Eight months in and still thin on top

[35YrsAfter]

Just as quick update for you all. I was a mixture of panic/worry/high expectation.

Considering what it looked like before and after, it's worlds apart. I have hair now, yes, it may not be as thick as I had hoped, but considering my level of baldness it's pretty good. All the major clinics told me I would need 2 or 3 procedures, so for 1 procedure, I should be happy. Most said I would need 3 procedures. Some even said it would not be possible.

In short, I am happy. I have no regrets in doing this. If I did have regrets it would be the following: a) I wish I had done it at a younger age b) I wish I had done at with a more reputable surgeon, because then it would take away that niggly question in my mind would it have been even better!

What's done is done and I am happy for now

As always, thank you all.

Hair is addicting... we all want more.

- Chuck Dr. Cole's office

[gillenator]

Just as quick update for you all. I was a mixture of panic/worry/high expectation.

Considering what it looked like before and after, it's worlds apart. I have hair now, yes, it may not be as thick as I had hoped, but considering my level of baldness it's pretty good. All the major clinics told me I would need 2 or 3 procedures, so for 1 procedure, I should be happy. Most said I would need 3 procedures. Some even said it would not be possible.

In short, I am happy. I have no regrets in doing this. If I did have regrets it would be the following: a) I wish I had done it at a younger age b) I wish I had done at with a more reputable surgeon, because then it would take away that niggly question in my mind would it have been even better!

What's done is done and I am happy for now

As always, thank you all.

Thinkin,

I have not seen your before pics so I was just wondering if you started with a completely bald surface or did you have some level of native hair left in the recipient area?

[rev3]

You have the best attitude of any post I have ever read on any forum!

Only the best to you and your hair!

[thinkingaboutit]

@gillenator , I didn't see you reply before, otherwise i would have replied. I am assuming you have seen the recent pictures I posted with "post hair transplant". I can post a picture of my with my face blurred out with me before HT. However, if I blur my face out, it doesn't give you the "real picture" of what I looked like. Basically, for the last 7 years (that' not an exaggeration) I used to shave my head daily with a razor. In short on top I was nearly completely gone. Towards the front no hair at all, towards the back near the crown just very thin hair. I think I was close to an NW6. I became comfortable with my baldness in the last 7 years, the events happened last year to change things for me. I was very uncomfortable with it in my late teens and 20's, then in my 30's i got a new lease of life and confidence, and then in the last year or so, I all of the sudden wanted hair. The trigger was a holiday. I am not going to bore you with details.

I used to shave my head because I had the head for it, even if I say so myself, and many people have also said it. Shaved head kind of suited me. The truth is it also made me look younger. Now I have some hair, you can see loads of greys etc, so I look closer to my age, which is what is frustrating me wife. She prefers me with hair, however, it's also shocked her, how hair has actually aged me. She got me to colour it in this week, and it's made a huge difference. I have black hair, and if you have loads of grey hair on side, then it does make you look a lot older. I am 38 by the way.

@ rev3, thank you, that's a nice comment.

[gillenator]

thinking,

Thanks for the reply my friend. I assume that your new lease on life was a wife?

It's amazing how we can live with our hairloss until the "trigger" comes. A lot of guys tell me the trigger is a new relationship or leaving one.

Dark hair can be a challenge when it loses color. I guess there are varying opinions as some women like the salt/pepper look. Some feel it appears distinguished. That's what my wife tells me.

Still, I would rather have hair colored or grey than not having it.

[thinkingaboutit]

It's so good having the choice.

You could say the trigger was a bit of my wife, and going to a wedding in a country where if you have a shaved head everyone stares as you like you area freak or something. My wife I have always known preferred hair rather than shaved. However, she had accepted it on some level, and was always polite, I suppose not to hurt my feelings. But I sense, although she won't say it or admit to it, that she is now very happy now that I have some here, compared to when I had none. I am still quite thin, it's just under 2 months ago that I had my second HT, so I will know after another 6 to 10 months what I will look like. I was happy after the first HT, so I am hoping now I will be even happier. We'll see too early to tell.

Thanks.

[gillenator]

Just wait until you recent procedure grows in. My bet is that she is going to love it. But be prepared for another potential phenomenon you may not have thought of my friend.

After my third HT procedure grew out along with the corresponding coverage and increased density, my wife started noticing other women noticing me. Sometimes she would say, "Did you see the way that woman was gazing at you?" I would say no and her eyes would roll. Not in a bad way, but I think she liked it more when I was still somewhat thin.

Something to think about...

[gillenator]

Forgot to mention something. When I was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2009 and lost 100% of my hair from chemotherapy, we realized what it is like to have no hair whatsoever.

But it never was an issue because my survival became more important than my appearance.

Yes most of it grew back as I miraculously went into remission yet she never comments on my hair anymore.

She just hugs me now!

[drybone]

Forgot to mention something. When I was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2009 and lost 100% of my hair from chemotherapy, we realized what it is like to have no hair whatsoever.

But it never was an issue because my survival became more important than my appearance.

Yes most of it grew back as I miraculously went into remission yet she never comments on my hair anymore.

She just hugs me now!

Holy crap Gill

Congrats on beating that awful demon
We got your back bro

[thinkingaboutit]

Forgot to mention something. When I was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2009 and lost 100% of my hair from chemotherapy, we realized what it is like to have no hair whatsoever.

But it never was an issue because my survival became more important than my appearance.

Yes most of it grew back as I miraculously went into remission yet she never comments on my hair anymore.

She just hugs me now!

God, that came from nowhere. I suppose it put's things in perspective a bit. Makes what we moan about seem silly when you got something like that to deal with.

Going back to hair and how this all started, I am personally making, for me huge changes in my life. Some people will want to call it a mid life crisis. I woke up and realised that when I am on my death bed I am not going to want to know how much money I have in my bank account or if I have a nice house and so on. I also realised that I have very few real friends and most people in life nearly always want something from you. So there are very few people you meet along your journey in life that you can call "real true friends". So along with the hair, I have been making other big changes, in terms of my work and my life. Not everyone likes the changes I am making. However, I need to be happy with the life I am living. You live it once. I did not have anything close to your experience. But I have had a lifestyle that has put my whole life at risk, so it kind of put things in perspective for me.

[gillenator]

Thanks drybone, that means a lot to me my friend...

[gillenator]

thinking,

I always got the impression you were deep. Any decision that brings more peace and meaning to you is worth making IMHO...

I know what you mean about changes in friends and lifestyles. Presently, I spend a fair amount of time in hospice care assisting other individuals with late stage cancers in the dying process. Especially children in the hospital...and especially at the holidays.

Since 2010, I have yet to see even one of them survive...and sometimes the family asks me to officiate their service. Why do I get to live??? I feel guilt sometimes but I hear a voice that says, there's a bigger reason behind all of this. So I have to pay it forward...sometimes they just need someone who is willing to just listen and pray with them.

It's very humbling, very much so.