SingaporeHairTransplant

Thank you. You are a legend. I would not have gone for it if it weren’t for your videos. The growth has definitely slowed down a lot recently, your video showing your progression each month has given me hope that it will continue to improve. I cannot find my notes on those details, I will ask the clinic for their record. I remember my hair was thinner than average. Avg. hair per graft I can work out based on my previous post. I think overall I did not have as many hairs per graft as you did. Also I remember that I was concerned about the density per cm2 plan (seemed slightly lower than others), but trusted the Dr and it seems to be ok so far.

Sure! Should I start a new thread about the whole experience and review of clinic, or just input here? Dr Harold Ma - Singapore https://freia.sg/aboutus/ I believe Dr Ma is one of the best HT surgeons in the world, but may be less well known internationally due to Singapore’s strict rules around how HT clinics can promote themselves. Many years of experience. Mastered FUT before FUE (which I learned is important). I visited a few clinics and chose carefully based on the skill and experience of the Dr and the length of service and skills of his support team. Dr Ma was very realistic from the beginning, not over promising, which gave me more confidence in him. He was involved throughout the whole process. He personally held multiple sessions with me in the weeks and days before the surgery to discuss the plan. He then did the hairline design, injected the anaesthetic, and did the extractions. Dr Ma counted every single punch out loud, which was nice to follow along. His team would then pull out the grafts at the same time and provide live confirmation whether it was good or transected, so he could adjust as he went. The team working on me was 4 support staff + Dr Ma, with a row of microscopes next to the bed (also learnt from these forums the importance of these). Dr Ma then made all the incisions and then observed the implantations by his team, making adjustments and advice along the way. The surgery took 2 days. Day 1: 2739 grafts, comprising 361 singles, 1189 doubles and 1189 triples Day 2: 2281 grafts, comprising 124 singles, 908 doubles and 638 triples

Bro, your SMP looks better than mine ever did. Thanks for sharing.

Bro. Thank you for all your excellent videos and for sharing your journey.

Just a note to say that I would not have gone through with the procedure if it were not for the excellent videos made by Mr Rolandas: https://youtube.com/c/MrRolandas I found his journey very reassuring and it gave me the confidence to go ahead with mine. I am extremely grateful to people like him and all the other excellent HT YouTubers who create content like this.

Back at work and no longer bald 👍🏻

That is great that SMP helped you. I was also very happy with it for all those years, despite the fading and slight colour change. Most people assumed it was just a shaved head, I think people generally don’t care or pay much attention to other people’s hairlines (other than us!). I think I would recommend getting the SMP hairline removed before the transplant, if it is too low. I did mine after as I was worried the HT wouldn’t work, so I wanted to keep my SMP shaved look. I should have had more faith. If the SMP hairline is high enough to match your HT design, then I would say keep it and just get the HT on top. Here is a photo close up of my HT hairline on top of SMP. This is with wet hair slicked back, so usually the SMP is not this visible:

Straight out of the swimming pool. Wet hair.

Very happy

Laser removal of SMP hairline (too low) 3 months into recovery from HT. Carefully done by Dr Toby (different Dr at clinic). Not a single graft lost.

Images from procedure

Before SMP. Many many years ago.

Yup. I was happy with it, but it did not look realistic. Here is a photo.

4 month result before and after

Thanks bro. Honestly, when I shave my head right down with a blade, to me it looks just the same as it did before the surgery. This is a big relief for me. Dr Harold Ma in Singapore. I am still in month 2 of recovery, so I will share full photos at 6 months to share if the procedure worked. I am hoping for a high graft survival rate, but cannot tell yet. At least if it fails, I know that I can just continue shaving my head without worrying about scars.

I had the discussion with my Dr about punch size. I was concerned about scars, so was pushing for the smallest possible punch size. He explained that it is a balance, as the larger the punch, the lower the transaction rate, and also the higher the graft survival rate - even with an experienced surgeon. I am happy I agreed to allow 0.9 punch, as my scars are still small enough not to be noticeable. I hope this will result in a higher graft survival rate, but will have to wait and see.

Good question. My main concern was scars, but I am extremely happy with how it looks in the donor area now. Skin to scar colour contrast and surgeon skill are definitely big factors. I hope 5020 grafts will be enough for reasonable coverage and density on top. We will have to wait and see. I will share before and after photos at 6 months post-procedure (currently at 2). I have seen the opinion that over-harvesting in the donor should be avoided, which I understand. In an ideal world of course this would be best. However, I was shaving my head with a blade down to nothing every day for 7+ years. If I had to lose 100% of my donor but could have full coverage and density on top, that would still be an improvement from what I had as a bald guy anyway. I have seen that SMP can go wrong into donor scar tissue. I am very happy that I feel I don’t need it after 5K FUE as my scars are so subtle. But if after 12 months I still need more grafts to get reasonable density then I will reconsider.

Very good request. Unfortunately I didn’t take any good pre-surgery shaved down with blade pics. This is the best I have: Living in Singapore I will certainly spend time in the sun once fully recovered, so I will be sure to share more pictures with a tan. I think you are right and it has a lot to do with skin colour contrast to scar colour.

Quite thin (left before - right after but wet)

Dr Harold Ma in Singapore. I am not sure if this is normal, but Dr Ma did all the punches and counted out loud every one, it was nice to hear and follow it. His team extracted as he went and would call out if each graft was good or transected, so he could adjust.

SMP 7 years ago but just on top. None in scars.

0.9 punch

Compare with immediate post-op

Side

I am not sure where is best to post this but I wanted to share my experience. I have had FUE 5020 grafts over 2 days. 2 months into recovery now. One of my major concerns was how the FUE scars would look if the transplant failed and I needed to shave my head right down to nothing with a blade. I could not find many examples of this. I am happy with the result so far and here is a picture. You can see one larger scar, but that was pre-existing before the surgery. The FUE dots are not very noticeable. I hope this helps someone out there.