AlexMeister21

Diep drama sure brings communities together, eh?

Anti-SLAPP is super strong in California, so those patients probably wouldn't have to worry as much if Diep goes full-blown on chasing negative reviews, but I doubt he'd even go that far in the first place.

Well then yes, if Diep tried to sue me and I had the ability to countersue, you bet your ass I would 🤬 Just imagine that's read back in court by Diep's lawyer one day. "And then he wrote he bet his ass he would countersue".

If Diep tried to sue me, I probably would take him on, especially if anti-SLAPP would potentially throw the burden of legal fees back onto the plaintiff, Diep in this hypothetical scenario. I deliberately took several videos combing through my hair and showing my scar before I had my repair surgery in case I would need them for legal concerns one day. The fact that I had to get a repair surgery at all and in only the areas Diep operated on should be evidence enough. Otherwise, I have multiple statements from other surgeons commenting on the issues with my previous surgeries and of course I have photos. I don't know if I'd be able to countersue though. All of his patients have to sign a contract before surgery that basically throws away their ability to sue, but maybe it'd be different in this case.

As a former Diep patient who is vocal about my negative results and experiences, they have not threatened me with legal action. If they did, I would file an anti-SLAPP motion.

I guess he said Phuket and went to Bangkok.

Thanks Gatsby. Hoping my crown hairs can become thick again as well.

Thanks, hoping for a good result too. Close to 5 weeks now, and I think I've had some more shedding. Also seeing some grafts sprouting.

Thank you. Really hoping the day comes when I can leave the hat at home.

Did you email customer.care@mywhtc.com? I had issues communicating with Mwamba's clinic as well. He's a good surgeon though and is usually very busy so if you really want to see him, I suggest continuing to follow up by email until they respond.

I stayed for about 9 additional days after surgery and it was really nice. I stayed at an AirBnb that was across the street from the clinic. Every day I'd walk over for the hair wash, then maybe pick up some street food on the way back or order Grab and just chill out so it was real relaxing. Since I didn't have complications after surgery, it felt more like a vacation.

For me, it was 80 baht (about $2.30) per graft. I believe the pricing changes depending on how many grafts will be needed as I've seen other patients who needed a higher amount of grafts get charged a lower amount like 65 baht per graft. I believe I've seen another patient state that Laorwong doesn't like using beard grafts, but you can ask him about it. I'm going to have to give it a full 12 months to see how the beard grafts grow in my scar, but the extractions were done very nicely. My beard donor area still looks the same as it did before surgery.

Final thoughts: Overall, I had a fantastic experience with Dr. Laorwong. I really wish I could have just had a one-and-done procedure with him, or at least save 2,000-3,500 grafts instead of having those go to waste from my first two surgeries. At four weeks post-op, I think I’m just starting to shed in the frontal region, though it still looks pretty strong. I believe all of the beard hair grafts implanted in my scar shed around week two. I don’t know if I’m due for a bigger shed in my frontal region soon or not. My first two transplants, I started shedding around day 5 or 6 and everything was gone by the second week. Right now, I do have a few concerns that would have to be assessed with time. There is a thin patch that developed on my hairline around the 9th day. It’s kind of in the shape of a checkmark and I think this may have been caused by me wearing a bucket hat from day 6 to day 9. This has me a bit worried because these grafts shed in a unique pattern quite early while there was not much shedding anywhere else. I can see the incisions in this area, but haven’t seen grafts sprout yet, so I’ll have to wait and see if this area fills in properly. I’m also not expecting the FUT scar revision to be that effective, which is understandable given the size of it and the amount of grafts allocated. On my last hair wash day, Dr. Laorwong looked over my scar and then mentioned that I could consider SMP. I think I’d probably need about another 500-800 grafts to really minimize the scar, but I would have to see if I even have that amount of grafts to expend as I would prioritize saving grafts for my crown and midscalp. Last concern I have is there are some thin patches near my FUT scar, especially on the left side. I expect this to fill in as my donor heals, but just something I am taking note of. I’m happy with the procedure overall and am expecting a good result. Dr. Laorwong’s a great doctor and you get the impression that he’s there to solve a problem for you and cares for your final result. Miscellaneous: If you are planning on staying all 5 days for the after-care, I would recommend staying within walking Traffic in Bangkok can get pretty bad in the afternoon/evening and the city isn’t too well-connected by subway. I stayed in a comfortable $30/night AirBnb with a kitchen, washing machine, etc. and it was a five-minute walk to the clinic. The clinic is right by Krung Thon Buri BTS station, which has several 7-Elevens nearby, a MaxValu supermarket, street food vendors, etc. Here are some photos where you can find AirBnbs near the clinic using the map. The red X is where Dr. Laorwong’s clinic is located. There’s also a big mall called IconSiam that is close to this area. It’s about a 10-15 minute walk from Krung Thon Buri station or you could just ride the subway one stop to get there. It has a nice food market on the bottom floor where you can stock up on post-op food, if you wish. Prices are a bit more inflated here compared to what you can get at more local vendors. For example, Pad Thai was like 100-200 baht (about $3 - $6) here, but you can find it for 40-60 baht (about $1 - $2.50) elsewhere. If you want to go to a more local food market that’s in the area, Open Market – That Phra branch is about two subway stops away (Talat Phlu station) from Krung Thon Buri and has a variety of food options sold at local prices. You have to be careful not to bang your head on the food stalls if you go here though as they can be quite low. If you want to get buttoned shirts to wear after surgery, Pratunam Market and Sampheng Market sell them for pretty cheap. At Pratunam, you can get pretty good quality shirts for 100 baht (about $3). The problem is is that most vendors don’t let you try on the shirts to see if they fit. Otherwise, if you buy shirts at the mall (which I unfortunately did), they sell for like 500 – 2000 baht ($15 - $60). Also, I could not find a plain, all-black bandana anywhere in Bangkok. If you want a particular style of bandana, I would recommend buying it before traveling.

