Premature male baldness is one of the few physical flaws

Premature male baldness is one
of the few physical flaws still up
for ridicule. But it's no joke, says
Francesco Hornak-and besides,
fixing it is big business
for 'cures'." No wonder an estimated $3.5
billion is spent annually in America
alone on trying to halt baldness.
FUE is labour-intensive and highly
skilled. It is performed under local anaesthetic, typically over two sessions, each
taking several hours. Individual follicles
are extracted under magnification with a
small round punch and forceps, then
when the required number of grafts have
been taken, they are implanted into the
balding areas. "It's no more painful than a
filling," explains one transplantee in his
thirties, who wants to remain anonymous.
"Recovery takes about 10 days, though any
pain usually subsides after 72 hours."
Results are gradual. "You don't wake
up like David Hasselhoff - it takes 12 to
18 months for the hair to grow and for
the full results to be apparent," explains
patient X. "It's a good thing, because you
can adjust psychologically." It also allows
men to keep quiet about it if they wish apparently, people don't notice a progressively thickening mane the way they
would an overnight transformation.
Have they or
haven't they?
from left, James
Nesbitt, Mel Gibson,
Elton John and
John Travolta
Such a treatment could set you back
$15-20,000, although, strangely, the best
surgeons (mainly found in America)
charge less than many cowboy clinics.
One celebrated practitioner is New
York's Dr Alan Feller, who is raved about
as "an artist" by his many devotees. If
Feller is the hair-transplant god, his
apostle is a 36-year-old man who goes by
the pseudonym "Spex". A businessman
by day, Spex moonlights as Feller's
ambassador and unofficial counsellor.
Having been scarred by a bad hair transplant in 2000, Spex was "repaired", as he
puts it, by Feller. He has since made it his
mission to spread the word about hairloss treatments and transplants, and
speaks with a quasi-religious zeal and
touching compassion about his subject.
Because, in truth, this isn't funny at
all. Spex talks about the near-suicidal
young men he meets, who feel "completely alone and out of control. You
become obsessed. Every waking moment
is spent analysing your hair loss. It's
about identity and self-esteem and it
completely strips men of their confidence". His website spexhair.com gets
200 unique hits per day. "I want to save
men from making the mistakes I did," he
says. "Because these guys are desperate,
there are lots of ruthless people out there
ready to swindle them."
He's not exaggerating. Dip into the
online HT community and you will find
a vast swirling world of neurosis. Sufferers speak a hyper-technical language, as
if by categorising and quantifying their
follicles, they will regain control of their
condition. They post miserable scalp
close-ups (always covering their faces)
and rattle off odd labels that sound like
postcodes: "I've been balding since 18.
Currently I'm an anterior NW/).. I inherited the balding gene from my maternal
grandfather. He's a NW5A and started
balding very early." Other posts reveal
the devastating impact hair loss has on
young men: "It was at that moment that
I realised... I WAS GOING BALD. I fell
into a deep, deep depression. I even
thought about ending it all..."
After a glimpse of such heartache,
the hair transplant suddenly doesn't
seem so drastic (or so funny) after all. ^
JANUARY 15-16 2011 / THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINE
27