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PaulDrake's Introductory Guide to Getting A Hair Transplant (in Tijuana)

So like many of us guys on here as I have gotten older I have noticed my hair getting thinner and thinner. I ended up getting a hair transplant in Tijuana recently and have some basic info on it others on the forum might be interested in. I am happy to ask questions if anyone has any.

- How realistic is a hair transplant? Can people tell?
It is 100% realistic. Doesn't feel any different. The one way you can really ever spot a hair transplant is when someone gets a too aggressive hairline. Basically don't make your hair look like a 20 year old when you are 50. As long as you make the hairline look realistic for a middle age adult no one will be able to tell. Google "Kyle Christie hair" for an example of someone who got a hairline that was too aggressive and will look stupid when he is 40.

- Am I a good candidate for a hair transplant:
The first thing you want to do is google "norwood scale" which is a numerical scale where you can rate your level of baldness. What number are you? What number are/were your father and grandfathers? There is a really good chance your baldness level will end up close to your father/grandfathers. So if you are a norwood 3 (mild hair loss) and your dad was a norwood 7 (almost bald) you have a lot more hair to lose and you need to accept that a hair transplant is only a temporary fix and you may need additional transplants every 10 years. In my case I am a norwood 3 and my father is a 4 and my hairline has been pretty static for 5+ years so I was an excellent candidate. For me doing a hair transplant now would slightly reverse my aging and likely last for the rest of my life.

- What is the ultimate capability of a hair transplant:
Again google the "norwood scale". For most people you are only going to be able to change your hair by 1-2 maybe 3 steps on the norwood scale. Everyone has a limited amount of donor hair so don't expect to go from fully bald to a full head of hair. Please note there are exceptions to this, there are guys with really thick donor areas who get multiple surgeries and do go more than three steps on the norwood scale. As a general rule most people are only going to be able to reverse their loss by 1-2 norwood levels in a single procedure. In my case I went from a 3 to a 2 but I reinforced the areas that will likely continue to shed in the next 10-30 years so I am locking in my appearance for life.

- How does it work:
They extract a hair follicle (the actual hair and the flesh around it) and then transplant that to the top of your head. A single follicle might have a single hair or 2-3 growing from it and they place the singles up front to make it look natural. There are 2 basic types of surgery:

FUT or Strip is where a surgeon slices out a strip of flesh from the back of your head and then stitches you up. Then they take that strip of flesh and harvest thousands of individual follicles. The upside of the process is that it provides more follicles in a single surgery and it is cheaper both overall and per follicle. The downside is you will have a scar on the back of your head, the scar will be almost certainly be covered up by your hair unless you shave or buzz your hair really short.

FUE or Individual is a process where a technician removes the follicles one at a time. Usually they use a machine that cuts and sucks them out like a mini vacuum cleaner. The upside of this process is you have no strip scar. The downside is additional cost and you get less grafts in a single procedure.

- How much does a transplant cost:
Obviously every patient/clinic will be different but here are quotes I got:
FUT is around $7k in the USA or $4k in TJ
FUE is around $9k in the USA or $5k in TJ
Typically there is a hard limit to how many grafts they can do in a day so there is not as much variance from patient to patient in my personal opinion. Also it should be noted there definitely are clinics in the USA where you can pay tons more than what I posted. Those are just rough numbers to give you an idea.

- What is the procedure like:
Mine lasted over 10 hours and was pretty grueling. They inject you with pain killer which was pretty painful and then after that you don't feel much. However it is just a ton of sitting in the same uncomfortable position for hours and hours. Basically it's just really unpleasant for a very long time. In 10 hours I only took a single break for lunch and then a few pee breaks.

- What is the recovery like:
I was in pain for a day and then fine after that. However your appearance changes radically in the first month so you pretty much want to hide out from seeing people if you are trying to keep this a secret. The first week you look like a freak, your head will be covered with thousands of scabs. After a week the scabs come off and all of the newly transplanted hair will be there. But then after 2-3 weeks all of the newly transplanted hair falls out and won't start growing until the 3rd month. It takes 6-12 months for everything to really grow in.