Hair Transplants vs Scalp Micropigmentation!

By Joe Barghi

I have been dealing with hair loss since I was 18 years old. My dad lost his hair, my grandfathers on both sides were bald, and most of my uncles were completely or relatively bald. My chances of having a full head of hair were similar to a drunk tourist’s chances of getting rich from playing blackjack or craps on the Las Vegas strip, if not much worse!

From a young age, I was looking for solutions or ways to mask my thinning. I tried the FUT Hair Transplant at 25 years old. They showed me some drastic before/after photos and said this could be YOU. I was desperate and naïve, so I believed them and paid $18,000 for them to cut me open. At the time, I was thinning, but not completely bald yet. I knew it was getting worse, so I decided to get ahead of it and try to stop it.

I had a “successful” transplant with about 1800 (4,000 or so hairs) grafts taken from the back of my head to implant into the top of my head. I had no idea what I was getting into that day. First, they injected my head with massive needles all over my head to numb me for the next part. Once I was numb (mostly), they cut the back of my head open from ear to ear, I can hear the carving and see the blood all over the place. Sorry, I know this is gruesome, but I must share my story as it happened.

Then the doctor stitches you up, tightening your skin as much as he can. The better your doctor and skin, the thinner your scar will end up being once it’s all healed. The techs take each follicle, one by one, from that strip of skin, and then get it ready to be implanted back into the top of your scalp, one by one. This surgery takes most of the day to complete. But it doesn’t end there, this is just the beginning.

For the next month, I was recovering from the surgery and headaches while my scalp was recovering from the trauma of being cut from ear to ear. During this time, I spent many hours in a hospital bed that provided some comfort, as I had to find supportive care furnishings designed for long-term comfort. I had some shooting nerve pain in my head for years after this procedure. For the following year, I had to wait for the new hairs to grow, I was advised to take alopecia for the rest of my life to keep all the hairs and was also advised to grow my hair out to a length where my scar wouldn’t be visible (now short fades). I figured all the pain, money, and sacrifice would be worth it once I had a full head of hair again. I was gravely mistaken.

By the time I was 30 years old, I had lost the rest of my own hair, and even some of the transplant hairs. I was completely bald, and the transplant I had done 5 years earlier was a complete waste of time, money, and pain in my head. That’s when I started doing extensive research and learning about transplants in more detail (something I should’ve done before my transplant).

I learned that a transplant could give you 3,000 to 5,000 hairs, yet a full head of hair usually has over 100,000 hairs. 5% of my hair! What!? Why would I go through all that misery to add a measly 5% where I’d still be bald in 5 years’ time!? Unfortunately, they do not tell you these details, at least not where I went for my transplant. They sell you on it like a car dealership would sell you on a car that looks amazing, but really isn’t the right car for you.