What does hair loss mean for me and for my appearance?
Although a cliché, it is right to say that everybody is unique. Our physical appearance is shaped by the genetic codes we inherit from our families while it is our social and cultural environment that determines what we think and how we act. Along with all these genetic and socio-cultural inheritance, we come to the world once and live as a unique individual.
The most significant result of being an individual is the way we see ourselves. Being an individual brings about a perception towards our physical appearance and ourselves, and specific expectations and efforts regarding how we want to be perceived by others. The aesthetic characteristics presented on the head and face have a deep impact on the “imagined me”, “me in the mirror”, and “me as I want to be perceived”. We care about our hair and style it accordingly in order to look beautiful to ourselves and to others.
In cases of hair loss, our physical appearance disturbs us and we get concerned regarding the way others perceive us. This bother encourages us to find a solution and ask help from a plastic surgeon specialized in hair loss.
While sitting across your physician as an individual carrying all these concerns, in order to talk about hair loss, your basic expectation is not talking about hair loss but making the physician understand the impacts of hair loss on your physical appearance. Generally, the main expectations from hair transplant is an improvement on the individual’s perception regarding the physical appearance, self-satisfaction and the expectation of an improvement in the way we are perceived by others.
What do I actually expect from the hair transplant operation?
Upon arriving at a mutual understanding with your physician, it will help if you clearly express how you perceive hair loss and what actually bothers you. The negative perceptions are generally related to discomforts and concerns about physical appearance. They may include looking unattractive, looking older than the actual age, being ashamed of baldness and loss of self-esteem.
After all your bothers and concerns are understood, you should make some decisions with the physician. These are:
Your expectations from hair transplant
- The best hair treatment approach to resolve your concerns
- The best hair transplant method
- Possible results before and after the hair transplant operation
- The duration required for hair transplant
- The cost of hair transplant
The major concern regarding hair loss is about physical appearance. Whether the patient’s expectations from their physical appearance will be completely fulfilled or not with the hair transplant operation constitutes the greatest concern of the patient. Our commitment as plastic surgeons is to exactly understand the patient and improve their physical appearance and their self-esteem by a successful hair transplant operation which gives a natural appearance.
