It is Much Better Than It Was in my Thirties!

When I hit 42, I decided it was time for a change. While my colleagues and friends were going through the typical mid-life crises chasing fast cars and more, I chose to invest in myself. I started small with joining the gym, eating more protein, and getting annual bloodwork. The next thing I knew, I was on a plane to Istanbul to fix my hair. With a Norwood 4 hair loss pattern, I was losing hair by the minute. Already, I had major recession at the front and a thinning bridge. My crown even had the beginnings of a bald spot. There was no time to waste and I liaised with the team at Heva to put a stop to this before it got worse. Since we had already discussed all the details, we proceeded with an FUE hair transplant using the sapphire technique. And when I say this was a big process, I mean that it was huge! The surgeon had to spend 2 days working on my head since they were using very precise channels to pack the grafts very close, and they were using a total of 4,200 grafts which they harvested from several sections to avoid thinning out one donor area. Since my hairline and front were most affected, they were the recipients of 2,500 grafts while my crown got 1,700. Over the next two days, they worked on perfecting the crown’s whorl to make sure that I had a circular growth pattern per the design we had mapped out, while also achieving a density of 45 to 50 grafts per square centimeter. Even though the surgery was long, they ensured that I did not get too weary by including breaks and offering me a very sumptuous lunch – I liked that it was local. By the end of day 2, we were done with the session and I was wiped out. I then received a ton of instructions from the aftercare team because they wanted to make sure that all those hours in the operating room had not been in vain. They even demonstrated how I was supposed to sleep at 45 degrees as I was at a high risk of fluid buildup. Luckily, the scabbing and swelling did not last long and I was done with crusting by day 12. My last update with the team was 3 weeks ago when I had my 12-month review. Given how well my hair has filled out to cover my scalp and how healed my donor area is, we all agreed that the whole procedure was a success story. I might not have the hairline I did in my 20s but it is much better than it was in my thirties!