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I've had several hair restoration procedures old (early 90's) and recent strip fut. with an ISHRS doctor to try and fix the mess caused by the earlier older procedures both old and new performed by the same doctor. (sorry for not naming him but I still have to try and work things out with him)
Two very very bad life changing things have happenned to me:
1./ Coming home from work when I was an 18 year old kid and finding my mother dead in her bed (she was only 49) I'm almost that age now.
2./ Attempting to remedy my hairloss problem surgically:
There was no internet back then (1992) very few books, the yellow pages and whatever literature the doctor gave you was all you had to go by. Some mob tried to sell me a $1,500 couse of shampoo which of course would not have worked (blocked follicles? Give me a break)
If you were looking to remedy your hairloss surgically before 1996 you were probably going to end up in big trouble (until 1996 when someone finally discovered how to use a microscope, treatments were still in the 1950's) There was no Propecia either!
Hairloss surgery has lagged behind other cosmetic procedures by at least half a century in my opinion...was it medical dogma.....ignorance....who knows?
I even saw a specialist (Dermatologist who had a full head of hair......bastard LOL) who also advised of the limited and morbid options available at the time around 1992-1993....so I did everything right.....the only thing I did wrong was go through with it.
Now many years later after living under a cap or wig I attempted to tidy the mess up with some modern FUT but after 12 months it has not grown properly, the area is more scalp than skin, comparing the photos which I took post op to my present condition only about half of the grafts have grown and the ones that have are weak and thin, I do however have fine straight hair but the transplanted hairs are DHT resistant so they should be thicker, maybe 12 months is too early, or more than likely the scarring from earlier surgery has created an unfavourable environment for the FUT transplants.
They say life is about experiences, well my experience has led me to a greater understanding of the full meaning of certain verbal cliche's which have been around for a long time, here is some which I relate to my experience and hope that younger men out there considering a transplant may think about, some I've added myself and some I've just read on similar forums.
Don't cut what can be untied:
Don't make permanent decisions when in a temporary state of mind:
Regret if really severe turns into anger and depression and lasts a life time:
A bad hair transplant goes deeper than the body...it cuts into the soul:
Suicide.....a permanent solution to a temporary problem, don't try it, work through your problems here on earth, the afterlife probably does not have a solution:
Remember todays "state of the art" hair transplant is tomorrow's butchery:
Remember hair transplants do NOT give you more hair:
If you have to sign a waiver before surgery is the surgeon any good?
The Scalpel has been no friend of mine and has changed my life forever, from the first cut onwards it is forever!
If you are uncertain what to do, especially if emotion is involved..DO NOTHING
The saying "a step in the wrong direction is better than standing still" DOES NOT APPLY TO HAIR TRANSPLANTS:
The mistakes you make today become the person tomorrow:
Hair pieces are not for everyone but you can at least take them off if you don't like it.......you can't take a hair transplant off.
The good news and the bad news is that hair transplants are permanent:
As a performing musician hair pieces have been a good friend to me, get a rough spikey wind in the hair looking one rather than the really bad bank manager parted on one side looking ones, and get salt and pepper with blonde fleckes through it and have your natural hair streaked to match, otherwise they fade and can be noticed from the other side of the street:
The real winners in the hairloss battle are the guys who shave their heads and are proud of themselves, from the first day of surgery (excluding FUE) a shaved head is not an option...........ever.
In my opinion the entire hairloss industry over the decades both surgical and non surgical has been an utter disgrace, compare the cost of a hair transplant with other cosmetic procedures (liposuction, nose job etc) they don't cost $30,000 and offer far more predictable results from what I have read. A full hair transplant should at the very best cost $10,000 and I don't care how much work is involved. I sincerely hope that soon one of the companies like Histogen succeeds in finding a viable cure, I wish them all the best, if they do it will at the very least bring hair transplant costs down to an acceptable level.
Given mankind's natural greed I am astonished that a cure has not been found yet.......the pot of gold would be similar to oil company revenue...........they could buy a country!
I wish Histogen and other similar companies all the best to finding a cure so that hairloss sufferers all over the world can actually get something universally viable for their money...........a cure!
In spite of my negative journey I am happy to hear of the patients who are pleased with their results, but please think carefully about it especially if you are still young (in your 20's with an unpredictable hairloss forecast)
Thanks for reading this post which turned out more like a thesis than a post.