5 Days Post-Op: 2 Weeks: 4 Weeks:

I am 4 weeks post-op of my surgery with Dr. Laorwong at Absolute Hair Clinic in Bangkok, Thailand, which I had on January 31. The procedure was done to add density to previous surgeries in my frontal third, implant beard hair into a FUT scar, and to extract some misangled grafts. I previously had two FUT surgeries with Dr. Diep with unsatisfactory results. Here’s my thread regarding my surgeries with Diep. The main reason why I chose Laorwong is because he is involved in all aspects of surgery and I liked what I saw of his work. I consulted with other surgeons, but I felt Laorwong was more trustworthy as he is the one responding to your texts and emails. He also didn’t try to sell me on booking him as a surgeon and gave me pretty straightforward answers, like telling me he could do nape hairs but cautioned that these hairs weren’t DHT-resistant and scarring could be more visible in that area. I was originally planning on going with another doc and using entirely nape hairs, but I was not informed by them about any precautions using hairs from the nape. No other surgeon recommended any grafts to be extracted, and so I didn’t feel like my repair case would be too complex. In my opinion, the main issue is my depleted donor area and having to manage lifetime grafts. Graft information: Grafts implanted into frontal third – 1,237 grafts Grafts for FUT scar – approximately 600 (524 grafts from beard, ~76 from scalp) 1s – 803 (524 beard hairs and 279 scalp hairs) 2s – 715 3s - 319 Pre-op Photos: Surgery: The day before surgery, I met with Dr. Laorwong and he spent about 30-40 minutes looking over my scalp, donor area, and answering any questions I had. We initially planned on using 800-900 beard grafts for my FUT scar, but I believe Dr. Laorwong felt my beard density wasn’t that good once he saw it in person, so we only did about 600 grafts for the scar. I’m fine with the lower amount as I’d rather see how survivability of grafts would be in my scar area before expending too many grafts on it. On the day of surgery, I went in to the clinic around 1:00 pm and had a HIV test. Afterwards, they shaved my head, gave me some pills, and took photos. Dr. Laorwong initially wanted to only shave my donor up to my scar so I could continue hiding it, but I requested to have my head shaved completely to lessen the chance of any potential complications. Then, I was led into the surgery room and was told to lay face down to begin the anesthesia injections. I did feel pain during the injections, but it wasn’t anything unbearable or lingering. There is someone massaging your leg during the injections and also someone else using a massaging tool at the site of injection. At worst, the pain was probably a 5 out of 10, but it was mostly around 2-4 for me. After the injections, they began extracting hairs from my scalp, which I didn’t feel pain during this process. I don’t know what tool they used, but it felt like a little vacuum that just sucked up each individual graft. I also began drifting in and out of sleep, so my memory is pretty hazy after this. Next thing I remember, I was told to lie down on my back, facing up. They put a towel over my eyes to protect from bright lights that were shining over my head. Then, they started to administer anesthesia in my beard area, which was probably like a 1-2 in terms of pain. I was expecting this to hurt more, but the pain pills had already taken effect and I was also half asleep. I believe they also administered PRP during this time. I couldn’t see anything, but I believe Dr. Laorwong was extracting the beard grafts while I felt someone else implanting hairs on the right side of my head. The next thing I remember, they told me to lie face down again, and this is when they started implanting grafts into my FUT scar. I was asleep for the majority of this part, but awake for about the last 30 minutes of the implantation. At the end, they told me I could sit up. I asked if it was time to implant the grafts into the rest of my head, but they told me that they had already finished everything. I was really surprised because I expected that I had probably another 2-3 hours of surgery to go through. I also did not even notice when they extracted the misangled grafts at my left temple peak. For 7-8 hours, it honestly only felt like 3 hours to me since I was sleeping most of the time. Even though I couldn’t see, I knew Dr. Laorwong was there for the majority of the procedure because I could hear him speaking with staff while working. The only times I noticed he wasn’t in the room were the last 10-20 minutes of the procedure and maybe briefly during the middle of the surgery. After surgery: The surgery itself felt very coordinated and was a night-and-day difference compared to previous surgeries. With Dr. Laorwong, I was in the chair around 1:30 pm and out by about 8:30 pm, so about 7 hours of surgery compared to 14 hours with Diep using a similar amount of grafts. I also mentioned to Dr. Laorwong how long my surgeries with Diep were and he was surprised. I asked him if the time that my grafts were out of body may have affected survival in my previous surgeries and he said it was a possibility. After the surgery, I was given antibiotics and pills for pain, sleeping, and swelling. I didn’t even have to take the pain or sleeping pills as I felt no pain after surgery. I also had no swelling and not much redness in my recipient area. My beard donor area was pretty much back to normal by day 3. The whole experience felt more like a spa treatment than having a surgery. Everything looked so clean post-op that I probably would have walked outside without wearing any headgear if it weren’t for my nasty Diep scar. The after-care provided was also amazing. They wash your hair and provide low-level laser therapy treatment for five days. Due to the after-care, I didn’t have much scabbing or crusts at all and the recipient looked very clean. They also sell 5mg oral minoxidil, 30 tablets for 300 baht (approximately $8.70), and I bought a 9-month supply from them for $78. Dr. Laorwong estimates that I may have about 3,000 scalp grafts remaining in my donor. Not sure if this would be enough to cover the rest of my head in the worst case scenario that I continue losing ground and become a NW6-7. With my head shaved, I can clearly see that hairs in my crown and midscalp haven’t died off completely and are just minaturized. I’m currently taking Finasteride every day and alternating with Dutasteride every 3 days, oral minox, vitamins B and D, and using Nizoral 2-3 times a week in hopes that my thin areas will grow back stronger.

