Saf's Story

June 7, 2006

Ever since I was very young I have always known that I was destined to be bald. Both of my grandfathers were bald and my father has also lost most of his hair. Even as a child my hair was always very fine and thin. I noticed that on windy/rainy days my hair would soon get messed up while other peoples seemed to remain unaffected.

Back then I thought that going bald was just something that happened to old men. During my teenage years I remember people looking at my hair and telling me that one-day I would go bald. But when you are young and carefree growing old is almost unimaginable, in fact I?d always hated looking much younger than I actually was.

Then at the age of only 19/20 I suddenly noticed that something had changed. My hair seemed to have much less ?body? than before. ( Due to the hairs thick density it is believed that by the time you actually notice your hairloss you may have already lost 30% of it). In the back of my mind I realised that it had started already.

Very soon after that I suppose that I started to get a bit paranoid about it. Even though I still had a lot of hair left I began to check for more loss everyday worrying when I found a few hairs in the sink or on my pillow. I was a long way of being bald but much too young to be losing my hair. It was at this point that I began to look at other people?s hair. I soon realised this was a problem that most other men didn?t have, even the older ones. This just made me feel even worse about it. I was convinced that other people had noticed it and this was a blow to my confidence.

Over the next few years the thinning continued and I did all the things that people do in the early stages like experimenting with different ways of combing my hair to try and disguise it.

Back in the mid 90?s there wasn?t much information available on hairloss but I tried to do some research. I learned that it was caused by hormones and that the amount of hair you lose is predetermined from birth. This was also when I first saw the ads in newspapers for hairtransplants and strand by strand hairsystems. I sent off for the literature but never had the nerve to go ahead with anything (thank God).

However it wasn?t just my hair that was changing. I had already become withdrawn for some time now, losing contact with my friends I just stayed indoors only leaving the house to go to work I didn?t want to start going out socialising because I felt too self conscious about it. Just one comment can be devastating to your confidence and the worst and most frustrating thing about losing your hair at this age is that you know the problem is only going to get worse with time. It seemed that I had missed my chance of enjoying being and looking young.

By the time I was 25 my hairloss was getting obvious, my hairline had receded back a bit and what I had on top was getting so thin that my scalp was beginning to show through. At this point I heard about minoxidil and decided to give it a try, hoping it would give me my hair back. But it had no effect whatsoever I continued to lose hair at the same rate as before.

By now I didn?t know what to do. Work colleagues would make comments and tell me to ?just shave it all off?. All the while finding amusement at my situation.

And so at the age of 26 and being at least a 3 on the Norwood scale I took the clippers to what remained of my hair.

This was definitely a low point. A grade 1 buzz cut is not a look that I would ever have chosen for myself. The next 4 years were probably the worst of my life. I hated the sight of my baldhead in the mirror so much that I started wearing baseball caps all the time.

It seems ridiculous to make such a big issue out of it but I just hated the unfairness of it all. I just wanted to look the same as all the other guys and not stick out.

I hated being in a room full of other guys my age and being the only ?baldy?. I hated it when people who didn?t know me referred to me as ?that bald guy?. I even began to resent my parents blaming them for my bad genes. I knew that I could never be truly happy looking this way. It made me feel ugly and old.

(Does any of this sound familiar?)

I realise that I must have taken going bald worse than most sufferers but I know I?m not the only one to feel this way.

Baldness seemed like an obstacle that was preventing me from getting on with my life.

My journey ? surgery History (First 2 Surgeries with the ?Norton Clinc? ? 3rd surgery with ?Nobel Clinic?)

About 4 years ago Propecia began to gain some publicity in the press. There were reports of men who claimed to have regrown their hair. At first I thought it sounded to good to be true. But when I looked into it I found that there was scientific evidence to show that it could lower levels of DHT. I decided it was worth trying, and searched the Internet to find a pharmacy that would supply it by mail order. It was not cheap, ?150 for a 3-month supply! I started taking it straight away and sat back and waited for my hair to grow. After 7 months I couldn?t see any results, I thought about the cost over sticking with it over the rest of my life and gave up. (More money down the drain).

After that I suppose I just had to accept that my hair was gone and I was destined to spend the rest of my life looking like an old man.

A year or so passed and then one day completely out of the blue I just decided that I?d had enough of living like this and was going to do something about it once and for all. I had always considered hair transplantation as too extreme and wondered if it even actually worked, given that everything else I had tried had failed miserably.

I realised that I might live to regret it but I would definitely regret never trying it. I saw an ad in the back of a newspaper and checked out their website. I?d seen this company nearly 10 years before when I first began to lose my hair so I knew that they were well established, and the photo?s on their website looked pretty good to me (back then).

This was more than enough to convince me to contact them. So one evening in 2004 I travelled to a hotel in Birmingham for a consultation.

I was met by a man in a flash suit who reminded me of an insurance salesman. He sat me down and took my details, name, address ect. The first thing he did was try to sell me Propecia but I told him I?d already tried it. (This clinic makes most of its money by selling mail order drugs Propecia, viagra, ect and various other hair products). In small talk he asked me what I did for a living, then said he?d just go and check if the boss was ready to see me. Five minutes later he ushered me into a room where I met the ?main man?. The first thing I noticed was that the guy didn?t have much hair himself. (About a 3 or 4 on the norwood scale). Hardly a good advert for his company.