If I can stop just one young man from having to go through the grief and torment which I have had to, then that's one less in the world which is a good thing
Two very very bad life changing things have happenned to me:
1./ Coming home from work when I was an 18 year old kid and finding my mother dead in her bed (she was only 49) I'm almost that age now.
2./ Attempting to remedy my hairloss problem surgically:
There was no internet back then (1992) very few books, the yellow pages and whatever literature the doctor gave you was all you had to go by. Some mob tried to sell me a $1,500 couse of shampoo which of course would not have worked (blocked follicles? Give me a break)
If you were looking to remedy your hairloss surgically before 1996 you were probably going to end up in big trouble (until 1996 when someone finally discovered how to use a microscope, treatments were still in the 1950's) There was no Propecia either!
Hairloss surgery has lagged behind other cosmetic procedures by at least half a century in my opinion...was it medical dogma.....ignorance....who knows?
I even saw a specialist (Dermatologist who had a full head of hair......bastard LOL) who also advised of the limited and morbid options available at the time around 1992-1993....so I did everything right.....the only thing I did wrong was go through with it.
Now many years later after living under a cap or wig I attempted to tidy the mess up with some modern FUT but after 12 months it has not grown properly, the area is more scalp than skin, comparing the photos which I took post op to my present condition only about half of the grafts have grown and the ones that have are weak and thin, I do however have fine straight hair but the transplanted hairs are DHT resistant so they should be thicker, maybe 12 months is too early, or more than likely the scarring from earlier surgery has created an unfavourable environment for the FUT transplants.
They say life is about experiences, well my experience has led me to a greater understanding of the full meaning of certain verbal cliche's which have been around for a long time, here is some which I relate to my experience and hope that younger men out there considering a transplant may think about, some I've added myself and some I've just read on similar forums.
Don't cut what can be untied:
Don't make permanent decisions when in a temporary state of mind:
Regret if really severe turns into anger and depression and lasts a life time:
A bad hair transplant goes deeper than the body...it cuts into the soul:
Suicide.....a permanent solution to a temporary problem, don't try it, work through your problems here on earth, the afterlife probably does not have a solution:
Remember todays "state of the art" hair transplant is tomorrow's butchery:
Remember hair transplants do NOT give you more hair:
If you have to sign a waiver before surgery is the surgeon any good?
The Scalpel has been no friend of mine and has changed my life forever, from the first cut onwards it is forever!
If you are uncertain what to do, especially if emotion is involved..DO NOTHING
The saying "a step in the wrong direction is better than standing still" DOES NOT APPLY TO HAIR TRANSPLANTS:
The mistakes you make today become the person tomorrow:
Hair pieces are not for everyone but you can at least take them off if you don't like it.......you can't take a hair transplant off.
The good news and the bad news is that hair transplants are permanent:
As a performing musician hair pieces have been a good friend to me, get a rough spikey wind in the hair looking one rather than the really bad bank manager parted on one side looking ones, and get salt and pepper with blonde fleckes through it and have your natural hair streaked to match, otherwise they fade and can be noticed from the other side of the street:
The real winners in the hairloss battle are the guys who shave their heads and are proud of themselves, from the first day of surgery (excluding FUE) a shaved head is not an option...........ever.
In my opinion the entire hairloss industry over the decades both surgical and non surgical has been an utter disgrace, compare the cost of a hair transplant with other cosmetic procedures (liposuction, nose job etc) they don't cost $30,000 and offer far more predictable results from what I have read. A full hair transplant should at the very best cost $10,000 and I don't care how much work is involved. I sincerely hope that soon one of the companies like Histogen succeeds in finding a viable cure, I wish them all the best, if they do it will at the very least bring hair transplant costs down to an acceptable level.
Given mankind's natural greed I am astonished that a cure has not been found yet.......the pot of gold would be similar to oil company revenue...........they could buy a country!
I wish Histogen and other similar companies all the best to finding a cure so that hairloss sufferers all over the world can actually get something universally viable for their money...........a cure!
In spite of my negative journey I am happy to hear of the patients who are pleased with their results, but please think carefully about it especially if you are still young (in your 20's with an unpredictable hairloss forecast)
Thanks for reading this post which turned out more like a thesis than a post.
If I can stop just one young man from having to go through the grief and torment which I have had to, then that's one less in the world which is a good thing
you even crack the odd joke here and there.
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