My hair loss – my disappointment – my remedy: Part 1

My personal story about hair loss, anxiety, the quest, the disappointment and Fortunately with a joyful ending.

I’m Bart, born and brought up in Heist op den Berg, Belgium. As a young guy I had frequently comments made about my incredible head of hair. The quantity of hair on my head was truly phenomenal. That was about to change and I did not see it coming.

When I was about 29 years old folks close to me began to make comments about my receding hairline. I myself did not worry about it too much, life moves on. However I ought to have known my hair loss could be spectacular and rapid. In my family all men where bald or balding prior to reaching the age of 30.

Like most guys with hair loss I utilized all types of shampoos and creams and lotions to combat further hair loss. But reality quickly pulled me in and in a matter of about 3 years time, I was proud owner of a practically bald head. One morning I looked in the mirror and could Hardly imagine that most of my hair had gone. Hair loss is not an disease and you experience no pain. Hair loss it is a slow course of action and it never ever seems to cease. My brother’s hairdresser and I discussed probable options to resolve my hair situation. generally there where just 2 options left for me : shave it all or get a hair transplant done. Shaving has never been an alternative for me. I am very pale skin color and I since I became bald I got lots of remarks that I looked unwell or ill. The explanation for this is because the forehead is very big when you’re bald. Pale skin and balding seems to associate with looking tired and and ill (which I was not).

Hair transplantation appeared like a better strategy. This is the beginning of the internet time period (around 2000) and I soon found a hair transplant clinic that provided in Hasselt. A few weeks later I was able to consult, and there I was told that everything was possible using a strip or a FUT hair surgery. The salesman explained the procedure as very effortless, like a walk in the park. After a bit more researching I found no other procedures and it appeared the clinic in Hasselt was OK. I was also attracted due to the fact that quite a few celebrities had been treated in this clinic.
2 weeks afterwards I lay on the surgery table. The complete surgery took place under local anesthetic. I knew the surgery would be removing a strip of skin from the back of the head. I felt unwell when the surgeon’s scalpel sliced through the skin of my head. Luckily I felt no discomfort at that moment, but my body felt limp and realized something critical was going on. The blood flowed down my neck on the ground, the nausea increased when the blood vessels were cauterized to cease the bleeding.

The sutures around the big gaping wound to seal were quite painful because the needle was inserted through an region which was not numbed. for the duration of the 2nd part of the surgery I was in a sitting posture and the holes were drilled in the bald area. after that, all the hairs where placed inside the holes.
The night I stayed in a room of the clinic. It was truly not good because the pain was more extreme from hour to hour.In the middle of the night I had to call a nurse there to get more and stronger painkillers.

The weeks after the surgery I required daily a large quantity of painkillers. The scar on the back of the head was quite agonizing and it lasted numerous months. after about 4 months the pain disappeared and gave way to total numbness. I could feel nothing near the scar in the back of my head. Numbness is a weird feeling, but that above daily pain. After a year I got a normal feeling back in the back of my head. occasionally there are  still stabs of pain to be felt, usually in strong weather changes.
A year after the hair surgery came the disappointment concerning the result. There was hair on the bald head, however it made no one happy (especially me) because it was incredibly thin. The clinic suggested a second hair treatment to make it look more dense. I declined this since I no longer trusted them.

Soon, the second part of my story. This time I was seeking information about hair transplantation methods that are NOT using scalpels.  It continues in Canada!

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Visit our site frequently for more information on tips to prevent hair loss in men and other hair loss solutions.