How to manage the HT process, work/family etc?

[ricky_nu]

ok - so how do you all manage the HT process, for the months of healing following a surgery?

 

I had hair transplants some 15 years ago, and would like to get some more to fill things in. My main concern is how do I continue to go to work with my head looking like it was mangled? I am 40 and work in an office environment, so no baseball caps for me. Any suggestions?

[Ronald]

You need to take 1 week off minimum, 2 is preferable......your head will most likely not look mangled by this point.

 

Also depends on your Norwood level, if you are lower, you can use your remaining hair to comb over the transplanted areas. If not, then it will depend on how fair your skin is. The fairer your skin, the higher the redness/pinkness risk is imo.

 

Dermmatch is another option. My doc also suggested some creams to mask redness but I cant remember what they are now.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

For the front, I tell everyone to plan on a week out of public. We shave the recipient region, so even after a week, things will look different, if there was some wispy hair up front, but with proper planning, styling of remaining hair can help limit the procedure's noticability. For the crown, if you can wear a baseball cap, there is no real downtime as for appearance.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[ScottishGuy]

Spex provides some good info on this here:

 

http://hair-restoration-info.c...6060861/m/5261036933

 

One tactic mentioned elsewhere is to prepare the ground before the op by telling work colleagues that you will be doing lots of DIY or something. Then, when you return to work with a half shaved, pink, shocklossed appearance you can explain that you had some bizarre accident (e.g. spilling paint stripper on your head).

 

Any suggestion that you will look normal after even 3 weeks is not accurate for larger procedures so you do need to have some excuses ready if you can't wear a hat.

 

My approach was to take a career break. I'm now just approaching 10 weeks post op and still avoid social events and wear a hat everywhere. However, I am just staring to consider going hatless so should be OK in a few weeks I hope. Overall I think my recovery has been slightly better than most (apart from lingering redness).

 

Good luck.

[Sparse]

I was told by several experienced HT folks that "a week or two" should be plenty of time to recover and begin to look reasonably normal again, but that turned out to be wildly optimistic in my case.

 

Because my sleep was pretty awful until the staples came out, it took me the first 2.5 weeks post-HT to begin feeling anything close to 100% physically again. Luckily, I had 3 weeks post-HT before I had to head back to work, but even that far out my scalp was so pink and odd looking that I had to wear a ballcap until the 2-month mark (and believe me, as a university professor, I caught more than a few strange looks walking around campus that way).

 

Maybe you'll be lucky and find yourself one of the "fast healers", but I think it's wise to prepare for the possibility that you may need some sort of hair covering - or a good cover story! - for up to 2 months after your procedure.

 

Good luck.

[Tao]

I had my HT done by Dr. Konior in Chicago. I had a little bit of diffuse hair still around up front and he put in about 2800 grafts ( I paid for 2500 - thanks doc!). Dr. Konior does not require you to be shaved for procedures under 2500 (though I ended up getting the bonus 300 extra), so I was lucky. I took two weeks off from work and went back and no one could really tell a thing. I had very minimum redness and a little shockloss of existing hair up front but it just looked like I buzzed it a little shorter than usual. Boy, I gotta tell you, I love getting the confused and shocked look of people checking out my hairline over the past couple of months. They cannot figure out for the life of them what I'm doing to make my hair grow back in. It all happened so gradually - in this case, that was a good thing. I was lucky I had a doc who does such clean and immaculate work. If and when I have my crown done, I think I'd probably be able to go back to work after just a few days.

[Al - Moderator]

I never went for the lying and making up stories stuff. It's just not me. I'm not interested in lying to people I know. I have a hard time facing them especially later when they find out the truth.

[Tao]

In my case, I'm not lying. I'm just not exactly telling. I didn't make anything up. I'm just saying, the work of my HT was very good and I could go back to work after two weeks and no one really noticed anything. Then, the growth was just really gradual over the next 6 months so that it all happened very quietly and without fanfare. Very nice.

[Stimpson]

Your recovery depends on a lot of factors. For ME, I would not even consider going hatless for at least a month or so. If you are counting on a week, you are being overly optimistic IMO. Again, though, it depends on the amount of work done, existing hair to hide it, etc. Lots of factors come into play.

 

Stimpson

[psychojr]

Shoot, I tell everyone about mine. Who cares. I think it's funny convesation. Some of you are too vain.

[psychojr]

I'm always trying to drum up some more business for Cooley also!

[Irish-1]

It's really up to the individual, each persons situation will be different, it was very easy for me, my close friends all knew as i confided in them and they all supported me 110%. Although it did take me around a month to feel comfortable again, i am currently 4 months and 2 weeks post-op (i know i need to post pics) and this is the time i have received the most questions and looks as my hair is growing like crazy.. So if someone says something it usually is in the form of a compliment! And i am a very positive person so i just try not to worry to much about it.. Hope this helped a little