(female)
I have skin cancer which required graft closures. I have had MOH’s surgery and grafts twice and once (one year ago this past March) I had hair transplantation from the nape of my neck. Approximately two months after the surgery the right side of my scalp regained feeling but the left side did not. It still hasn’t so I told my plastic surgeon and he injected a steroid thinking it was scar tissue. While he was examining my scalp (after the injection, which did not work) he touched an area of my scalp on the left side that shot pain up to the top of my head probably right on the occipital nerve (greater). He didn’t know what to do so I went to see a neurologist who told me that some of the lesser occipital nerves are not as deep and are in fact at scalp level. My scalp (at the donor site) is so tight it is difficult to move my head to the right and down. Now he says I have cervical dystonia. I don’t believe that because in my research I found nothing that even resembles what I am feeling or going through. What do you think?
Persistent pain and/or numbness is a relatively rare risk of hair transplant surgery from small nerve damage. It is always stated in our pre-surgery consent form that we go over with our patients. Tightness of the scalp is also a side effect of a hair transplant surgery. The more surgeries you have, the more risk you may have of tightness or nerve damage. As your neurologist explained to you, some of your nerves may have been cut/irritated during the surgery and this may be contributing to your problems. I really have no way of knowing, though.
A PR firm sent me the press release and apparently the Telegraph in the UK got the same release and ran with it, presenting the article above. This “baldness calculator” is a clever way to market a caffeine-based shampoo called Alpecin, but I don’t know how this thing can claim to be accurate. It’s guessing the year you’ll lose your hair based on these factors you feed it — age, number of hairs lost daily, current hair loss pattern, scalp dryness, how often you wear a hat (???), stress, activity level, family history of hair loss, location (which apparently is limited to the UK), marital status, and career. Most of the questions are yes/no, and some have zero relevance. And surprise, surprise — when the answer is “calculated”, the solution is a special shampoo! I am completely and utterly SHOCKED (note sarcasm)!
I do not believe there is anything harmful in a supplement, aside from the harm it does to your wallet. If the product contains minoxidil, that’s going to be the ingredient that regrows your hair — so I’d stick to the generic minoxidil. I would not double up on the minoxidil, using the generic and the Follicare at the same time. Follicare’s various sprays and lotions also contains botanical extracts, saw palmetto, vitamins, oils, and lots of other stuff. It might make your hair shiny, but I don’t see where the treatment for hair loss is in there.
Each and every day, I receive emails from readers asking about individual doctors’ and their reputations or even wondering if the doctor they just met with is a good doctor. Most doctors care about you and are competent and ethical, but there are a few who really don’t give a damn about you and look at you as a way to simply make more money. The unethical doctors often push men who are too early to have a transplant (like most 20 year olds) into getting one when they don’t need it, or they expand the number of grafts in a transplant procedure into areas that do not have hair loss under the guise of performing preventive hair transplants which happen to push their fees higher. Unfortunately, there are too many unethical doctors doing hair transplants and while I’m always willing to help when I can, I’m disappointed when I hear how some doctors take advantage of people in an attempt to line their pockets with your money.
I also write about why it’s important to shop around for the best doctor before committing to a hair transplant. Don’t be afraid to have to travel to get a surgery that is PERMANENT and on your head! Don’t settle for someone you’re not comfortable with just because it is convenient. At NHI, we offer