Hair Transplants ... Anyone with experience?

[Epigania]

Hallo.

When talking with my therapist today we discussed things I could do to try and pass better.   He mentioned that my hair line is something that I should think about as it's receded a bit and I agree. 

I looked at information with hair transplants, but one of the things concerns me.   They take a strip of hair off the back of your head to get the hair for the transplants.  I'm very concerned about scars.   Has anyone had any experience with hair transplants?  What is the scarring like?   Is it noticeable at all? 

There's another method where they extract doner hairs off the back of your head individually but it's more expensive and risks damaging the follicle.   What about your experience with this?

At this point, my hair line looks similar to a female's pattern hairloss so it's not like I'm going bald.  But I definately have thinner and finer hair.

[nathan]

I had a consultation with a surgeon recently, and he mentioned something about "recycling" the hair (as I'll need a few procedures).  Maybe that means the old donor part grows back, and they just harvest it like crops....  I'll send his office an email for clarification and post the answer here.

Also: It's really damn expensive. Like "new flawless girl parts, or new head of hair" expensive.

[mmelny]

Hallo.
Has anyone had any experience with hair transplants? 

Yes.


All the area that you see in red was bare skin.  Despite how it looks there, my hairline didn't appear that high in the corners, but the red makes it look extreme! lol....  A little bit different then yours from the sound of it.  But now, 7.5 months later, I have pretty much what I think I hear from most claims.. about 40% coverage, which is enough to make the hairline look natural.  There's not much chance I'm going in for another cut, my poor scalp has been through enough, with this and a prior scalp advance. But it looks great!  I have a feminine hairline, and people don't notice that the area is a bit thin, unless I tell them that I had the transplants.

There is no scarring that I can see, and in fact, the transplants were placed to cover the scar from my scalp advance from the year prior.

The transplant process did make the top of my forehead numb for about 5 months.  It was numb before from the scalp advance, but got better, just in time to get knocked out again from the tranplants, lol.   But it feels ok now. 

One last note, the actual transplant procedure, for the 5 hours or so they plugged it all in.. was and has been the most painful part of transition.. but just during that 5 hours.. they couldn't seem to give me enough pain killers to keep me calm, and sensitized.

If you have any questions about my experience, ask away.

Good Luck,
Melan

[kyril]

Totally off topic, but Melan, you have beautiful skin

The hair transplant looks scary and painful and worth it all at the same time.

[Epigania]

Wow ... perhaps my hair line sucks more than I thought ... yours looks a little more recessed than mine, but maybe not.

How much did your procedure cost, roughly?   I'd like to get an idea of what to expect so I don't have "Sticker Shock"...

EDIT:   Oh ya ... How long did that redness last?

[mmelny]

Totally off topic, but Melan, you have beautiful skin

The hair transplant looks scary and painful and worth it all at the same time.

Yes indeed, all three of those things in regards to the hair transplant!  And  thank you Kyril for the skin comment.  I had been in Thailand for 3 weeks by that point, and the humidity (and relaxation) did wonders for my skin.  And I'm a huge fan of moisturizers, morning and night!

Wow ... perhaps my hair line sucks more than I thought ... yours looks a little more recessed than mine, but maybe not.

How much did your procedure cost, roughly?   I'd like to get an idea of what to expect so I don't have "Sticker Shock"...

EDIT:   Oh ya ... How long did that redness last?

The procedure was about $4,200 CAD.  I did it in Thailand, through Dr Suporn's clinic, whilst recovering from SRS.  It was sort of a last minute decision.  I had been thinking about it for about a year, after my FFS, because the scalp advance got the center of my hairline where i wanted it, but not the corners.   I did have a consult in Toronto with a doc that uses the same technique, and he was $6,800 CAD.  Which, for a full graft and transplant (like 1500-2100 follicles?), is pretty average I think for the US/Canada.

Trying to remember.   The redness was there for at least 2 weeks, maybe 3 before the scabs had healed.  I flew home like that  (eeek,  20+ hour flight)  but just used a hairband across the top of my head, and it covered the scabbing (with gauze underneath to absorb the, ummm, ooozings.).   Yes, like so much about transition.. there's not much pleasantry in the procedures, only in the results (always, with fingers crossed!).   But redness overall was probably there 2 months.  By the time I went to work 2 months later, all was fine, and peach fuzz was growing, enough to take the high corners appearance go away, and make it look like hairline.  (like you had used a sharpie to fill it in, but more natural looking, lol).  It was cool, no one noticed.   It depends a bit too on how you wear your hair.  But I can say I was pulling my hair back into a ponytail with confidence, at about the 3 month post mark..  it really has been worth it.

Take Care,
Melan

[Dinky_Di]

Try looking on the hairtransplant network website and I'm sure most of your answers can be answered.  There is also a forum if you need to as any questions.

Good Luck

[Suzy]

I had 2500 transplants.  The scar is in the back of my head where it will never be seen unless I shave my head, which I never ever plan to do.  The doctor who removed my stitches said that it was done extremely well and that the scar should barely be noticeable anyway.  Estimates in the states ranged from 8,400.00 to 10,000.00 which I could not afford.  In doing research I found that it can be done much more reasonably in Mexico and some of the surgeons there are quite good.  I paid just over 3K US for the work and am very pleased.  Now I need to point out that my hair is extremely fine.  During the procedure I was showed the follicles.  He said they were very healthy but really fine.  Dr. Sergio Aguila Bimbela is wonderful to work with and he is part of the clinic with Dr. Cardenas in Guadalajara.  If you can go with a group to go you can arrange discounts, too.  So the price is negotiable.  Four of us went at the same time.  I hope to get a little more work done, right where my part is, though it will be OK if I cannot.  From what I have been able to tell, my results are at least as good as I would have gotten in the states.  I hope to be going back in late spring of next year, so if anyone is interested in being part of a group, please send me a note.

