Greetings everyone from down under!!
WOW!!! is all i can say.. I had no friggin idea I was about to embark upon such a journey just under a year ago, June 2011 when I decided it was time to do something about this problem that has so many of us concerned.
My story, I hope you will all take the time to read goes back to when i was 17, 20 years ago when i started losing my hair. I wont go through 20 years of feeling bad about losing hair as I am sure you have all been there. I tried the shaved head look about 5 years ago however it just didnt work on me unfortunately. So back to some clever comb over I was and the same old feelings about going bald and using a ton of spray to make sure wind and rain wouldnt ruin a given day..
I had heard of HT back 15 years ago but never had looked into it. So about 3 years ago I came across an Australian clinic which were advertising HTs and splashing videos and photos of before and afters on the net and newspapers. Naturally my attention was captured and after a little research on the net (still hadnt come across this site) I found myself in this particular clinic sitting across the room from a salesman. With what little knowledge I had in HTs i spoke with him for one hour, where he took pics and told me i needed about 3500 grafts.
Fast forward 2 weeks and I called back the clinic to organise the next step which was to have a consultation with the doc. This doc apparently had been performing HTs at this clinic where he learned from the founder of the clinic and took over from him. I was just glad i was finally doing something about this and started to get mentally ready for the op.
The day before the consulation i got a call from the clinic and was advised that my consulation would be with another surgeon. Although a little annoyed, i didnt care too much about it. After all surely HTs are HTs and dont matter who does them right??????????? LOL
Well i walked in the next day and got called into the room and met the surgeon. He seemed pleasant enough at first, although soon after alarm bells started going off in my head as some of the answers to my questions were very odd. It was as if he was trying to conceal his ignaronce of HTs with mumblings and going off tangent here and there and giving really long answers as is he was trying to confuse me into agreeing with him. So i asked him how long he had been doing HTs for, his answer was ' Well i work here once a week and been doing HTs for 18 months and i do about one or two a week so you do the math <insert nervous gigle here>'..
He followed that with telling me that surgeons are surgeons and that its just an incision the doctor makes and the rest is all done by the tech girls and they are very experieinced etc etc.. There were more bizzare words that come out of him but you get the pic..
So I walked out of there like a stunned mullet, confused as hell at what i just heard, yet still made the appointment for the op in 2 weeks from there, payed my $100 consulation fee and drove home.
Dazed and confused I thought maybe i was being too cautious, maybe this guy was right that experience wasnt such a huge issue, after all he was a surgeon so he must be ok. But just to be sure i thought i better put in some serious hours of research before the op in 2 weeks time.
Enter HT Network!!! I stumbled across this site finally and was immediately gob smacked at all the info and all the experiences and the support etc.. WOW!
So i spent the next week reading all the goodness that is filled in here. So many stories, so many people with so many HTs. The recommended doctors and all the befores and afters, all the videos.. I became obsessed with this site, reading everything and anything.
So about half a week away from my scheduled op with this clinic, and this unknown doc, I was saved from a lifetime of agony ( chances are i was gonna have a nightmare on my hands if went thru with it) thanks to all of you and this awesome site.
I wont bore you guys anymore how I finally ended up in the care of Dr. Path of Thailand, but I did look into H&W and Rahal and Feller as well. At the end the convienience of the shorter trip to Thailand, and also the excellent reputation Dr. Path has on this site and i must admit the savings from the AUS$ to THAI Baht was plenty and I initiated first communication with Dr Path.
He replied immediately and I must say he was not forceful anytime to try to get my business, rather only seemed concerned about providing info to me. After a few emails and pics were exchanged, Dr Path was able to squeeze me in for surgery and i soon found myself in his dressing room taking my shirt off to put on the gown after all the blood tests and pills.
I have to say, for me the op which took 9.5 hours was completely pain free. Even the injections were totally pain free and i didnt feel anything especially when the donor area was being worked on. Dr Path was constantly checking with me how i was feeling and if i was feeling any pain or discomfort.
During the later stages of the op if i felt any pain at all Dr Path would inject the area and discomfort would stop. It only happened once or twice but i was in and out of sleep most of the time. I did remain awake for the last two hours of the op, and probably the only real discomfort was my neck which was numb from staying in one place for so long. Again nothing really.
Once the op was done, i was taken to a taxi by a couple of the very easy on the eye nurses that worked on my noggin. I remember reading here people commenting on how easy Dr Path's staff were on the eye, i sure do agree.
But more importantly, his nurses and staff were extremely caring, i cant speak any more highly of them. Especially one nurse who washed my hair daily, was fantastic.
First night in my hotel room after dinner i didnt take the pain killers like Dr Path had advised on time as i didnt have any pain. However once it kicked it i ran for the meds and for about an hour i endured intense pain, until i was knocked out.
