TeeJay

From TeeJay’s Hair Transplant Community Profile.

About Me: I am an average guy that was profoundly affected by hair loss. When I first started to lose my hair at the age of about 24 or 25, I was extremely emotional and vulnerable. I tried numerous shampoos and lotions to fight my hair loss, and, in a move of haste and impatience driven by raw desperation, had a hair transplant performed by a large-chain hair transplant clinic.

Not until I found The Bald Truth and Spencer Kobren, in early 2008, did I truly understand how to view and treat my hair loss with intelligence, rather than emotion and vulnerability. The Bald Truth has given me an education in hair loss that has re-exposed my natural intelligence that was so heavily suppressed by my desperation.

For a living, I am a mechanical engineer. I design and analyze linear motion mechanical subassemblies. I am currently single, and I live in Los Angeles.

Oh, and I have a huge crush on Kat Von D! 🙂

Years of Hair Loss: 9-10

Current Treatment Regimen: I am emphatically enjoying the results of a 1,600-graft hair transplant procedure that I had performed on February 8, 2008, from a phenomenal surgeon member of the IAHRS, named Doctor Paul McAndrews. I also take 1mg of Propecia, daily, under the recommendation and guidance of my surgeon.

Past Treatments: In January of 2000, I had a hair transplant of 800 grafts from a large-chain hair transplant clinic. I had watched their late-nite informercials in awe and amazement, and shortly thereafter, I was sitting in their surgical chair. It was a very bad decision, driven by pure urge and desperation, and I wish I could turn back the hands of time! My hair loss was very mild at the time, and, I should have instead taken Propecia. I have also tried numerous shampoos and lotions (primarily Nioxin), all to no avail.

How Has Hair Loss Affected Your Life? Hair loss has progressively eroded my self-esteem and self-confidence levels.When I am in business or social circles (especially social circles that include women), I find that my self-consciousness is extremely high, because I am conscientious of my “less than perfect” physical appearance to others. As a short male (5’1″ in height), it is already difficult not to be self-conscious. Hair loss has compounded this, tenfold.

Hair loss causes severe waves of depression in me every once in a while. I have always tried to do the right things in life, and I always put the feelings of other people first, sometimes even before my own. I have come to learn that this is considered a rarity in today’s “dog-eat-dog” world. When I began to realize hair loss, I could not understand why this could be happening to me – a straight-edged guy that always tries to do the right thing in life. Why wasn’t I one of the lucky ones that dodged the ugly genetic hair loss bullet?

Advice For Others Considering Hair Transplant Surgery: Never, ever make a haste decision to have surgical hair restoration. It is an irreversible process.

If you are in your early hair loss fighting days, realize that your urge to undergo a hair transplant may be the emotional turmoil and desperation that you feel to find a quick, easy fix. Don’t fall victim to it! Keep your intelligence in check. Begin your hair loss treatment regimen at the lowest complexity level, such as FDA-approved medications (Propecia and/or Rogaine). These medications may give you reprieve from your hair loss woes for years. Then, if the effectiveness of these medications begin to wane, you can consider surgical hair restoration.

When it is time to have surgery, do plenty of research as you seek a hair transplant surgeon. Realize that alot of this research has been done for you already, with the world’s collection of the best hair transplant surgeons, in the organization called the International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons (IAHRS). These surgeons have been screened for high ethical standards, uncompromising patient care and advocacy, and consistent production of high-quality, excellent results.