Hair Obsession

i have had a full head of thin, wavy hair most of my life, and am now 53 years old. I had some loss many years ago from using alcohol based mousse, and had one transplant(okay). Recently, I had some hair color (nasty alcohol based stuff from Walgreen’s)in my hair for Halloween 2004. Anyway, I left it in for a day(extremely stupid), and then had several weeks of an itchy scalp in December, which I treated with tea tree/jojoba oil. I noticed some hair loss in January, had 1000 grafts put in and now I just had another ” greater loss” bout in July and August of this year, which I am extremely unhappy about. I now have a minor tingling on the left side of my frontal area, and I am extremely parnoid I am losing more. I am using tea tree oil shampoo/conditioner. I went to back to the doctors who did my transplants, who told me I would look worse if I had not been given the 1000 grafts, which I have a hard time seeing where they are.(as some were supposed to be put in the area that has receded!)I asked to possibly get my old hairline back, and the doctor said that only celebrities and media people only wanted a “1”, and now me. They offered to put in another 1000 grafts for $4/graft, but I want an effective job this time, asI do not have unlimited donor area. The more I think about it, the more I am insulted. The doctor said I had no infection/disease in the scalp. I want more work, but done right. PLEASE, PLEASE ADVISE.

You are hair obsessed. Please don’t take this comment the wrong way, but you are probably causing your own problems because of this obsession. I too would be insulted if the doctor who precipitated reactive hair loss with the second transplant (that is what it sounds like), told me that I needed another one at a discounted price to solve the failure of the last transplant (which was supposed to solve your problem). Sounds more like a huckster is playing you for your hair obsession and selling you hair like you needed a new car.

On this blog, I often say that you need to have a good doctor make an assessment of what is really happening to you. This is a buyer beware field and it is easy to sell hair to a hair obsessed person like you. I am not saying that you did not need a hair transplant, but it sounds like you were not clearly informed of what you were buying into. I often take a stand against transplants when I am not convinced that hair transplants will address the problem. I am rarely wrong but some of the patients who I turn down just go to another doctor who might be enthusiastic to take his money. Talk to a good doctor, not a huckster and find out what happened and what is going on with your hair problem.