Apart from that the experience was very pleasant indeed. In fact it was a very exciting and interesting trip. I spent the next 6 days in Bangkok sight seeing, shopping and relaxing in my room. I was back at the clinic every day to get cleaned up, and on the 6th day Dr Path took the stitches out, told me all was looking very good, gave me post op instructions sent me on my way back to Australia.
I took the next few weeks off work. The knowledge gained on this site I was ready for the next 12 months. The initial shed, ugly duckling stage, first few growth stages etc., I was ready!!!
But i gotto tell you when the ugly stage did kick in even though i was ready for it, I was down in the dumps!! Must say it hurt as i did look friggin aweful!!! LOL
The roller coaster ride that everyone talked about here was so spot on, there were days when i was so happy and excited, other days when so depressed thinking nothing was growing and probably that never would!! It didnt help that ugly duckling stage for me lasted for about 4 months, but felt like an eternity.
But it was all forgotten about when i hit around 4 to 5 month mark and like the cherry blossoms of Japan i started to sprout everywhere. From being covered in pimples for months, and putting up with the redness that lasted for so long, finally seeing blackness coming thru was a most magnificient site i tell you.
Without going to any further details, as i am sure you all know anyway, the whole experience was nothing like i ever experienced before. The ups and downs, the doubts, the ugly stage, pimples, shockloss, the ecstacy, the joy. Reverse balding someone once said on this forum, and as much as it hurt to lose my hair the joy of gaining back my hair has been equally great.
I wanted to write this and share my experience and hope that I may also save someone from falling into wrong hands, and give someone out there courage to go for it like i did with the help of this community. I also would like to say how i feel for those who have not had great results or have had bad surgeries and are suffering still. My heart goes out to you guys.
Once again a huge thanks to this forum, its founders, moderators and all the contributers. For all your help I am grateful.
I will post some pics, apologies for some o fthe bad quality, i will try to get more pics soon.
Here is my graft totals:
1h 698 2h 2832 3h 345 3-5h 145
The total hairs 7977
The total grafts 4020
Enjoy the pics, i look forward to comments.
Befores
Here are 1 day post ops
And here are the next few months..
These were about the 8 month mark
As you can see i am very happy with the results.. I will take a few pics now that i am 10 months mark, my hair is much longer.. But that you will have to wait till later i am buggered from putting this thread together, hope you all like it..
Greetings everyone from down under!! WOW!!! is all i can say.. I had no friggin idea I was about to embark upon such a journey just under a year ago, June 2011 when I decided it was time to do something about this problem that has so many of us concerned. My story, I hope you will all take the time to read goes back to when i was 17, 20 years ago when i started losing my hair. I wont go through 20 years of feeling bad about losing hair as I am sure you have all been there. I tried the shaved head look about 5 years ago however it just didnt work on me unfortunately. So back to some clever comb over I was and the same old feelings about going bald and using a ton of spray to make sure wind and rain wouldnt ruin a given day.. I had heard of HT back 15 years ago but never had looked into it. So about 3 years ago I came across an Australian clinic which were advertising HTs and splashing videos and photos of before and afters on the net and newspapers. Naturally my attention was captured and after a little research on the net (still hadnt come across this site) I found myself in this particular clinic sitting across the room from a salesman. With what little knowledge I had in HTs i spoke with him for one hour, where he took pics and told me i needed about 3500 grafts. Fast forward 2 weeks and I called back the clinic to organise the next step which was to have a consultation with the doc. This doc apparently had been performing HTs at this clinic where he learned from the founder of the clinic and took over from him. I was just glad i was finally doing something about this and started to get mentally ready for the op. The day before the consulation i got a call from the clinic and was advised that my consulation would be with another surgeon. Although a little annoyed, i didnt care too much about it. After all surely HTs are HTs and dont matter who does them right??????????? LOL Well i walked in the next day and got called into the room and met the surgeon. He seemed pleasant enough at first, although soon after alarm bells started going off in my head as some of the answers to my questions were very odd. It was as if he was trying to conceal his ignaronce of HTs with mumblings and going off tangent here and there and giving really long answers as is he was trying to confuse me into agreeing with him. So i asked him how long he had been doing HTs for, his answer was ' Well i work here once a week and been doing HTs for 18 months and i do about one or two a week so you do the math <insert nervous gigle here>'.. He followed that with telling me that surgeons are surgeons and that its just an incision the doctor makes and the rest is all done by the tech girls and they are very experieinced etc etc.. There were more bizzare words that come out of him but you get the pic.. So I walked out of there like a stunned mullet, confused as hell at what i just heard, yet still made the appointment for the op in 2 weeks from there, payed my $100 consulation fee and