He looked at my head for about 5 seconds then asked me what I knew about the transplant procedure. I explained that I had researched it and he gave me a brief explanation of what would be done. He showed me a before, post op and after picture of someone who had about 400 grafts put into their receding temples. He looked at my head and said I would need about 1500 grafts to fill in the front part of my head and then 2nd procedure of 1500 to fill the crown. (By now I was about a norwood 5/6 He promised me that that by the summer my hair would be looking ?pretty good?. He finished off by asking me straight ?so would you like it done then?? I wasn?t completely sure but I agreed. The salesman took me back downstairs and a date was booked for surgery and I gave them a cheque for the deposit. 4 weeks later I travelled up north to have my first op.

The clinic turned out to be a back room in a local GP surgery. This didn,t fit their image of the UK?s most established clinic.

I met the surgeon who advised me to take an alternative to Propecia called Avodart (dutesteride), which they could supply, by mail order. He had a quick look at my head, checked my blood pressure and drew on my new hairline.

20 minutes later I was having it done. The whole thing took about 5 hours and was only slightly painful. When it was over I looked at his work in the mirror. Instead of the front half of my head being covered it was just about ? of an inch. Just enough for a thin fringe. (I?ve since learned that this was probably just a few hundred grafts). But not having any previous experience I trusted that it would look alright when it was grown out. (at this stage I didn?t know any better). The donor scar at the back was about 5mm thick and about 13cm long it was really sore the next day and I had to grow my hair for weeks to try to disguise it. The scabs on my new fringe took about 10 days to fade. As I left to go home the ?main man? showed up in his brand new Ferrari. (Business was obviously good).

I started taking Avodart as I?d been advised; it was even more expensive than Propecia. After about 3 months my new hair started to sprout. Although I?d been promised that the front half of my head would be covered there was only enough grafts to achieve a thin fringe.

Was I disappointed? ?Hell no!? After years of watching my hair disappear, suddenly I had new hair growing on my head. It felt fantastic! I couldn?t wait to go back for more. So 5 ? months later I returned for a second procedure (the one that was supposed to complete my hair).

This next op also for 1500 graphs (supposedly) was placed behind the first lot of graphs. Both ops seemed to go about the same except now I had another new scar, but for some reason the 2 nd op just did not work.

The hair didn?t grow like it did the 1 st time. The work was guaranteed but proving what was there before could prove difficult and (photo?s can be accidentally lost and the only compensation is another free op).

I wasn?t put off transplants but decided to find a new clinic. As you may know there?s not a great choice in the UK. So I looked at adverts in magazines, searched on the web and found another clinic closer to where I live. Like before I knew that this clinic was well established so I sent off for their brochure.

It seemed pretty good so I booked a surgery date for 2000 grafts. (This clinic was cheaper and they didn?t try to sell me anything else).

The new grafts were put in the middle of my scalp and the finished results were pretty much what I?d come to expect. A small patch of fine hair with a very thin density.

I don?t believe that all UK clinics are just out to rip people off. I have to say that the people who actually performed my ops seemed genuinely compassionate about my situation. But for all their goodwill I believe they just don?t have the same abilities as some of the surgeons in the U.S.

So the situation was after 3 ops I had not much to show for it all, just a very small amount of very thin density hair that didn?t exactly look natural. I found that by combing my hair in from the sides and using lots of cosmetic thickeners (this was a pain in the arse) I could achieve a barely acceptable look. But I was always very self-conscious of how my hair looked. I learned to avoid standing under bright lights as this made me look ?pretty much bald?.

I was in a real situation here, I?d started something and I needed to finish it once and for all. It was then that I had a small stroke of good luck.

I started to visit hairloss forums on the Internet and read about the experiences of other dissatisfied UK patients. They all seemed to say one thing if you want it done properly you have to go to America.

Then I heard about Spex, his name kept popping up on the forums. Here was a guy offering help and advice to anyone concerned about their hair. Like many I was suspicious at first but after seeing so many positive things written about him on the web I decided to give him a call. He suggested we meet up but because of the distance between us I couldn?t commit to anything. A week later he called me and said he was planning to come to a city nearer to me and asked if I wanted to meet him there. So that Sunday afternoon I found myself travelling to a hotel.

As I stood at the bar waiting (I was the guy wearing a baseball cap inside as usual) I felt a bit apprehensive about meeting a complete stranger in a hotel what were his motives? Why would anyone go out of their way to help a stranger?

As soon as I met Spex I realised that he was no salesman. I couldn?t get over how good his hair looked. You would never know he?d ever had a problem. He began to tell me his story and I found that I could relate to everything he said. This was the first time I?d ever been able to openly discuss losing my hair. Before I knew it we?d been talking for about 1 ? hours.

Spex suggested that I start taking finesteride because it had worked wonders for him by stopping his hairloss in its tracks and therefore preventing the need for a lot more surgery.

