaceman said:

No judgment here, but I would not recommend using all of your savings on a hair transplant. Few things in life are more stressful than financial insecurity. Ideally you would wait until you have additional funds set aside just in case the HT, or anything else in your life, does not go as planned. 

I don't mind too much spending most of my savings. I am single so I am not saving for marriage or a house (don't want one) as I live a bit of a nomadic lifestyle.

I tend to save 600 dollars per month, but if I wanted to work harder I could save over a thousand.

[Dazed]

15 hours ago, made2care said:

I actually was going to have my 2nd transplant with Tim Love but his office never returned my call. I'm in NW Oklahoma.

I gained a lot of respect for Dr. Love when I was scheduled for a non-hair related laser procedure, and after I was scheduled he came back into the room and he told me the procedure was not right for me.  A year later a new laser was introduced.  He did not have that laser so I went to another doctor in OKC, and that was the best procedure I ever did.  I would have gone back to him for my 2nd transplant, but the idea of flying to OKC twice changed my mind and I went with Dr. Junaid Syed in Orlando.  I am only 6 weeks post-op but everything appears to be going well with no complications.

Edited October 23, 2018 by Dazed