My Hair Loss Story

and here we are…………

T-minus three more sleeps to the much anticipated next step of this journey, in the making since 2006. After years of researching and contemplating, it’s finally around the corner and I could not be more anxious (the good kind), excited and relieved that the time has come to sit back and leave it in Dr. Rahal’s hands (and his talented staff of course) !

What brought me to this point?

I guess it all started when I was in my mid/late-teens and all of the males in my family would tease me about getting used to the Kojak look as it’s inevitable in our family tree.

It was all laughs back then but fast forward a few years to my early 20s and guess what?? They were actually wrong!!! It was actually the Vin Diesel look I’d have to be getting used to as he was the new guy in Hollywood! HA!

All jokes aside, I did notice a huge change in my hair texture by the time I was 22. My hair was for the most part present and my hairline was intact, but the hair on top of my head was becoming noticeably thinner and frizzier.

Enter …… Proscar!

I Heard about Propecia from a colleague in the early 2000’s and actually started taking Proscar 1.25 mg in 2005. I never really realized if  it worked or not at first, but I did realize that my showers consisted of much less shedding and for a few years I didn’t really notice much density difference, so in essence, it was actually doing a great job in slowing down any further loss. It was at this time that I thought it may be a good time to seek consult for hair restoration.

Surgeon consultations (starting in 2006).

I found the Doctors via online forums or got referrals from people who had inquired on the subject as well. I did visit a handful of Doctors and quickly dismissed the ones who did not perform the consults themselves. I will admit that I did like a couple of surgeons (I guess because I really did my research beforehand), but even back then, I was most comfortable with Dr. Rahal. I’m sure the others did great work, but for me the difference was that Dr. Rahal just had a calm, realist attitude towards us (simultaneous consult with my cousin) and he managed to gain my trust from day one. We did not feel rushed and we really engaged in a dialogue about what we can expect from the procedure as far as results are concerned.

Exit …. Proscar!

I’ll make this short and sweet. Proscar worked for me to slow down hair loss but I just didn’t want to take it for the rest of my life so I stopped it in 2011. It’s just my personal choice and the relevance here is that in my procedure, we will have to consider the fact that there will be more hair loss in the future as I am off of the drug.

Dr. Rahal (2012)

The beginning of this year I decided that I would finally just jump in and get this procedure done. Since it had been some time since I had any consult done, Dr. Rahal asked me to come in to take another look at me.

During the visit, Dr. Rahal did confirm that I am in fact headed to a Norwood 6 so we would have to be very conservative in our approach. In the end we did decide on 2500-3000 grafts for zones 1 and 2. Now I know “some” people say that having a HT is not ideal for those higher on the Norwood scale, but in my case I think it’s just about being more realistic with the final result you wish to achieve. I have come to terms with maybe never touching up my crown area (at least for the short term until we analyze future loss), but my goal is too have good density in the front of my scalp and having my face being framed by a hairline. I foresee my hair being short on the sides and a little longer on top.

Knowing that I wish to keep my options open for hairstyling, and also considering that I may one day want or need to have a shaved head as I get older (with a framed face of course … hahaha), I decided to inquire about having the procedure done via FUE method. I must admit that I was hesitant to even ask about FUE at first as it can be damaging in the wrong hands and it’s the last thing I want, knowing the STRIP method is quite remarkable in itself.

With that said, I know there are pros and cons of FUE, BUT after the discussions I’ve had with Dr. Rahal and his staff, as well as the reading I’ve done on the online forums, I am under the strong conviction that Dr. Rahal is able to give me all the advantages of FUE, whilst minimizing the disadvantages. So as you can guess, this is the path we have chosen to take. I should also mention that Dr. Rahal did in fact have me come in 2 months pre-op to make sure I was in fact a good candidate for FUE. He did a small test and took a couple of grafts and confirmed we’d be alright to proceed.

I am excited and I am assured that I have amongst the very best working on me and that, in itself makes me one happy camper !!!

and here we go……. off to Ottawa !!!

***** I have posted my pre-op pictures and I do plan to provide updates along the way.

***** If there are questions or comments, please feel free as I have appreciated the posts from others in helping me make my choice