My Hair Loss Story and FUE Treatment
Hi,
I have had hair loss to the vertex area of my scalp for probably around 10 years now, it was not hereditary as baldness does not run in my family and came about mainly from Folliculitis, if you do not no much about the condition it is inflammation of the hair follicles, It's usually caused by a bacterial or fungal infection. I didn't know what it was when it initially started I had a really itchy scalp and would wake with blood spots on my pillow and it was quite a few years later that it really spread and I had a considerable about of hair loss in the crown area. The fungus is easily spread though using hair brushes hair shavers and you need to clean everything that comes in contact with your head like pillows etc regularly or in my case throw things out!
I took action probably and hit the forums and got information about it and during the years had various treatments none of which really worked, I went to my doctor who gave me a regular course of treatment that I used for about a year the problem was that the infection builds up resistance to drugs and it just came back worse so it was about 7 years ago that I stopped using them completely.
I have to say at this point I had the mildest case of the infection there are so much worse cases than mine that I saw online, fortunately it seemed that stopping the use of the drugs was the right thing to do as for years now I have not had any problems with my scalp no itching or blood etc and I have been lucky to be free of it.
It did however leave its mark with the bald spot and I had to keep my hair very short to hide the baldness or blend it in which although suited me somewhat and not my choice to have it cut so low all the time.
Within the last two years I considered having hair surgery I had a UK consultation in 2013 the price was just sky high 4 to 6k Pounds and thought that I would have no hope. I was particularly interested in FUE treatment to restore hair to the area. Last year I met a friend of mine who I worked with a while back I was shocked by his appearance he had a full head of hair previously he was extremely bald so I asked about his treatment and he recommended a surgeon in Turkey who he used and could do the treatment at a fraction of the cost of the UK clinics so I contacted him via email earlier this year. He was very helpful he said that he is a plastic surgeon who is a member of ISHRS (international society of hair restoration surgery) and has been doing hair restoration surgery for 11 years. I sent him images and and gave me the cost of 1500 Pounds and assured me that my style of hair (Afro Caribbean) would not be an issue. I made my mind up to go to his surgery and booked time off work and travelled to Turkey on the 3rd September 2015.
The surgery is located in Istanbul I booked a flight and hotel which added a bit more to the cost overall but was happy this would be within my budget and the surgeon broke down the timescales so did not need to be over there for many days.
It was a nice surgery modern and clean located in an upmarket (from what I could see) part of the city, The surgeon was a little late on the day of the treatment (4th Sept) but staff were very good offering me refreshments until he came. He went through and confirmed as he did via email that it would be FUE operation of 1500 grafts, there were consent forms to fill and questions he asked about my hair loss before starting in his initial emailed exchanges before I made my decision he had said:
"During the operation blood loss will be almost none. After operation you will feel no pain, no bruising and no swelling at all. Operation takes about 6-7 hours under local anestesia. After operation finished you may able to go to hotel , walk , drive or go to diner. 2 days after operation we would wash/clean transplanted area first time in my clinic by my nurse and you can flight back to your country. Afterwards you will wash your transplantation area gently in order to remove all crusts at operation field".
This was mostly all true, I would say however that there was still quite a bit of blood loss and for the first few days my hotel pillow was cover in blood even when wearing a bandage that they left on me and although no pain really felt during the op at the hotel once the anaesthetic wore of I did have a bit of pain which made it more uncomfortable to sleep (I had to sleep a certain way as not to make contact with the op areas). I was given pain killers however and after taking these the next day the pain did not return.
It was a good experience in the surgery though I was bought lunch half way through and the staff were very nice and helpful, I was also given the additional post op drugs for free which would usually be 55 Pounds this included tablets to stop infection, special shampoo and the pain killers. 2 days later I went back to have the bandage removed and the area cleaned the area was quite tender and raw so had to be careful covering with hats and the way I slept.
After a week you can barely see the transplant area (it was a bit swollen initially) as the hairs grew over it (they shaved my entire head to harvest the hairs) and the inserted hairs have not come out and you cant even see where the balding was. I do need to buy Rogaine as recommended by the surgeon and was told to use for 6 months to help the hairs develop, I am also using Biotin and Saw Palmetto tablets.
I intend to put some post op pics up as well as 3, 6, 9 and 12 month to my album
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