my hairtransplants horror story

Hi my name is bullitnut and i want to share my story with the good folk that use this forum



When i was 22 young and nieve i had my first hairtransplant... below is a brief account of my own experiences


In around the year 1997 i came across an advert in a mens magazine for a hairtransplant clinic and decided after reading this that the place sounded fantastic. It claimed to be state of the art with experienced surgeons from all around the world, they claimed to be leaders in the field of hair restoration and said that they left other clinics behind. Wow i thought ill have a consultation because at this point in time i was struggling to cope with my hair loss, i was only 22 and felt like my whole world was coming to an end and that no one could possibly love me with a bald head. So i telephoned them and arranged a consultation.for the following week.

I arrived for my consultation and was shocked to find that this place was not a state of the art clinic but just three rooms at the rear of an nhs doctors surgery. I was shown into a small room and was told to sit down a gentlemen told me to remove my hat and looked at my hair, which to be honest was thinning a little but looking back it wasn't actually that bad at this stage. It was obvious i was loosing my hair but i still had plenty left, the man said he could help me and said that i was a perfect candidate for a hair transplant he also said that i would soon have a perfect head of hair again.

I was delighted i asked how much this procedure would cost. He replied that because i would need around 1500 grafts throughout my hair to thicken it back up it would be three thousand five hundred pounds. He then said in a rather pushy tone we are very busy so do you want it or what. I was a bit taken aback by this but the thoughts of a perfect head of hair were ringing in my ear so i agreed. He then said he would need a deposit of one thousand five hundred by the end of the week and said he would book me in for the surgery the following week and i had to pay the balance then.

That was it there was no mention of any side effects, no mention of any risks. No mention of aftercare, no mention of the surgeons competence or qualifications, experience etc and certainly no mention of a hideous scar to the back of my head.

The whole consultation was over in about 5 mins, and because i was only 22 young and nieve i just thought this was normal and i was very excited. When i arrived i was escorted into a small room where a young lady washed my hair i was then told to sit on a chair in another room that looked like a dental surgery.

I was then asked to sign a consent form and was told not to worry i was then given an injection in my finger to numb my head and was told to relax and that my head would be numb in no time. The surgeon then came in and started to remove hair from the rear of my head to be placed on the top of my head later, this took about five minutes and didn't hurt at all due to the anesthetic.

He then started inserting the grafts into the top of my head and let me tell you this was the worst pain i have ever had in my life. It started out as just an uncomfortable pain, but after an hour or so it was absolutely excruciating i told the Dr it was really painful, but he just laughed and said it wont be long and told me to think about all the hair i would have. I had no choice but to grin and bear it, it was awful and throughout the five hour operation blood just kept on running down my face and neck it was terrifying but he just kept saying don't panic its normal you`ve just got a sensitive scalp.

When the operation was over i was told i had to get up and go sit in a waiting room for a couple of min's, to my suprise the doctor then said goodbye and went home leaving me on my own with two female assistants. They told me that my stitches would dissolve on their own in a few weeks and gave me some co codamol for the pain, at this point i didn't even know i had any stitches. They also gave me a letter with aftercare instructions on it which was about half a page long and consisted of washing instructions etc. After about 10 min's they opened the back door and said goodbye leaving me to drive home dis- orientated and 10 min's after a five hour operation.

Over the next few weeks i struggled with the pain but i was excited and couldn't wait for my new hair to grow. My head looked very sore and was covered in scabs with little hairs popping out. I was told before the surgery that i was paying for 1500 grafts but to be honest i think i only recieved about 250 and over the next six months this was confirmed as only a small number of hairs appeared on my head, and i might add they looked very unnatural a bit like dolls hair. The most concerning thing though to me was that i suffered something called shockloss which i have now found out is common but i was not forewarned or told anything about this prior to my surgery.

Shockloss is where the rest of your normal original hair becomes shocked by the new transplants that are placed next to them and fall out leaving you with only the transplanted hairs left this is usually only temporary but in my case was permenent. So in effect i had payed 3500pounds for 1500 new hairs, recieved around 250 new hairs and lost hundreds of old hair. So i was much worse off after the surgery than before i even had the operation( and a lot poorer too). I was now in a situation where i could not even go outside without wearing a hat and i had no choice but to get another hair transplant to add some more hair to my head because i only had about 250 hairs on the top of my head and my confidence was shattered so i began to save up for round two.

In the year 2000 god knows why i returned to the clinic for another consultation they then said i need another 1500 grafts, but because i had been before they said it would only cost 1500pounds. They also advised me to take finesteride and said they would give me a twelve months supply for nothing in with the price of the surgery, they told me it would stop any further hair loss....I had my second surgery later that week which was much the same as the first except this one wasn't painfull which just proves that the first operations anesthetic wasn't administered correctly.

Over the next few months though i experienced terrible headaches on a daily basis, not at all like the first transplant and these headaches didn't start to ease until around 8 months after the procedure. At the same time as the headaches i had feelings of numbness to the back of my head which took months to ease, but even to this day i still have a numb part at the rear off my head on the right which i'm told is probably nerve damage. The growth rate was much the same as the first op and now after paying for 3000 hairs at a cost of 5000pounds i have around 500.

From the year 2000 i have suffered from bouts of mental health problems ie depression anxiety, panick attacks which have been so serious ive been admitted to hospital, ive had bouts of agraphobia and have been on numerous types of anti depressents all because off the treatment and results of this clinic. I have also go two 7cm scars to the back of my head which prevent me from shaving my head and look so ugly i have to keep them covered.

Before having a ht do some research and check out the many different surgeons on all the hair forums and don’t let travel be the deciding factor because the results good or bad will last a lifetime. Have a look at Doctors websites and have a look at all the negative comments on the internet simply google the hair clinics name and u will find info. This hopefully will prevent you making the same mistakes i did

Please note though that despite my own bad experiences with the clinic it hasnt put me off hairtransplantation as with a world class clinic and surgeon the results obtainable can be incredible and simply life changing