Periodically I will post Patient Hair Loss stories on my blog so that everyone can learn from each patients experiences. This is Mike’s Hair Loss Story as he tells it. “My hair loss started in my mid to late twenties and it really bothered me. Oh, did it bother me, regardless of the things you would hear from friends and family like “it really didn’t matter”, or “bald is beautiful.” I didn’t buy any of it. Besides, almost all of the advice I got came from guys with thick, full heads of hair. It would have been a different situation if they were losing their hair; which most of them admitted later on.

I went through the usual steps as most guys do letting the hair I did have grow longer and kept lowering my part (better known as comb over). When the part got almost to my ear I realized how ridiculous I looked. I tried cutting it shorter, and combing it straight back. I even tried hair color to lighten it so it would blend with my scalp, but l knew I was only fooling myself. I went to several doctors who were supposed to have leading-edge technology, but they simply scared me away. The procedures were radical and major surgery, i.e. scalp flaps, scalp reductions, etc. etc. Also, you talked to a salesman about most of the procedures rather than the doctor; and the expense was through the roof.

In 1992 I did the only thing left that would give me hair, I got a hair piece. It was high quality and expensive, but it did cover my balding scalp. But, I was really never comfortable with it, I always felt people were staring at me. The biggest worry of all was if the wind would blow up the front or diving in a pool and having it come off. Plus, the maintenance on it was time consuming and expensive. You needed to have two units to do it right. One was always with the hair stylist being cleaned and colored. It got to be a real pain.

Then, one day while listening to the radio, I heard a local doctor talking about hair transplantation using micro- and mini-grafts to restore a natural looking head of hair. I called immediately, and made an appointment for a consultation. (This was one of the best calls I have ever made in my life.) The doctor explained everything to me in a very informative and relaxed manner. It was just the two of us — no “salesman”. Plus, that’s all he specialized in. This was not his sideline-he just did hair restoration. He showed me many pictures of “before and after”; it was amazing. Also, he gave me names of other clients. I was free to call them, ask questions and see how they felt about their results. Never once was there any pressure to make a decision. Instead he told me to take the material I had received, to think about, and call with any questions I might have”.