An interesting article taken from the 'Sunday Mirror.'
Click on the link for pictures taken during the procedure - http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/showbiz/c ... -19280278/
(Date of article 17/06/07)
Click on the link for pictures taken during the procedure - http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/showbiz/c ... -19280278/
(Date of article 17/06/07)
I’ve kidded myself for years I’m OK with losing my hair. But when men tell you they don’t mind going bald, they’re lying. When I was young my hair was thick, and I had a fringe like something out of Human League. Sadly, its days were numbered – my hairline started receding when I was 28. Two years ago I noticed my crown area was thinning out too, and realised I was about five years off the full Bruce Willis.
I bought some Regaine, a solution you spray on top of your head. It’s meant to slow the rate of balding and for some lucky men it even regrows their hair, but that didn’t happen for me. This year, at 45, I started thinking about hair transplants. I’d always assumed they didn’t work, or they gave you hair like Russ Abbott, but when I began researching it on the internet and read about success stories, my views started to change.
Last month, I took the plunge and booked in with Dr Richard Rogers, one of the UK’s leading hair transplant surgeons. Here’s my diary...
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THE CONSULTATION
An informal chat with Dr Rogers about the procedure, and how much it’s improved in recent years. ‘In the past, men had their head ruined with “punch graftsâ€,’ he tells me. ‘Surgeons would take 4cm pieces of scalp from the back of the head, then put them in holes the same size at the front. This caused scarring if the grafts didn’t take and often left a bizarre, tufty effect.'
The operation Dr Rogers will perform is the far superior micrograft technique. ‘We make pinprick-sized holes in the scalp and implant hairs taken from the back of your head,’ he says. ‘To see any scarring you’d need a microscope.’
There’s a limit to how many hairs can be transplanted in one go, and Dr Rogers thinks I will need two sessions. First, he’ll treat my receding temples. My monk’s patch can be treated at a later stage. Dr Rogers explains it will take at least six months to start seeing the full effect of the first graft, but to give me an idea of what to expect, he shows me lots of before and after pictures of his clients.
THE OPERATION
The day of the operation dawns and I wake up feeling a bit apprehensive. I’ve been under strict instructions to avoid alcohol before the op as it increases bleeding – a shame really, as I could do with a drink.
10:30am I arrive at Dr Rogers’ Harley Street clinic and am greeted by what seems like a whole army of friendly nurses. I’m not complaining you understand, but why so many?
10:40am I’m given a rather fetching surgical gown that makes me look like an extra from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, and my blood pressure is checked. I get a quick pre-op pep talk from Dr Rogers and I’m ready to go. Feeling surprisingly calm.
11am I settle into a reclining chair and am offered a DVD to watch while Dr Rogers gets busy with my scalp. I choose Gladiator – like Russell Crowe, I’m not scared of a bit of blood. Dr Rogers shaves a small strip of hair at the back of my head. This is going to be the donor site, as it’s the bit that never goes bald. Well, I hope so anyway. Dr Rogers injects anaesthetic all the way across the strip – it’s slightly uncomfortable, but no worse than having a tooth filling.
11:45am Now for the gory bit. Dr Rogers cuts out a long, thin strip from the donor site, stretching almost ear to ear, then carefully detaches it from my scalp. It’s like a smile on the back of my head. Our squeamish health editor, who’s been watching the op, suddenly decides it’s time to leave. The idea of having a chunk of flesh removed from my head does alarm me a bit, but as the wound is closed up expertly by Dr Rogers, I’m assured that the scar will be completely hidden by my hair. Later, when I see the pictures, I’m surprised by how horrific it looks – I honestly don’t feel a thing at the time. My donor strip is popped into saline to keep it in perfect condition.
1pm Now I understand why we need five nurses. Taking turns at the microscope, they cut out individual hair bulbs from my donor strip. Each one is put in saline and added to the tally so the doctor knows how many holes to make in my head. While the nurses are hard at work, the rest of us pop out for a quick lunch break. Not all of us manage to eat though. While I happily tuck into a bacon sandwich, our photographer confesses the sight of my blood has taken his appetite away. He’s not hard like me and Russell Crowe.
2pm There’s good news when we return: my donor strip has provided an impressive 1,700 hair bulbs. In real terms I should end up with more than 3,000 new hairs as a single follicle can have two or three hairs growing from it. The more hair the better!