[lilacwoman]

Clinics in Florida do plug'n'plant transplants for $3 per hair or less with special offers.  2000 hairs makes a vast difference.

I had the old cut a slice of scalp from the back and stick bits of it in the front in 2008 and am basically pleased with the results.

The plug'n'plant takes individual hairs from the back and side and puts them where needed and would be the best idea as the slice method actually pulls the scalp back to close the wound so obviously there is more area to be covered.

None of the clinics mention this but it is quite logical when you think about it?

[Epigania]

Wow, thank you all for the responses.   I am starting to feel a little more comfortable with the idea.   Especially now that I know I'm not alone.   The pictures of you girls give me hope that I could have a great natural hairline.

My hair is fine, as well. 

When you add in the costs of international travel, are you really saving a lot of money, though?  A trip to S. America or Thailand could easily be 1 - 2000.00.

[mmelny]

My hair is fine, as well. 

When you add in the costs of international travel, are you really saving a lot of money, though?  A trip to S. America or Thailand could easily be 1 - 2000.00.

My hair is really fine too.  If I can find a recent photo, or maybe tonight when I'm home, I'll do before after shots so you can see the difference.    I haven't really compared either, I'm kind of interested to see it myself, lol.

As far a traveling to Thailand (can't speak to Mexico, but that would be much cheaper travel$$$-wise), it's worth it if you are already there for something else.   (Like srs, ffs or a BA).  Time off work is so valued, that fitting in several procedures into the windows makes it all so much easier, and cost effective.

Take Care,
Melan

[ggina]

the slice method actually pulls the scalp back to close the wound so obviously there is more area to be covered. None of the clinics mention this but it is quite logical when you think about it?

This seemed logical to me as well but I asked and was told that if they pull the skin on the back of the head it won't affect anything on the front nor on the top. The reason is that the skin is firmly attached (grown on) to the underlying tissues and not free-floating above them (it can only have a minimal amount of movement) so when they close the wound they have to deattach some part of the surrounding skin from the bones/whatever so they can actually pull the two sides together. And after a while, the pulled skin reattaches to the bones. This seems logical as well so who knows, really All I know is I didn't notice my hairline moving back so this might be true.

So I had the stripe-based method. About the scarring at the back, it depends on the technique but most surgeons put some hairs into the scar itself so unless you totally shave your head it won't be visible even with very short hair. After a year or so I asked a friend to look closely for signs and she didn't find any no matter how hard she looked However it's very important to closely follow the post-operative instructions to get good results. Those instructions are not really about the planted hair because it'll grow almost no matter what you do to prevent it but to get the best results with scarring as possible. I know I even washed my hair more times than it was required just to make sure nothing goes wrong.

An interesting finding for those with DHT-thinning hair: on the back of my head the hair was in very good shape but now that they've come to the front it looks a bit strange, because in the middle I still have the old thinner hairs and on the sides I have the thicker ones This is also an issue nobody mentions, but it's better to have thick hair there than nothing at all so it shouldn't really be a concern. And, thinning hairs can thicken over time when taking a DHT blocker so this mix-up is only temporary.

As for other things, my experiences are the same as others described, numbness being the most noticeable, for a few months on the planted area and for about a year at the donor area. The local anasthetics for me were top-notch so it wasn't a painful experience at all. Not, except that since I wasn't asleep, I had to endure 6 hours of the worst jazz music I've ever heard. I like jazz, really, but this was some popular radio station the surgeon liked and there's no anasthetic in the world that could tell your brain that "this music is good". So if you're as sensitive to music as I am, maybe you should choose the appropriate surgeon based on his/her tastes in music

g

[Suzy]

When you add in the costs of international travel, are you really saving a lot of money, though?  A trip to S. America or Thailand could easily be 1 - 2000.00.

Yes, you have to figure in additional costs of travel.  Still, I spent less than half of what I would have spent in the USA.  Airfare, room, and spending money were a little over $500.  One "mistake" I made is that I did not stay longer.  Guadalajara is such an incredibly beautiful place I wish I'd taken some additional time there.  But I was going for quick and cheap.

As far as the hairs on the back of the head, these are used because that region of the scalp is naturally DHT resistant.  so these hairs will be there for good.  It does take a good year for everything to grow in and thicken.

[Epigania]

I'm starting to think more and more about hair transplants.  I'll be honest, I know I have a bit of a receding hairline, but I was never very self conscious about it.   Now that my therapist mentioned it and I've started really paying attention to women's hairlines.   I'm starting to get really paranoid.

I'll have to take a look at this fellow in S. America.   I'm a little concerned about being kidnapped by Drug cartels, though.

Has anyone had any experience with these "Loans" you can get for medical procedures?   I don't have 8,000 to drop on a procedure at the moment, but I'm thinking I need it sooner rather than later.

[Suzy]

I'll have to take a look at this fellow in S. America.   I'm a little concerned about being kidnapped by Drug cartels, though.

FYI, Guadalajra is in Mexico and Mexico is not in South America.  I found it very safe there, though the fears over the drug stuff and H1N1 have hurt foreign business.  This is why they have been willing to do things at the prices they are to get outside business.  I am not sure how long this situation will last.