(upbeat guitar music)
- Now Mark, so I'm just going to bring you in here.
- Okay, thanks.
- [Narrator] It's a week later and Mark's back at HRBR
to get his stitches removed.
The scar left on the donor area is so fine
that once it has healed properly
it will be virtually invisible, even with short hair.
- It should be well healed up by now.
- So as you can see, I really have to move
the hairs above to get a good look.
You can't see anything.
- That's one thing that a few people were noticing
when I was trying to show them,
that the level of what you went to, they couldn't notice it.
- No, it's really hidden.
It looks great.
Tonight, when the stitches are gone,
give it another good wash with the tea tree shampoo
but don't go too roughly.
It's nice and clean so you've done a great job.
So how was your week?
- Yeah, it was good.
Got to be conscious that I had to sort of keep spraying
and I was the nearest thing to a wet otter.
I just was spraying, spraying, spraying,
even went on to the Thursday, Friday
just spraying, spraying, spraying.
What I felt when it was dry, it was sort of, you noticed it.
- Yeah, you felt it.
- So then, when I actually sprayed it,
it just sort of gave me some sort of a relief.
- Yeah, absolutely, we do often tell patients
to spray it if it's feeling really itchy, anyway,
so you're ahead of the game with that one.
- I must admit, I did notice over the few days, you know,
Tuesday, very, very tired.
You don't envisage that. Wednesday, it's sort of still
there.
And Thursday and Friday,
you're sort of going back to normal.
- Yeah.
- It's not until you get to the two weeks afterwards
that you start to feel more like yourself
because you're washing your hair as normal.
- Yeah.
- You know, and you're not, not worried about the grafts,
but you're not thinking about them.
Because you know that they're completely embedded.
- You just, you're conscious that they're there.
You're conscious to take care of them, but yet it's sort of,
trying to carry on as life as normal and so on.
- Yeah, going to work and everything as if,
yeah, like Vicky said, two weeks, it's just back to normal.
Wash it as normal, and it's important,
that's really important to get in and wash your hair
like you always did before.
- All done? - All done.
- So between two and four weeks, them little hairs
will start to fall out, so probably in about three weeks
you'll notice them.
It won't all happen at once, it'll be gradual.
Some people actually hold on to them,
and you might find they grow a bit longer.
But it's normal for them to fall out.
Then they're working away under the surface,
and you'll see them again.
And you'll have a big difference at six months,
but they're still baby hairs, they're still new.
They're growing through.
At nine months, again, they'll be a bit stronger,
but it does take a full 12 to 18 months
for the full extent to grow through, so it's very gradual.
- So don't go buy the hair dryer now, then?
- No (laughs).
- And then Maurice will see you at six months
and 12 months as well, just to take some pictures.
And you mightn't notice it so much
because it's so gradual and you're seeing it every day,
and that's the beauty of it.
People are watching it every day, it's not all of a sudden.
- Okay. - Like it's gradual.
- No problems, no problems. - Is that okay?
So do you want us to through a bit of the design with you?
- Yeah, if you could, yeah please.
- So this is you on the morning of surgery, okay.
So this is where all the grafts went.
And so 176 single hairs went into that,
and we done that in the little peaks,
so you'll see that in the mirror.
This is where your little peaks are there.
- Oh, yeah.
- Okay, and they'll grow very fine, natural, single hairs.
We do the hairline in front of that black line
but it's very fine and so it's not a straight line.
Because straight lines in hair transplants
make everything completely obvious.
So we do zigzags and peaks and everything,
so, a hairline in front and at the same again,
at the back, like, it's called an internal hairline,
so we do that in zigzags,
so it doesn't look completely obvious in the future,
and grafts aren't standing out.
So it's very important.
And we blend into your existing hair, so, you know,
you're not left with any major gaps
or anything in the future.
That anything that looks odd and obvious,
we just completely avoid.
- Brill.
- Is that all right?
Any more questions before we let you go?
- No, honestly, I think you've covered everything,
and, no, I think I'm in a really, really good space.
Thanks a mill.
- You've done a great job, so we'll see you in six months
and see how it's all coming along.
- [Narrator] It will be another six months before
Mark sees his new hair beginning to mature properly,
but the hard work is done.
Time for him to go back and get on with his life,
while nature does its thing.
- You know, you wake up in the morning,
it's the minute, whatever, first five seconds,
and like oh, what's happening today?
What's the good thing happening today?
And it's like, you know, if you're going to go to a party,
or you have to do something or something, whatever it is,
that good feeling factor.
For the few days that I've been waking up every morning,
the first thing that's going into my head is, has been this.
And it has led to a bit of, I won't say self-esteem
kind of comments, that was always there.
It was just a reason to smile
and a reason to just generally be happy.
And you know what, this is a Monday.
I mean, I could be like Garfield on a Monday,
I'm just, yeah, I'm just happy.
(upbeat guitar music)