3FN

Cheers David, I got all the knowledge I needed from this forum along with the encouragement to finally go forward after seeing the stories and progress of so many other members. It really is a life changer

Happy to share mate. Upon consultation, Dr Laorwong said I would need between 1500 and 2000 grafts. At the time of my booking the charge was $2.80 (usd) per graft. When I arrived on the morning of my operation, Dr Laorwong did his pre-op assessment and said I would need 1500 grafts with the cost amounting to $4200 (usd). I paid the full amount following the assessment in cash (usd) with his reception and then was led into the patient changing room where I was then prepped for the surgery to commence. Upon completion of my operation I found out I had an extra 152 grafts implanted, but was not charged any additional fees. Dr Laorwongs prices seem to be seasonal and do change at various times, I believe I got in when there was a 'special' on. They also accept payment in either Thai Baht or US Dollars, so being that the Aussie dollar wasn't doing so great at the time, I chose to convert my Australian Dollars into US Dollars upon arrival in Bangkok so I could pay in cash. Hope that helps

Hahah, well played!

I thought it was about time I finally contributed to this forum with my story and journey so far after just reaching the 6 month mark and also seeing another member asking about the surgeon I used. A summary of myself is that my hair started receding in my mid 20’s, but as I always had my hair with a bit of length I never noticed until one day when I shaved my head and noticed how drastically my hairline had shot back. Over the next 5 years I continued to grow my hair out to help cover it until constant flare ups with my scalp psoriasis caused me to shave my head again and seek cover under the protection of hats… many hats! I started looking into hair loss treatment about 3 years ago and just kept putting it off due to work constraints and life in general. That is until last October when life in general was being dictated by if I could wear a hat into a certain venue and my hairline insecurities affecting my general mood. So last October I got into contact with Dr Laorwong from Absolute Hair Clinic in Bangkok where an initial consult took place via email correspondence and a date was set 4 weeks away for November 2nd. I chose Dr Laorwong due to a number of reasons, the first being that he studied under the guidance of Dr Pong and his case study photos were very promising with what I could see. Another factor was the limited time I could take off from work and Dr Laorwong being based out Bangkok was a much shorter flight from Australia. As a side note, I must mention that Dr Laorwong is very brief and not a man of many words, I was confident in what I wanted and understood the process along with the recovery timeline. Some people I see in this forum post about being worried their hair hasn’t fully grown in 1 month after their operation. If you are one of these people then I suggested you find another surgeon that will ‘support’ you along the way, otherwise if you have done your research and familiar with what the FUE process entails and understand that this hair replacement process is a long journey, then Dr Laorwong is your man. As I wanted to minimise my time out of the country in order to maximise my time recovering at home during my break from work, my schedule was the following; Sunday November 1st – Travelled from Australia to Bangkok Monday November 2nd – Arrived at Absolute hair Clinic where surgery took place. Afterwards I then travelled back to my hotel to rest up for the night. Tuesday November 3rd – Arrived back at the clinic just before lunchtime for review and area cleaning. After this I headed to the airport for my midnight flight back to Australia. Wednesday 4th November – Arrived back home. A few comments about my hair condition before getting on to the photos: My hair is rapidly turning white thanks again to that old chestnut... genetics! Nothing at all to do with the surgery. My hair is very coarse naturally and for some reason never seemed to have a nice flow or shape to it meaning it gets messy as soon as it starts getting some length. My front hairline also shoots off in multiple directions. The large scar across my head was from a motorcycle accident, not from any previous hair surgery. As you will see the quality in my photos varies due to my phone being a hand-me-down from the wife and absolute junk! The original consult photos I sent to Dr Laorwong. Head shaved and recipient area marked. I actually fell asleep shortly after laying down for the donor surgery to start. I was given my pain relief meds, put my headphones in and then laid down on my stomach, next thing I know I was being woken up to have my lunch break before the implant surgery took place. Donor areas. I fell asleep during the implanting procedure aswell, like i said... good drugs! Photo of the recipient area taken about 2 hours post op once I was back at my hotel. This is the surgical bandanna which I wore after my operation and kept on during my travel back to Australia. Customs at Bangkok airport asked me to remove it for identification purposes but I told them it was medical and slightly lifted the front section to show them, the bloke said it was ok to leave on. Day 1 post op - Review and donor area cleanup Recipient area following a slight touch up with some further grafts added to a section of the hairline (you can sea the discolouring from the anaesthetic jab). Day 2 post op - Back home in Australia where I had my first bath and allowed my wounds to soak. Day 14 post op - To be honest this was a very exciting moment, as the implanted hair was in place and had grown slightly showing what my new hairline would hopefully look like 12 months from now. Day 18 post op - The excitement from a few days earlier disappeared as quick as it came as the shedding stage had officially kicked in... 1 month post op - Ugly duckling in full effect with about 95% of my grafts shedding. 3 months post op - I had still been shaving my head up until this point, now that I could see enough hairs coming through, I thought it would be best to start letting all my hair grow out to help try and blend in. 4 months post op - This is when I really started to notice all the gaps being filled in by new hairs. With each passing day I could see a dozen new hairs starting to appear. 5 months post op - It was at this stage I was feeling confident enough to start going out without my hat on, if you're reading this then I'm sure you know what I'm talking about as hats become a form of security, so exposing yourself to world again is a big step back in the right direction As you can see in the photo, the right hand side is blending in better due to the direction of the hair laying across, where as on the left hand side the hair direction is more upwards and therefore exposing more of my scalp. This pattern matches how my 'original' hairline looked once upon a time and is what I had asked for to blend in with my existing hair. 6 months post op - So here I am at the current day. Things are progressing by the day but I know I still have a long way to go with (hopefully) plenty of more hairs lining up to make an appearance I still have not had a proper haircut yet as I am wanting to continue to grow my new hair out a bit more so it's easy to blend in. Just out of the shower with only natural light. Here in the office with flash on. Anyway, that's my story so far. I will post progress pics at the 9 and 12 month marks but until then I am happy to answer any questions anyone may have. Cheers!