os99

having a receding hairline I was curious as to hair transplants and as I currently live in Thailand I wanted to find a surgeon here if at all possible and after extensive research 2 Dr's kept on coming up DR Path in Bangkok and Dr Pong in Chiang Mai, so the next questions were the what, whys and where's and why to choose one other the other? On further research I found out that both Dr's trained together and also teach other hair Dr's from around the world in their own techniques, ummm ok so they are pretty much on par with each other so far, what I did like about both Dr Pong and Dr Path is that they only specialise in hair transplants so therefore not a "jack of all trades" so to speak. So how to choose between the two..... I emailed both and both responded with the same answers about number of grafts from the pictures I sent, in my case 3000 ok so still no easier to choose and both had answered any questions I had about the procedure, that said I didn't have many questions as I had done a lot of research both on this forum and others so was pretty comfortable with what to expect and how the procedure would go in terms of steps of the transplant ect. so really for me it came down to location and price and I know it shouldn't be based on price but as I said it was a choice between the 2 Dr's and I had to narrow it down somehow. Bangkok big busy city or Chiang Mai smaller more relaxed city and at the end of the day location and price were all the differences I could find with Dr Pong and Dr Path. Being based in Bangkok Dr Paths' prices reflected that, more over heads and expenses for him and Dr Pong being based in northern Thailand had less over heads and expenses or at least that's how I figured it. In the end I went for Dr Pong as his estimate came in far less than Dr Path and as far as I could tell for the exact same treatment, so I booked with Dr Pong in Chiang Mai and off I went, my transplant was on 6th of December 2014 and its now the 18th December so early days still but I can honestly say that I'm super pleased with how it was all handled by both Dr Pong and his team of nurses and the care before, during and after, i felt no pain or discomfort what's so ever during the procedure just changes in pressure and movement, i was nerve blocked in my head so that not surprising and given 1 valium to relax me whilst the donor area was prepared and removed and stitched back up then a break for lunch and 1 more valium and anti inflammatory then in for the transplant and again no pain at all and and once they had finished i actually asked the nurses if i had fallen to sleep as i was so surprised at the "pain free" situation, i hadn't again i felt movement and pressure changes and positioning of my head but that was all. Once they had finished Dr Pong told me in the end i only had 2887 grafts and my bill was altered accordingly, bonus also on the white board behind the nurses was written down how many hairs in each follicle i.e 1,2,3,4,5 and the total amount. on with the head bands and bandana and a neck support pillow after care advice and meds to help heal, sleep and antibiotics and anti inflammatory and i was on my way back to my hotel 2 doors down. Dr pong asked me to return the following few days to check it and to get my hair washed, i choose to stay in Chiang Mai for my stitches to be taken out of the donor area others chose to fly home after a few day and have them removed there, Dr Pong said as i'm staying if i wanted to i could come by each day for the hair wash until the stitches were removed, which i did. With the whole experience the only discomfort for me was the head band pressure as these a tight to stop the swelling and yes you guessed it i loosened the pressure on the first night just by lifting the front of band with my fingers for less than a minute and the next morning 1 eye was rather larger than the other, (oh Dr Pong's going to tell me off now!!!) no he didn't all he said was oh i see you played with your band, not to worry the swelling will be gone in a couple of days, which it did, if i needed more of any meds he was happy to give me them after discussing. I even met Pat the publisher of this site at the clinic, he was going to watch my procedure, with my consent but alas due to flights and delays he didn't make my appointment but i made sure that i went back when Pat had arrived to tell him how happy i was with the whole experience..... I'm currently still in Chiang Mai enjoying the city and head back to the island i live on in the south on 23rd dec so will post pics when I'm back. Dr Pong and his team were and are amazing.