drove home. Dazed and confused I thought maybe i was being too cautious, maybe this guy was right that experience wasnt such a huge issue, after all he was a surgeon so he must be ok. But just to be sure i thought i better put in some serious hours of research before the op in 2 weeks time. Enter HT Network!!! I stumbled across this site finally and was immediately gob smacked at all the info and all the experiences and the support etc.. WOW! So i spent the next week reading all the goodness that is filled in here. So many stories, so many people with so many HTs. The recommended doctors and all the befores and afters, all the videos.. I became obsessed with this site, reading everything and anything. So about half a week away from my scheduled op with this clinic, and this unknown doc, I was saved from a lifetime of agony ( chances are i was gonna have a nightmare on my hands if went thru with it) thanks to all of you and this awesome site. I wont bore you guys anymore how I finally ended up in the care of Dr. Path of Thailand, but I did look into H&W and Rahal and Feller as well. At the end the convienience of the shorter trip to Thailand, and also the excellent reputation Dr. Path has on this site and i must admit the savings from the AUS$ to THAI Baht was plenty and I initiated first communication with Dr Path. He replied immediately and I must say he was not forceful anytime to try to get my business, rather only seemed concerned about providing info to me. After a few emails and pics were exchanged, Dr Path was able to squeeze me in for surgery and i soon found myself in his dressing room taking my shirt off to put on the gown after all the blood tests and pills. I have to say, for me the op which took 9.5 hours was completely pain free. Even the injections were totally pain free and i didnt feel anything especially when the donor area was being worked on. Dr Path was constantly checking with me how i was feeling and if i was feeling any pain or discomfort. During the later stages of the op if i felt any pain at all Dr Path would inject the area and discomfort would stop. It only happened once or twice but i was in and out of sleep most of the time. I did remain awake for the last two hours of the op, and probably the only real discomfort was my neck which was numb from staying in one place for so long. Again nothing really. Once the op was done, i was taken to a taxi by a couple of the very easy on the eye nurses that worked on my noggin. I remember reading here people commenting on how easy Dr Path's staff were on the eye, i sure do agree. But more importantly, his nurses and staff were extremely caring, i cant speak any more highly of them. Especially one nurse who washed my hair daily, was fantastic. First night in my hotel room after dinner i didnt take the pain killers like Dr Path had advised on time as i didnt have any pain. However once it kicked it i ran for the meds and for about an hour i endured intense pain, until i was knocked out. Apart from that the experience was very pleasant indeed. In fact it was a very exciting and interesting trip. I spent the next 6 days in Bangkok sight seeing, shopping and relaxing in my room. I was back at the clinic every day to get cleaned up, and on the 6th day Dr Path took the stitches out, told me all was looking very good, gave me post op instructions sent me on my way back to Australia. I took the next few weeks off work. The knowledge gained on this site I was ready for the next 12 months. The initial shed, ugly duckling stage, first few growth stages etc., I was ready!!! But i gotto tell you when the ugly stage did kick in even though i was ready for it, I was down in the dumps!! Must say it hurt as i did look friggin aweful!!! LOL The roller coaster ride that everyone talked about here was so spot on, there were days when i was so happy and excited, other days when so depressed thinking nothing was growing and probably that never would!! It didnt help that ugly duckling stage for me lasted for about 4 months, but felt like an eternity. But it was all forgotten about when i hit around 4 to 5 month mark and like the cherry blossoms of Japan i started to sprout everywhere. From being covered in pimples for months, and putting up with the redness that lasted for so long, finally seeing blackness coming thru was a most magnificient site i tell you. Without going to any further details, as i am sure you all know anyway, the whole experience was nothing like i ever experienced before. The ups and downs, the doubts, the ugly stage, pimples, shockloss, the ecstacy, the joy. Reverse balding someone once said on this forum, and as much as it hurt to lose my hair the joy of gaining back my hair has been equally great. I wanted to write this and share my experience and hope that I may also save someone from falling into wrong hands, and give someone out there courage to go for it like i did with the help of this community. I also would like to say how i feel for those who have not had great results or have had bad surgeries and are suffering still. My heart goes out to you guys. Once again a huge thanks to this forum, its founders, moderators and all the contributers. For all your help I am grateful. I will post some pics, apologies for some o fthe bad quality, i will try to get more pics soon. Here is my graft totals: 1h 698 2h 2832 3h 345 3-5h 145 The total hairs 7977 The total grafts 4020 Enjoy the pics, i look forward to comments. Befores Here are 1 day post ops And here are the next few months.. These were about the 8 month mark As you can see i am very happy with the results.. I will take a few pics now that i am 10 months mark, my hair is much longer.. But that you will have to wait till later i am buggered from putting this thread together, hope you all like it..