Preparing For The Hair Transplant - The Hardest Part....

When I finally made the decision to get a hair transplant, I chose a date that gave me about one month to prepare for it

I scheduled the surgery on a Thursday, and took Friday and Monday off for vacation days, assuming I’d be back to work the following Tuesday. (As you will read in a later entry, this was not enough time for healing.)

In preparation for the surgery, I received a long list of instructions to follow which included….

• No aspirin, vitamins or any medications that can cause blood thinning
• No alcohol for one week before the surgery
• Color your hair up to two days before the surgery, then assume you can not color your hair for five weeks after the surgery
• Get a copy of recent blood tests, to bring them with you on the day of the surgery

These instructions were relatively easy to follow (although I missed my wine). The hardest thing for me was telling my husband. As I wrote in an earlier hub, “I Tried Everything Before The Hair Transplant... One Woman's Tale”, I had hidden my hair loss problems from my husband for the five years we had been together: the ointments, the lasers, the powders… the whole shebang. I had suffered quietly for years.

He did notice that my hair shed, but that’s is not out of the ordinary for a woman with long hair. They say the average person sheds 100 to 200 hairs per day.

Now that surgery was involved, I had no choice but to tell him.

So, I scripted the message in my head and planned to deliver it over a quiet dinner with no interruptions- once, twice, and then a third time. Several week passed and I could not get the words out of my head.

I finally wrote down everything I wanted to say in a letter and left it for him on his desk, kind of a cop out, but I could not do it any other way. I discussed my hair history and what brought me to the decision to get the hair replacement surgery.

When I arrived home that evening, I was nervous. How would he react?

And, like a good husband should, he was very supportive. He said that he felt bad that I could not talk about it with him, but he understood why. He asked my a few questions about the surgery and I gave him very short, non-detailed answers. I was not ready to discuss everything yet.

After our talk, I felt relieved, but also a little scared. He now knew his wife was losing her hair which is not the news that any husband wants to hear. It might be OK now.. but what about in 20 years?

The weeks passed and the surgery date finally arrived.

To my readers: This is the second installment in a series about my personal experience with a woman's hair transplant. Please stay tuned!