I can't believe I let him touch my head, twice. I'd gladly join a class action lawsuit. After my chats with him and his wife, I sincerely doubt they have any plans on prioritizing patient satisfaction over profit.

I've stayed in numerous AirBnBs all over and only ever had one problem, which was on my recent trip to Bangkok. First place I booked had a clogged and dirty shower drain and the owner didn't pay their WiFi bill. The listing had red flags such as there were like 10-20 reviews left by people from China all in the same month, so perhaps the owner had their friends leave fake reviews. AirBnb gave me a full refund though and I was able to get a much, much better place for the same price and it was a five-minute walk to Laorwong, otherwise I would have had to take a taxi to get there. If you see someone with legitimate reviews on AirBnb, then it should most likely be safe. As for hidden cameras, it is a possibility, but I don't know how likely it is. You could take the time to scan the room for cameras if you are paranoid about it. I believe you could use your phone's camera to see if there are any red infrared dots beaming from any hidden devices. Also, I wasn't able to sleep completely on my back for like 2-3 months after my first two FUT surgeries with another doctor. If you don't have a neck pillow, I would get one as it relieves the pressure that you put on the donor.

Dr. Pekiner's in Turkey and seems to do amazing work. Check out some of his work done on past patients.

I expected there to be a punchline or something here.

Left a Yelp review for Diep today and several hours later, someone posted a 5-star review that sounds very similar to those hit-and-run reviews that are occasionally left for Diep. Last Yelp review he had before me was about a month ago. This is too much of a coincidence, right?

Just caught this thread because I remember speaking with you about Dr. Diep. So glad you didn't go with him and that you picked FUE over FUT. Progress is looking really good so far.

Dr. Mwamba takes nape grafts.

@hair2022 Any updates? Should be at 6 months now. You were supposed to be Diep's comeback patient 🤠

I didn't realize how scarred my recipient looked until I had my head shaved. Looks like the Sahara Desert up there. I'm glad these photos were taken. Makes it hard for others to justify shoddy work.

I believe the row implantation is done for convenience for him and his staff.