So I saw the Bollywood movie Bala over the weekend. For those who dont know, this is a movie about a man with premature balding and his struggle to come to terms with it and himself.
I had some thoughts on the movie which i wanted to share.
Firstly the message of the movie about being able to accept yourself and not changing for others is a great one, and one which i always espouse my patients. I always tell them never to undergo any procedure to please anyone else. IT should be done only for improving your own self worth and confidence.
When done for these reasons, cosmetic surgery can be life changing. I have seen patients completely transformed after surgery. They are so much more confident and brave and able to meet any challenge. So to write off these surgeries as vanity surgery is belittling the psychological trauma that these people might have endured
Factual Inaccuracies
The move also got several things factually wrong about a hair transplant procedure. The truth is they had to invent a reason for Ayushmanns characted to not undergo surgery, else it would have been a very short movie! He would have regained his hair and lived happily. Here are the things the movie showed wrongly
- The doctor was a joke, no self respecting doctor would conduct himself that way.
- Bala was told that harvesting hair from the back of his head was not possible, and would have to be harvested from his groin instead. Groin transplants are extremely extremely rare. Almost all people have a usable donor area on their scalp, and Bala certainly fell into this category.
- Bala was told he couldnt undergo the surgery as he was a diabetic. This is again misleading. Yes, surgeons need to be more careful in diabetics. But as long as blood sugar is well controlled, there is no reason why they cannot undergo surgery and have a good result.
The point of interest here is that, this movie in a way shows the importance of seeing a trained surgeon for hair transplant. As an untrained one can mislead you, like in the movie, or compromise on your safety.
Hair transplant can be life changing for many individuals. Always make sure you do your homework and choose a trained qualified surgeon!
