transplant nightmare

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  • Jack21
    Senior Member
    • Sep 2010
    • 167

    #31
    Originally posted by dgman21
    Jack,
    Thanks for sharing your story. I amletting my hair obssession get the best of me like your saying. Now I was told by a surgeon in person consultation that he will do 600 grafts but that doesnt seem like much due to my diffuse and frontal thinning. I have never had surgery before. I am too freaked out to shave my head due to the thinning area being very noticeable.
    From what I recall I had about 1,500 micrografts. If I recall this was something of a "mini graft". There is nothing "mini" about the scar, however. There are of course numerous variables involved in this procedure that will determine the size of the scar (the density of the donor area and many others). Unless there has been a miracle in the science of HT in the past 5 years you will be left with a long scar at the back of your head. Long enough hair will cover the scar. If you are happy with having longish hair on the sides and back and considerably thinner hair on top, who am I to stand in your way? It is about reasonable expectations. As my doctor told me "You will NOT have a full head of hair. You will NOT look like you did 5 years ago. You will get more thickness on top, but that is all." What I managed to somehow completely ignore in this whole thing was the scar that would result. I did actually ask the doc. how long my hair would have to be to conceal the scar, and he said about 3/4" to 1". He was right. It was abslutely fine for a while - the results of the transplant coupled with toppik and couvre that is. Once my hair began to thin too much to be disguised by concealers, however, the game was up. Try to find a picture of a person who has had a HT and who was told ahead of time that his donor area was ideal in terms of density. I look at these model photos posted by physicians themselves and still think to myself that they look lousy. I cannot make up your mind for you, but I can tell you that my youth, desperation, and terror of losing my looks actually had the effect of ruining my looks. Let's face it. A shaved head does not look so good on most people. It does, however, look far, far better than a head with obvious surgical scars. Do not allow desperation get the better of you. If this happens (as it did with me) you will end up miserably disappointed or simply miserable. As my surgeon said to me "Why not just buzz your hair. You're a good looking guy." A shaved or buzzed head coupled with a good physique is not such a bad thing. Society is very odd. People see the scars on my shoulder and arm and say "Wow. what a badass etc etc." People see scars on my head and they recoil in horror. Do nothing rash. Research, research, research BUT never forget that whatever happens if you do have a HT you will have a long and possibly thick scar from ear to ear. I loved my shaved head and kept my hair shaved or very, very short for most of my time in the army. When on leave with a shaved head I met the girl I would end up marrying. She divorced me just about the same time I became horribky obsessed with my hair. It was not a coincidence.

    Comment

    • Don'tDoIt
      Member
      • Jul 2010
      • 77

      #32
      CIT girl, I am surprised that you would use the before/after images for that patient who obviously has longer hair in the "after" photo. The longer hair makes it impossible to tell if Dr. Cole's work really had an impact. Why did you choose this case?

      If Dr. Cole is truly doing one of these types of cases per week, why are there not more results on your website showing that these scars are being improved? I am not saying that Dr. Cole is not getting good results with this technique but rather I am saying that the documentation is lacking.

      It seems that Jack21 would benefit from FUE into his scar but I would first like to see some more FUE-into-scar success stories.

      Comment

      • Don'tDoIt
        Member
        • Jul 2010
        • 77

        #33
        deleted because of a double post

        Comment

        • Don'tDoIt
          Member
          • Jul 2010
          • 77

          #34
          Jack21 you should go to the hair loss help website and scroll down the page until you get to the section titled "Hair Transplant Repair." You should then read every thread in that section going back at least to last year. There is a huge amount of information in there. You need to do this to educate yourself about your options. It is at hair loss help with no spaces between the words hair loss help. It is a dot com site. After the dot com type in /forums.

          Another way to find this site is to type "hair loss help forum" into a Google search and the site will be the first site of the Google search results.

          Spencer, if you read this, sorry about plugging another website but I think that Jack21 deserves all the help that we can give, considering what he has gone through.

          Comment

          • Jack21
            Senior Member
            • Sep 2010
            • 167

            #35
            thanks

            Thank you. I've found it and am beginning to go through the posts. I really appreciate your help.


            Originally posted by Don'tDoIt
            Jack21 you should go to the hair loss help website and scroll down the page until you get to the section titled "Hair Transplant Repair." You should then read every thread in that section going back at least to last year. There is a huge amount of information in there. You need to do this to educate yourself about your options. It is at hair loss help with no spaces between the words hair loss help. It is a dot com site. After the dot com type in /forums.

