Hi
@Bigmac, thank you very much for this. I do think that what I most needed was to have hair good enough to not be afraid to interact with the outside world. Prior to the procedure, I was becoming increasingly insular and I can see how this was closing a lot doors to progress and a more fulfilled life. The HT has almost certainly helped me go in the opposite direction; I now have a new job in a career that I genuinely want to develop in, am back at uni learning a new skill, and have far more resilient mental health. Nothing's perfect, obviously, and this is all a journey rather than there being any particular end point to this. I'm just grateful that I have some level of drive to live a life in which I'm kinder to myself, which I'd say obviates better things happening. That certainly wasn't much the case before.
That said, my hairline isn't quite what I thought it would be, and I accept that this has to do with potentially excessive expectations on my end. You can see in the attached photos with the front lifted up. The first is me facing a window on a bright day, where you can see right through to my scalp and I find this rather unflattering. When I turn my back to the window (second photo), it's far more forgiving, although also not great. My girlfriend pointed out diplomatically that it looks as if I'm in the early stages of hair loss. This is the reason I don't tend to style my hair directly up, as in the photo, and have developed ways to create the illusion of a denser hairline by pulling it forward and down. I'm hoping a top-up with Dr Arshad will remedy this.
All the best,
Matt