Hello

[dio]

Hello all,

I've been a long time lurker of the forum looking for info and advice on hair loss treatments and advancements in the field of hair restoration. I'm 42 and first started noticing a bit of thinning of the temples in my late 20's. Slowly over the next decade this became more pronounced until I ended up with the classic 'M' shaped hairline. I've been lucky enough that it hasn't progressed much beyond this due to starting the big 3 in my early 30's, my crown is relatively intact at this point, again this may be due to years of using fin, min and Niz. I've been on and off the treatment over the past 10 years but particularly consistent the last two, as I thought I'd have a bash at seeing if I could actually improve the hairline. Maybe a slight improvement was evident but nothing to write home about.

I also had a year long run of using a derma roller. Followed the same routine used in one of the studies that showed impressive results. Have to say that I don't think it worked for myself but it was worth a shot. I'm always sceptical of results I see on youtube and reddit. Several of them look like HT's to me.

So after over a decade of medicating and trying various other methods to try and make some progress to restore some of my former hairline glory I decided that the only way this way going to be possible was to invest in a hair transplant. Now given that I made this decision during lockdown, my options were limited to the UK. Not the UK I hear many howl as I've read on many posts. But I thought we must have good FUE surgeons here, surely. I'd read everything Spex had to say on the matter, looked through all of his recommendations. Read many a forum post and googled till I couldn't google no more. In the end I contacted The Harley Street Hair Clinic, The Maitland Clinic, Dr Mark Tam and also looked into Farjo and Dr Reddy. I had a video call with someone from the HSHC and also with Dr Tam. Both of whom I decided to book a consultation with.

So in the end to cut this long story short I booked the procedure with Dr Tam. I just felt more comfortable with him, I dealt only with him and not consultants etc. I could see the craft in his work and that I would not be just a £ sign. I got passed around people at the HSHC and it just didn't feel as personal. I am now 11 days post procedure and I am very happy with my decision, one, that I decided to take the plunge and two, that I went with my gut and chose Dr Tam. Yes it wasn't cheap but I feel like I got value for money. Now the results won't be evident for a while yet. I am taking daily pictures at this point and I will then do weekly as I get into the shedding stage so I can put a montage together and update my progress on here. There's a long way to go but i'm excited about the journey as well as hopefully an excellent end result.

I will create a post in the 'Hair Loss - start your own topic' to talk about Dr Tam and the surgery. What my goals were and how it's going. Below is a pic of my hair as it was (note I would never style it like this and it was long due to lockdown) and a pic post procedure - Day Zero circa 2,600 grafts.

Dio

[dio]

Update after 15 months. Time flies, my transplant went in line with what I had expected. The hair fell out and over the following months they started popping through as new hairs. By month 6 I had seen significant growth but still had a long way to go. I was able to style my hair differently and by the year mark you would never have known I had ever had an issue with a receding hairline as my hair was all the same length. Now 15 months later I no longer worry about a gust of wind, rain or going swimming. My hairline looks natural and that's thanks to Dr Tam and why I chose him to perform the transplant. The only thing I would say is that there was no follow up at the year point which is a little bit disappointing but I am happy with the result and that's what I paid for.

I continue to use minox foam and fin daily to maintain and will do so indefinitely. Would I do it all over again, absolutely.

[AlanLuiz]

Hello. thanks for sharing your story...