Now for phase two. The top of my head is numbed with more anaesthetic and the real artistry begins. Dr Rogers is like a gardener, putting hundreds of tiny holes into my scalp then ‘sowing’ the new hairs. Each pinprick has to be positioned perfectly to avoid damaging any existing hairs on my scalp (yes, I do still have some).
As Dr Rogers makes the first set of holes, the nurses expertly pop in the donor hair follicles. My blood and fat act like glue to hold them in place. The scabs start forming very quickly, which is a good sign. It’s a very slow process but obviously I don’t want them to rush. The nurses do a fantastic job of keeping me at my ease with chat. Once the first set of holes are all filled, Dr Rogers creates some more and the planting continues. It’s all very slick.
3pm My bum gets numb so I have a break and a quick look in the mirror. There are hundreds of tiny red holes in my head. My donor strip has provided so many follicles that Dr Rogers has even managed to get a few in my crown – an unexpected bonus.
5pm It’s finally over. I’ve brought a baseball cap to hide my head, and I’m shown how to put it on to avoid damaging the doctor’s handiwork. The next 48 hours are critical as my precious hairs can fall out if knocked. Apparently a patient in America was hit by a car when leaving the surgery and the doctor had to put back the hairs that fell out! The anaesthetic is starting to wear off now, but a couple of painkillers deal with the dull ache.
I make it home with all my hair bulbs in one piece and take off the cap to reveal somebody who looks like they’re on the run from an asylum and wearing a toupee of blood. My wife said she was expecting worse, but preferred it when I had the hat on.
Next day Last night’s sleep was a worry as there’s a risk the hairs can loosen and fall out. This morning my pillow has a couple of spots of blood from the wound at the donor site but all my hairs seem intact. Painkillers keep the slight aching under control and the front of my head is bone dry, no bleeding or oozing – incredible after having 1,700 holes put in my head.
5 days on It’s all healing well – my scar has been sewn up so neatly it’s barely visible under my hair. Now all I have to do is wait for my new hair to start growing. In six months, I’ll have another donor strip taken from the back of my head and more hairs implanted into my crown. I’m also going to start taking a drug called Propecia, which Dr Rogers says is good for keeping the hair I already have.
Before you know it, I’ll have a barnet like Elvis...
HAIR SURGERY, THE BALD FACTS
HOW DOES SURGERY WORK?
Balding men tend to keep hair at the back of the head. A transplant removes a ‘donor strip’ of skin from
this area and implants its hairs into thinning areas. Donor hairs carry on growing because they don’t ‘know’ they’ve been relocated to a different part of the head. Hairs can be transplanted as individual ‘follicular units’ to avoid the ‘plugged’ look.
ARE THERE ANY ALTERNATIVE METHODS?
If patients don’t want a donor strip taken, they can opt for follicular unit extraction (FUE), a technique that involves coring out individual hair bulbs from the back of the head and putting them in the front. ‘It takes longer – you can only do up to 700 grafts in a session, compared to up to 3,000 with the strip technique – and it’s much more expensive,’ says Dr Rogers. ‘It’s useful for men with short hair who don’t want a visible scar at the back of their head. But for 90% of patients, the strip method gives better results.’
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER SURGERY?
Patients get some crusting around the grafts for about 7-10 days. There’s a delay while the hair bulb ‘beds in’ and then the hair starts to grow back at about 12 weeks. It takes 18 months for the hair to fully mature. Once it’s there, it should carry on growing indefinitely.
ARE TRANSPLANTS OK FOR EVERYONE?
Young guys who are receding fast probably aren’t suitable as it’s impossible to tell how much hair they’re going to lose in the future. Dr Rogers says, ‘It is better to wait until they are in their early 30s so we have a better idea of their pattern of hair loss and can make best use of their donor hair, as it’s a finite resource.’
CAN NEARLY BALD MEN BE TREATED?
Yes, but they need to have realistic expectations. ‘We would usually implant most of the donor hair at the front of the head and thin it out towards the crown,’ says Dr Rogers. ‘The patient won’t have full coverage, but placing grafts at the front creates the illusion of much more hair. Think of Prince Charles – he has a balding crown, but looks like he has plenty of hair as he’s hardly receding at the temples.’ If donor hair is scarce, body hair can be used as a last resort.
WHAT ARE THE RISKS?
Minimal, as the op’s done under local anaesthetic. There’s a small risk of infection.
HOW MUCH IS IT?
Filling in a thinning hairline and crown with 3,000 grafts over two sessions starts at £5,500. Treating just the hairline area for mild recession starts from £3,300.