            Another way to find this site is to type "hair loss help forum" into a Google search and the site will be the first site of the Google search results.

            Spencer, if you read this, sorry about plugging another website but I think that Jack21 deserves all the help that we can give, considering what he has gone through.

            Comment

            • chasguy
              Member
              • Aug 2010
              • 46

              #36
              Originally posted by Jack21
              My scar is virtually identical to the one in the last picture you posted. It is not as fresh or bloody ,obviously, because 5 years have passed, but in size, shape, length and thickness it is virtually identical. You must understand that b/c of my experience I am very, very reluctant about having anyone take anything sharp to my head or any part of me for that matter. I have also had to have numerous shoulder surgeries since I was discharged which have left my shoulder,arm, and part of my neck covered in surgical scars and arthroscope puncture holes.
              For the shoulder scars, try Cica Care silicone sheeting and see if they are improved. If they are, perhaps the same could be applied to your HT scar. Cica Care has had some really really positive reviews

              Comment

              • chasguy
                Member
                • Aug 2010
                • 46

                #37
                Originally posted by Jack21
                If I could get those results I would be very happy, but I seem to remember saying exactly the same thing to myself before my HT 5 years ago. I have seen a number of men over the years with shaved heads or v. closely cropped hair whose surgical scars from HTs were very obvious. I've seen men like this at the gym, at football games, at the grocery store. They were obviously at peace with their appearance. I mean they could all have been wearing baseball caps but weren't. I need to make peace with my apperance and try and salvage some sort of life. Mine is a cautionary tale. I have let obsession with my hair ruin the last 5 or 6 years of my life. I wish that I had never heard of any of these "solutions" whether surgery, concealers, or toupees. I wish that I had just kept my head shaved when I got out of the army. My best friend starting balding in college, shaved his head right then and there and has never looked back. He is the most self confident person I know and lives a happy life while I hide in my apartment b/c I am so ashamed of my appearance.
                Even if the improvement were only modest, it is still an improvement and still going to help you recover some of your own self esteem

                Comment

                • Jack21
                  Senior Member
                  • Sep 2010
                  • 167

                  #38
                  acceptance

                  Originally posted by chasguy
                  Even if the improvement were only modest, it is still an improvement and still going to help you recover some of your own self esteem
                  What could be improved? The appearance of the scar? As I understand it that requires further surgery. Surgery is what got me into this mess in the first place, and my surgeon was far from incompetent. He is in fact very well known. Having another surgical procedure to try and minimize the appearance of a previous surgical procedure MAY yield some positive results ultimately. I do not want to gamble on MAY.

                  I am perfectly content with the way I look with a shaved head - scar and all. I need to be strong enough to weather the months of insults and frightened/ horrified looks and wait it out until people accept my looks. My plan is to come back after Christmas vacation with my hair shaved with a #1. By winter I will be pale and the difference in color between my scalp and my face will not be so pronounced. The world is going to just have to get used to "Jack the bald guy" who used to be "Jack the good looking guy". I got through some horrible years in the army, I will get through this. I have to.

                  Comment

                  • Jack21
                    Senior Member
                    • Sep 2010
                    • 167

                    #39
                    This is what I look like with a buzz and a bit of that thickening spray. You can't see the scar at the back, of course, which is the major drawback to doing this. Also if you look more closely (which you cannot do in this poor quality pic) at my head you would see that it is very unnatural looking - like a bit of stubble and a bit of paint.

                    Comment

                    • Jack21
                      Senior Member
                      • Sep 2010
                      • 167

                      #40
                      I've tried to enhance the pic. but it is a very low resolution webcam shot.


                      Comment

                      • Jack21
                        Senior Member
                        • Sep 2010
                        • 167

                        #41
                        my bald head

                        This is my real head, shaved and shiny.




                        And this is at Halloween with a rug obviously. Compare and cry.

                        Comment

                        • chasguy
                          Member
                          • Aug 2010
                          • 46

                          #42
                          Originally posted by Jack21
                          What could be improved? The appearance of the scar? As I understand it that requires further surgery. Surgery is what got me into this mess in the first place, and my surgeon was far from incompetent. He is in fact very well known. Having another surgical procedure to try and minimize the appearance of a previous surgical procedure MAY yield some positive results ultimately. I do not want to gamble on MAY.

