Man's Six Year Journey to Correct Hair Loss After Botched Transplants

Losing your hair is often distressing and, without the right information and guidance, can lead to panicked decisions.

Chris Davies, a 30 year old sports trader from Cheltenham, has recently spoken openly about how the anguish of developing hair loss in his teens led to a rash decision and a six year journey to get his hair back.

Started to panic

Davies noticed the first signs of male hair loss - a receding hairline - when he was 18 years old after a friend pointed it out to him during a lads' holiday.

“I laughed it off at the time but inside I started to panic," he told The Sun. "I knew it was natural for your hairline to change as you got older, but was this normal?"

Male pattern baldness is a permanent and progressive condition which worsens over time if left untreated and, as his hair continued to thin over the next few years Chris became increasingly concerned.

"I was terrified I was going to lose my hair at such an alarming rate that I’d be bald within two years," he recalls, explaining that he was already dealing with a lot of stress - a factor believed to increase shedding in some people.

“I had left school at 16 to join a football apprentice scheme to train professionally. However at 20 I decided to quit and go back to school and get an education. It was a lot to take on board and the hair loss just worsened everything."

Wanted a quick fix

Feeling like he had no-one to turn to for advice on dealing with hair loss, Chris booked himself a hair transplant, admitting: "At this point I was desperate... I just wanted a quick fix to make the problem go away so I impulsively booked a hair transplant at a clinic that I’d found from a quick internet search." 

However, the £2,000 price tag managed to clear out the sports fan's savings without restoring his hair. Even though Davies says he was promised results from the FUT surgery after nine months, a year after the procedure his hair still looked the same.

Two years after this disappointing episode he decided to try again and this time, after spending a further £2,500 on another hair restoration operation, the results were even worse. Davies found that there was still no change to his hair - only to his scalp where the donor hair had been surgically removed in a strip from the back of his head.

“I was left with large puncture scars on the back of my head from the procedure," says Chris who describes this as the "lowest point in [his] hair loss journey".

As can happen to many men, his self-esteem also suffered, "Not only had I lost all hope of ever getting my hair back, but I was feeling incredibly insecure," Davies confesses, adding pertinently: "Male hair loss is commonly dismissed as something that isn’t a big deal but it can have an extremely damaging impact on you psychologically".

Researched hair loss and regrowth information

Now, six years later and after doing some proper research into viable hair loss treatment and regrowth options, Chris finally has the hair he wanted all along.

Chris Davies Pictured Before his Final Hair Transplant, 10 Days After and 13-14 Months After

After discovering reputable online sources of information and building a mentor relationship with well-known UK expert, Spencer Stevenson - also known as Spex - Davies flew to New York to have his final operation.

“In 2011, I flew out to New York to have my third and final hair transplant with Dr Alan Feller, a surgeon Spex worked with," says Davies who is pictured above before and after his procedure. Spex established his reputation as a straight-talking male hair loss advisor after having five hair transplants of his own, totalling £33,000.

Proving that whichever route you take to dealing with thinning hair, it is always worth getting professional hair loss advice and doing your homework using credible and established sources, Chris happily advises that: “The whole experience was 100 times better than before... It’s restored my confidence and I’m finally enjoying life.”

For any men experiencing thinning or a receding hairline, it is always best to seek the advice of a hair loss specialist as early as possible. That way, not only can you start to fight back quickly and effectively, but you can also minimise the damage to your self-confidence. Many male hair loss treatment clients tell us they wish they had come to Belgravia sooner as, even just finding someone who can recognise what they are dealing with, support them with information and advice, as well as personalised treatment recommendations, can be a huge relief in itself.