He was able to put me in touch with a Dr who could presrcibe me Proscar at the cost of just over ?8 a month, compared to the ?50+ a month that I?d been paying for mail order for Propecia/Avodart.

He showed me some examples of Dr Fellers work and we both agreed that a decent transplant was what I needed to sort out what had been started. So he asked me if I would like him to take a few photo?s to send to Dr feller for his opinion. Obviously Spex has a good correspondence with Dr Feller and this makes the process of sorting out a transplant a lot easier, but he did not put any pressure on me to have surgery. He even mentioned some other top world-renowned surgeons in the U.S.

And so I decided to book myself in for what I figure is my ?last role of the dice? since I guess that 4ops is about the limit that anyone can have (strip surgery). The results of this will be make or break for my hair.

Spex was able to help me prepare for my trip giving me plenty of advice about the best ways to organise and plan things. He was also always available for me to phone if I had any questions or concerns.

My surgery with ? Feller medical? - Dr Feller

So just 8 weeks later I travelled to New York for my surgery with Dr Feller. I wont try to pretend that this wasn?t a big deal for me. I?d never travelled this far on my own before so it was a bit daunting.

On the morning of surgery getting to Northern Boulevard on the subway is easy but it?s a very long stretch of road so you will need to get a taxi in order to help you find the place.

The first person you will meet when you get there is Dr Feller. He will give you a full consultation to check things like the elasticity of your skin and the density of your donor hair he will keep you informed of what he is doing as he goes along.

Then he discusses with you what you hope to achieve and exactly what you would like done. All this is different from what I was used to in the UK.

The Dr will give you his advice on what he thinks will give you the best results with the amount of grafts available and the extent of your hairloss. Remember he has built his good reputation on the finished results. So he will perform the surgery to make you look your best and not just the way that is easiest for him to do.

Also unlike the UK clinics he will try to get the job done in one go or in as few procedures as possible. Dr Feller has had a transplant himself so he knows exactly how you are feeling.

He pointed out straight away what the UK clinics had done wrong and why I ended up with almost nothing to show from my 3 previous transplants.

1). They failed to use the best donor hair that was available and took it from the wrong areas. This made closing the incision more complicated and left me with excessive scars.

2). They implanted the hairs at the wrong and therefore an unnatural looking angle.

3). The density used was only 10-12 hairs pcm2 as they tried to spread it over as big an area as possible but in doing so the hair was not dense enough to be seen. (Dr Feller aims for a density of 40-50 hairs pcm2).

4). My last UK clinic had used 1980?s style minigrafts and planted the hairs in obvious looking rows each placed 5mm apart.

5). After 3 procedures in the UK, 2 for 1500 grafts and 1 for 2000 grafts. Dr Feller estimated that I had only about 800 grafts on my head! I.e.: I had not received anywhere near the amount of hair that they had charged me for.

After the consultation was over and Dr Feller marked the area that he was going to work on and we were ready to start.

The first thing he did was shave my head. I wasn?t exactly thrilled about this as I hadn?t encountered it in surgery before, but this is a standard procedure amongst the top surgeons as it is necessary to help them get the best results.

As far as the surgery itself went sitting in the chair I was unaware of any differences from my previous experiences. However 7 hours later when I saw the finished job I was in for a pleasant surprise. I could see that Dr Feller had managed to achieve almost full coverage from just behind the hairline to nearly all of the crown. (This was much more than I?d dared to hope for). Previously I was used to seeing only a small area (about the size of a matchbox) being covered. Also not only was the density much better but the individual grafts themselves were much neater with smaller scabs and less redness.

Although I have yet to see the finished results I feel that after nearly 2 years of continuously having surgery then immediately saving up for the next op, I am now in a position of not needing any further surgeries.

Dr Feller has done in 1 op what the UK clinics hadn?t come close to achieving in 3. I can only say that in my opinion it is definatly worth the effort of going to the U.S for your transplant surgery. I only wish I had done it years ago.

In fact I would say if you have decided to have surgery either go to the U.S or don?t bother getting it done at all. I?m not saying that all UK clinics are bad and all U.S clinics are great. There are plenty of dodgy doctors in the U.S as well but to my knowledge there are no surgeons in Europe who could perform a transplant to the same level as Dr Feller. It just seems that the worlds best surgeons happen to live in the U.S. and Dr Feller is just one of them, whatever you decide make sure that you do your research and don?t just take their word for it. There is no better critic than a former patient.

Summary

Well that?s about it I hope that this has been of some help and that I?ve possibly been able to answer some of the questions that you may have had about this subject. As you can see it takes someone who?s been there to understand what a distressing problem this can be.

For some guys it?s just an annoyance but for some it can make their lives a misery. Being told not to worry about it and that ?It doesn?t matter? by people who don?t have this problem is no help at all.

One final point I would like to make to you is don?t feel as if there is something wrong with you. Wanting to keep your hair and look like the majority of men out there is perfectly normal. It doesn?t make you vain or superficial.

Luckily we live in an age when medical science is advanced enough to help out, and the good news is that things can only improve in this area.

All the best, S.A.F

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