• Welcome to Hair loss Experiences hair loss forum.

    Free impartial hair loss advice, hair transplant advice, hair loss medications and hair loss news.
    You can contact us directly at [email protected] if you experience any problems.

Is a Hair Transplant suitable for everyone?

sl

sl

BHR Clinic Patient Advisor
Is a hair transplant suitable for everyone, why are some people more suited than others, and why are some not suitable at all?

The critical problem technically is the donor resources in relation to the surface area to cover short and long term projection; if you like supply and demand.

The donor supply coupled with the extent of hair loss the candidate is suffering from at the time but also what the potential for hair loss could be in the future must be equated as best as possible.

Obviously this is harder to determine in the early stages of hair loss so any design must be in keeping with the limitations of the donor supply and thinking of the future. Some candidates, a few very lucky people have €œhome run € donor supply, meaning they can treat almost any degree of hair loss, but these candidates should not be seen as average or even very good but the exception to the rule.

But besides the technicalities of a hair transplant there is another side to being a better candidate.

Making someone a good hair transplant candidate can be their expectations and goals, short and long term, also the candidates understanding of how a hair transplant works, pros and cons. Hair loss is an emotive issue that touches men of all ages, there is no real boundary, having a hair transplant can also create varying emotions. It is common to go through different emotions during the entire process, choosing your doctor, then deciding to commit, waiting for the big day, wishing now you had decided it would come tomorrow.

Then the big day, normal emotions when having a medical procedure, as well as watching everything that goes on during the day, is everything going well, is the doc in a good mood, is everyone paying attention and working well. This is your big day and obviously you are rightly concerned everything is going well.

Then the post op, what many call the initial €œugly duckling stage € as the HT is healing, waiting for the redness to go, hoping you are the one that the hair doesn €™t fall out at the end of the 1st month, invariably it will. Getting over the hair falling out is then the next stage....................will it grow back?

We want to be positive but sometimes we find ourselves becoming so worried about getting the result we want we start to over analyse. After so many ops myself I try to have a balance but the expectations are still there, regardless how much you trust your doc. We look for every hair that grows and every hair that doesn €™t, we compare to other people's cases and compare time lines. They are dates along the way like milestones, the first month, 3 months mark, 6 months and so on, until the person is happy with his result.

For most of us happiness probably does not come until around the 12 months mark. Some people go through this easier than others, and it can be hard, what has to be understood is we are all different and if we grow faster, slower, mature at different speeds it really doesn €™t matter until a realistic time line has passed, and in hair transplantation it can be around 12 months or so for most of us.

Obviously as time goes by and you do not feel you are at the stage you should be you ask yourself questions. Did everything go well on the day, what if a mistake was made, and sometimes crazy notions come into our heads that in normal life you would dismiss, but at the time they are real.

A hair transplant is a tough decision to take, some are not right to go ahead, be it age, hair loss stage, goals and expectations. An important aspect is that a hair transplant should be a good thing, something for whatever reason improves how you feel, getting there may not be an easy journey but I am sure going to any quality clinic you will have their backing and full support,


We recommend when possible to have a one to one consultation with a few doctors to assess your situation and gain multiple opinions. If possible also talk to previous patients from these doctors and see their results in person. You will gain an idea how the doctor approaches his surgery and if he is along the same lines as you in terms of results and what is achievable. Becoming hair educated is vital to being a happy hair transplant patient in the long term, especially as it is an emotional issue and sometimes our heart can rule our head when making decisions such as this.
 
janna

janna

Valuable Member
¬b` Very good write up, Stephen. Those with unrealistic expectations are not good candidates. Donor limitations is something many people refuse to take into consideration. Unforunately, there are many clinics who seem to disregard this important factor as well.
 
topccat29

topccat29

29 year HT veteran
Another point to consider is the conditioning of society for instant gratification. Too many people want it and they want it now. A good example is the person that needs to lose 30-40 pounds. Instead of looking at the big picture and taking the proper approach which is most often the slow lane, they tend to do just the opposite. They use any means necessary to reach their goal as quickly as possible and this normally results in long term failure. I still see too many people with hairloss that are too eager to solve the problem before they truly have the right answer.

As Stephen states the most important aspect is to become educated. When one is armed with knowledge there is a higher chance for success.
 
M

Mick From Farjo

Valued member
Stephen,

This is a good post .

Unfortumately as Janna and Topcat point out,there are just too many cases where people undertake treatment;when the reality is that they are often far from ideal candidates.

I like the analogy of the slow lane because the reality is that hair loss is a long term issue.When i train for marathons i dont go out like a bat out of hell, It is a proper programme that is designed to achieve my target.Why not apply this to hair?We do live in a want it now mentality and i am certain that many will get caught out in the future.Especially those who do too much, too early.Sometimes i think it would be great to fast forward 30 years and look back and judge our actions.Would we do the same thing again?

Education with good information is definitely the key.

Mick


 
sl

sl

BHR Clinic Patient Advisor
Thanks for the input in the thread, all good points being made.

One classic example we have all the time is age, no one likes to look or feel older than we are but when you start losing your hair in your early 20's it can have a real devastating blow to a persons confidence. Also obviously their memory of having a good full thick head of hair is so much more vivid as it was not that long ago, and they desperately want to get back to the same stage again. This is in no way intended to belittle anybodies real emotions regardless of age, but the problem with being so young is we have no idea what even the next 5 years hold, let alone 15-20 odd years.

When possible talk to and meet old patients from a variety of doctors, a hair transplant is not the like for like replacement of your hair, pictures can help but through no ones fault can only show a dimension of the result. Seeing in person can give a different perspective and you can then personally judge whether you will be happy.
 
Sparky

Sparky

Valued member
I was was far from ideal, but I still had money hungry butchers willing to cut me up at 22. Lucky that I didn't lose my hair in the end.
 
Sparky

Sparky

Valued member
With young people Steve you are able to bring them the wisdom of hindsight, and most people can't do that. That's what I needed back then.
 
topccat29

topccat29

29 year HT veteran
With all the information that is now available I am still amazed by those that seem to have a flippant attitude towards hair transplants. They seem to have price and location figured out and sometimes come to the forums for a consensus on the quality of the clinic.

In my opinion they make potentially poor candidates for a hair transplant. As stated in a previous post they don €™t seem to fully understand many aspects of hair transplant surgery. They don €™t appear to have their priorities quite right. Price and location should be less of a concern and in fact it should not even be on the list, quality should reign supreme. Quality in every aspect of both the clinic and doctor. One needs to be open to saving longer, having a smaller procedure or just doing nothing. Bad cosmetic surgery is mostly permanent and is hardly worth a penny saved or a mile less traveled.
 
Top