James works as an IT Consultant. He was 33 when he started hair restoration treatment with Dr Mark Tam. He had been struggling with a degree of receding in his hairline since his 20s, managing to stabilise it with anti-hair loss medication, but was not content with the appearance of his hair.
James felt he was a confident person, but at the back of his mind, he was always worried about what people thought of his receding hairline. He feared windy or rainy days because they could quickly undo the hairstyle he so carefully created each day to masquerade his hair loss.
Having considered a hair transplant many times over the years, James decided that the national lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic* was the perfect time to stop procrastinating – when people were advised to work from home and not see others, meaning he could keep his decision relatively secret. James found Dr Tam when looking for a specialist in frontal hair transplants.
*COVID-19 policies and testing ensured medical procedures and surgery could be safely undertaken during this time.
Dr Tam used a stepwise or gradual two-stage approach to accomplishing hair restoration for James, achieving good visual improvement after his initial hair transplant procedure, with a density of 42 follicular units per cm2 on the left side of his hairline and 65 follicular units per cm2 on the right side.
James always styled his hair up and across, and under strong lighting during his photoshoot a year after his first treatment, Dr Tam could see that it still looked a little bit see-through in places along the hairline. With James’ hair loss stable and well managed with anti-hair loss medication, they decided to embark on further improvements to his left temple to increase the hair density. Dr Tam transplanted a further 521 follicular unit grafts.
The need to consider future surgeries is why Dr Tam focuses as much attention to detail on looking after the donor areas - using minimally scarring FUE punch techniques - as he does in the transplanted area itself. Ensuring the preservation of a good donor site also allows for short hairstyles around the back and sides of the head and offers the option to augment your results, or address additional, or new areas of hair loss, when required.
James says, “I found the process pain-free. It (hair transplant) looks like it's going to be a painful process, but Dr Mark and the team make you feel very comfortable, you don't feel a thing. You spend the day (of surgery) just watching films.”
Following the second procedure, and three years later, James’ results are awesome. His hair looks natural and dense and is indistinguishable from his native hair and original coverage. He can style it how he wants and no longer needs to worry about those inclement days. Even in close-up photographs and on video, his hair looks fantastic. James admits he now gets regular compliments on his hair.
A result like this used to be regarded as impossible or extremely difficult to achieve, and still is by those who do not specialise in hairline transformations like Dr Tam.
A stepwise method achieves good visual improvement with the first surgery, followed by a second treatment to refine hair density, where necessary, to ensure optimal results for patients with significant frontal hair loss.
Dr Mark Tam explains the benefits of an assessment.
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