David Anderson began losing his hair at the age of 21 – and started to panic. Self conscious about his receding locks he underwent his first hair transplant two years later, but it failed to halt the balding process.
Two further hair transplants followed until, aged 26, the penny dropped that his hair was disappearing faster than he could replace it. Feeling depressed, David quit his job to work from home to avoid meeting new people and his marriage broke down as a sense of isolation set in.
“When I noticed my hair was falling out I became a shell of my former self,” he said. “When you don’t feel confident in how your hair looks you start neglecting other areas of your life and your appearance, too.”
“When I noticed my hair was falling out I became a shell of my former self.”
David Anderson
For David’s first three operations doctors used the follicular unit transplantation (FUT) technique, which involves removing a small strip of tissue and then extracting donor hair follicles which are then replanted into the area where hair has been lost. The procedures left him with three separate scars running across the back of his head and he swore never to go under the scalpel again, but by then his confidence was in freefall.
David, now 44 and living in Eastbourne, East Sussex, said: “I had no desire to put myself through any more surgery so I braced myself for a miserable future watching my hair slowly fall out while the unnatural transplanted hair became more obvious. The techniques used back in the 90s were different to what is carried out today.
“Transplants now move hairs in the follicular families which consist of one to four hairs which has allowed doctors to provide the natural results we see today. Back in the 90s hairs were artificially grouped, today resulting in the term “plugs”.
Depression set in
“I couldn’t shave my head because I had three wide scars at the back and sides to hide. I went into quite a depression. My marriage broke down, I left my job, and I became quite anti-social because of how my hair looked and how I felt.”
For three years David spent all his disposable income on transplants and hid away for a week each time following surgery – using his holiday entitlement from work. He decided on one last attempt and in 2006 tracked down a specialist hair surgeon in Vancouver, Canada.
“The feeling of seeing new hair growth after watching it fall out for so long was great. Most of my 20s had been consumed and ruined by hair loss. I finally felt that I could enjoy my 30s and started to do the things I felt I had missed out on.
“While the coverage was great the scar was an issue and the hairline still needed refining so in 2010 I returned for a fifth surgery to have a scar revision. It made a big difference and I was able to wear my hair shorter at the sides and the back.”
Although the trip to Canada had proven worthwhile, it was not enough. In 2013 David had one more surgery to thicken the front again to soften the “pluggy” look he previously had. A seventh – and final – procedure followed, with help from his beard this time to make his crown a little denser.
Seventh time lucky
David contacted Dr Edward Ball, one of the UK’s leaders in follicular unit extraction (FUE) and a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, of The Maitland Clinic, in Portsmouth. The FUE method involves extracting individual hair follicles one-by-one and then replanting them in the desired areas. Dr Ball also used a new method of using a patient’s own blood to reinvigorate hair growth using Platelet Rich Plasma scalp injection therapy.
The surgeon set about harvesting more than 650 grafts from the sides of David’s scalp and around his scars, and around 270 from his beard at his clinic in Portsmouth.
“My specific circumstances of losing hair at such a young age puts me in a good position to advise patients on how they can achieve the best results safely and ethically.”
David Anderson
“After spending years being consumed by how my hair looked I feel much more confident now,” David, who has since remarried, said. Given he has spent two decades – and around £20,000 – trying to find a solution to his problem, David is rather well placed in his role as a patient advisor at the clinic itself, helping others in a similar situation.
“After meeting with Dr Ball I soon realised that he and I shared the same approach to patient care and strong ethics. Having been through the surgical journey that I have, this was of huge importance to me when choosing and working with any doctor,” he said.
“My specific circumstances of losing hair at such a young age, feeling devastated by undergoing poor surgery in the past and then being able to turn things around with the help of world class surgeons, puts me in a good position to advise patients on how they can achieve the best results safely and ethically.”