                          I am perfectly content with the way I look with a shaved head - scar and all. I need to be strong enough to weather the months of insults and frightened/ horrified looks and wait it out until people accept my looks. My plan is to come back after Christmas vacation with my hair shaved with a #1. By winter I will be pale and the difference in color between my scalp and my face will not be so pronounced. The world is going to just have to get used to "Jack the bald guy" who used to be "Jack the good looking guy". I got through some horrible years in the army, I will get through this. I have to.
                          There are non-surgical methods of scar treatment. If you're going to shave your head anyway, look into silicone sheeting. Below are some before-after pics I pulled from the web. No one knows for sure why silicone sheeting works, but it does actually work for many people

                          Comment

                          • CIT_Girl
                            Senior Member
                            • Mar 2010
                            • 302

                            #43
                            CIT girl, I am surprised that you would use the before/after images for that patient who obviously has longer hair in the "after" photo. The longer hair makes it impossible to tell if Dr. Cole's work really had an impact. Why did you choose this case?
                            I see what you mean and agree that the after photo isn't a great comparative image because of the inconsistency in length (but we can't really make a patient in for a follow-up shave his head for the sake of our photos). I just grabbed that one from our website because it was one of the few scar grafting procedures where a patient was willing to his shave his head. Few of our repair patients are comfortable being photo released so the images I can share are somewhat limited. Here's another case on a patient with longer hair:




                            Regarding Jack21's shaved-head photo: I think you look great! I'm not sure why there are so many anti-shaved-head sentiments on this forum...could it be a regional or cultural thing, or is it just a common personal preference? I took a little informal poll of the girls in our office this morning and I got three resounding "YES!"'s to the question "do you like guys with shaved heads?" We even have a tech here who shaves his head and it seems like girls can't keep their hands of his head!

                            Comment

                            • Don'tDoIt
                              Member
                              • Jul 2010
                              • 77

                              #44
                              Jack21, add me to the list of people who think you look great with a shaved head. You should go with that look. If any of the transplanted hairs look unnatural or pluggy, then get them lasered off.

                              Illinoisbaldy, a commenter on the Hair Loss Help forum had grafts removed by FUE and then had further grafts removed by laser. In retrospect, he wishes that he had them all removed by laser. You can certainly get those grafts removed if you so desire.

                              As for your scar, you seem dead set against the horseshoe look and you look great with a shaved head. For that reason, I think that you should consider FUE into the scar.

                              Keep in mind, though, that you will probably need two or more FUE-into-scar procedures to get the scar to be undetected with a buzz cut. Furthermore, even with a lot of FUE-into-scar, the scar likely will never go undetected with a shaved look. Also, as my previous post stated, there is little photographic proof that FUE-into-the-scar really works well. Even from Dr. Cole, who does a lot of it.

                              The bottom line is that you look great with either a shaved or buzzed head. I say ditch that rug once and for all.

                              Comment

                              • Jack21
                                Senior Member
                                • Sep 2010
                                • 167

                                #45
                                thanks

                                Thanks to all who have encouraged me to just go with the shaved head. I have pretty much already made up my mind to ditch the rug over Christmas vacation. As I said before, I am not at all unhappy with the way I look with a shaved head. I do not think that I look handsome but I do not think that I look gruesome either. Too many women around me have said just the opposite - that I must do something to maintain the appearance of hair. I am not sure why they would care so much either way. If I had people in my corner like those of you who have been encouraging I could easily get through the whole thing.


                                Originally posted by Don'tDoIt
                                Jack21, add me to the list of people who think you look great with a shaved head. You should go with that look. If any of the transplanted hairs look unnatural or pluggy, then get them lasered off.

                                Illinoisbaldy, a commenter on the Hair Loss Help forum had grafts removed by FUE and then had further grafts removed by laser. In retrospect, he wishes that he had them all removed by laser. You can certainly get those grafts removed if you so desire.

                                As for your scar, you seem dead set against the horseshoe look and you look great with a shaved head. For that reason, I think that you should consider FUE into the scar.

                                Keep in mind, though, that you will probably need two or more FUE-into-scar procedures to get the scar to be undetected with a buzz cut. Furthermore, even with a lot of FUE-into-scar, the scar likely will never go undetected with a shaved look. Also, as my previous post stated, there is little photographic proof that FUE-into-the-scar really works well. Even from Dr. Cole, who does a lot of it.

                                The bottom line is that you look great with either a shaved or buzzed head. I say ditch that rug once and for all.

                                Comment

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