Day 4 – Back to Work, Back to Reality

4 days after FUE hair transplant – Aug 17, 2020.

Today is my first day back to work since my hair transplant. This is going to be a long day after another sleepless night on the couch.

Honestly, I’m nervous about getting back to work and worried about people’s reactions. I think my nerves are on edge because I feel this stigma about having a hair transplant, and I can’t be open and honest with my co-workers. This highlights my insecurities, and I’m not sure how to handle them. Instead, I want to hide for six months until I have some hair growth, then I don’t have to confront the problem. Even better. Maybe I can win the lottery, and I’ll never have to work again, and I can have as many hair transplant surgeries that I need.

Coming back to reality, I know I have to work today. Most of my calls require me to be on video. I’m reluctant to wear a hat because I want to keep my scalp exposed to promote healing while in the house.  

I started playing around with the camera and lighting to see what types of adjustments I can make. Here are some options I discovered.

• If I move closer to the camera so you can see my face and the top of my head is cut off.
• Opening the shades behind me provides backlight, so it’s difficult to see my face or head. 
• Turning the ceiling light on gives top lighting, which seems to diffuse the redness and scabbing on my scalp.

I played around with these options throughout the day, and they all seemed to work. It turns out I was worried about nothing because no one said anything. However, I will need to make my first public appearance at the end of August for our operational planning meetings. Hopefully, this is enough time for the redness and scabs to subside and some hair to grow out.

I’ve been doing well with the post-op care. I was diligent about icing my forehead and sitting upright at night, so I didn’t have any issues with swelling.

I feel I am healing well. The donor area is incredibly tender today. I am still careful showering and using the baby shampoo and avoiding putting my hair under the showerhead.

I’m looking forward to the day I can do this; there is nothing better than hot water streaming down your head and face in the morning. The blue plastic cup trickling luke-warm water on my scalp just doesn’t give the same sensation.

As the day progresses, I begin to reflect back on my consultations. Now that I am living through a hair transplant, some of the information is starting to make more sense. I’m beginning to document these reflections in Lessons I am Learning.

There is also information I found to be even more confusing. During one consultation, the person stated that the FUT hair replacement gave an overall appearance of 10% more hair based on their patient’s experience. This statement made me want to pursue the FUT, but I couldn’t stand having long hair for the rest of my life. If I’m going to have long hair, I want long flowing blondish locks like Jason Momoa.

For some reason, this stuck in my mind today. Other factors must contribute to this phenomenon: density of transplant, the thickness of hair, use of finasteride or minoxidil, number of grafts implanted.

So far, I am thrilled with my decision with the FUE hair transplant, and I am continuing to take finasteride. I’ll start back with the minoxidil when I have healed.