Hairwolf

4 hours ago, A_4_Archan said:

@streethawk His work looks clean as always ...and density seems to be very good as well...can you please upload a pre op pic in which your hair is grown out so can get some idea about your actual scale of hairloss...

hey Archan sure will do. upload later on today.

Surgery plan

duplicate pic pls delete

yeah thats what other surgeries said also. Perhaps the grey makes it look like that when in harsh light-they dyed it pre-surgery

Greetings all

firstly, let me echo the many thanks expressed by all first timers for the wealth of invaluable knowledge on the forum. It really gave me such a good grounding about HT technique and hallmarks/standards to look for, and so I felt really comfortable asking the Dr about density cm2, donor quality i.e doubles, triples etc, extraction area, and so on.

I told him the hairline I want: on the conservative side and I envisaged 7.5 cm as according to pictures sent to other surgeries they all said my donor was on the weak side and a 4000 figure donor capacity was quoted. I therefore was not confident about much lower. To my relevant astonishment however, Dr Laorwong told me I had a decent donor with at least 6k grafts and lots of doubles and triples! As an aside, I first visited a hair surgeon in my country like over 17 years ago and he rejected with one of the reasons cited as a lack of good donor hair-but more about that later! I asked was there a possibility to lower it to 7cm and he said yes reassuring me I had enough grafts. was pretty thrilled at that! so 3500 was agreed for zones 1-4. I also asked for the hairline to be uneven with irregularities which seems to have been achieved.

For context, I began (noticing) losing hair while still 24, and I was in denial, trying to come over the bald patch on my head where it began. As you can all relate, it really decimated by self-esteem causing depression that never really left me to this day. As an aside I also started going prematurely grey at like 22, however this was a more gradual process but it was noticable in my late 20s also!  Perhaps I can put this one down to stress or trauma or just bad genes I dunno.

This continued for a couple of years where it did not seem to get any worse. I remember looking online about something called 'propecia' but didn't really research more into it. went to a GP and he didnt know what it was either and suggested regaine. I struggled on for another year before buying regaine online. My hair started shedding really badly in like strips but apparently this was meant to be a good thing. Well in my case It wasn't, after about 5 months I chucked it in the bin and was even more depressed as my head looked actrocious with massive bald patches/ everywhere and only prickly peach puzz grew back. This sent me hurtling into another sphere of depression and dont know how I got through it, looking back. Then to top it all off my hairline started receding also.

It was shortly after that I consulted a HT surgeon of great repute in my country, had been on TV etc, He quickly took pictures and very bluntly said this is extensive hair loss, showed me the pics where I was losing hair-which was basically all over the horseshoe! My crown had started dipping which I never noticed before. regarding the minoxidil, he recommended I get off it, prescribed finasteride and said I was ineligible for a HT cos of my age, expectation and lack of good donor hair. He told me to come back and see him in 9 months which I never did cos the hair lost from minox shedding never came back for about 2 years(ever heard of that before?)and I found him abrupt.This privledge cost me 200€ also in 2006!

I basically stayed on fin for the better part of 10 years, in the meantime trying dut while not seeing any difference. I did notice a difference when I stopped as my hair got a lot thinner very quickly so it was helping to maintain it otherwise would be totally bald by now. For some reason my Dad's side of the famiy mostly had full heads of hair, and paternal grandfather had a bit of a bald patch, while my Mum's side were female siblings and my maternal grandfather had a full head of hair also. My dad btw is a diffuse thinner who didnt start losing hair till he was about 50. Nevertheless, My 2 bros lost all their hair in their 20s and would have gone the same way without meds.

My wife and I were trying to concieve-which we did☺️-so I bought some topical fin online and tried for a while but again didn't seem to get any results. started researching clinics a couple of years ago as this obsession has never left my thoughts for too long,  just to keep abreast of any new treatments or somehow still get a transplant as I had the means to do so now. Started watching YT vids and learned a lot but there still didnt seem to be any new treatments until I came across RU about 6 months ago. Yes its a grey area and there is a risk but needless to say I will try anything at this stage. I can say it definitely works: it thickened up all areas of the scalp, including the crown, the humps and the hairline. have not experienced side effects apart from some heart palpitations which have gone away.

I reached out to some of the recommended surgeons here: Bisanga, Mwamba, Eugenix, Devroye and to cut a long story short, I did a video consultation as I was impressed with his natural hairline work posted here and his experience and I booked an apppointment for the surgery over 6 months in advance. However some allegations were made on this forum -Note: these are unsubstantiated-however it made me uneasy and also then realised I didnt research any independent reviews so I found a French forum which had quite a few independent reviews they were indeed mostly positive but there were a few dissatisfied with the density on the hairline. Laorwong was my number 2 choice so after a cost benefit analysis I couldnt justify the cost with Devroye so cancelled and went with Laorwong. I am also based in Asia, so there is that added benefit re distance.

To sum up, at the time of writing in my hotel room, I feel remarkably calm and not as surreal as I thought the experience would be. Tried to make a pillow tower best I could last night, and with the help of some ye old valium had an ok sleep upright and with the help of a robust, whole-neck cushion I woke up in the same position! First wash and lazer treatment all went well.

Well this has been cathartic so any feedback shoot away-Im here all week!

Hi Eagle

safe flight home- after you get over the jet lag and everything else we have to go through:) could you provide us with a report, namely about your experience regarding the preconsulation, which package you choose-and the Dr’s related involvement in the surgery.

All the best 

@Melvin- Moderator

Thanks for the reply Melvin.
 

As I suspected I was overthinking matters😀. FWIW it is the only thing that I have seen that has had any similar effect regarding efficacy. I wonder if it could help with DUPA or retrograde alopecia? 
 

thanks

All

firstly big shout out to all here for the wealth of information regarding hair loss options. It has been extremely valuable; in fact  I was just gonna go to Turkey cos it was cheaper😅.

Anyway for context here is my bio. My hair loss is extensive and I am at least a NW 5 with thinning all over in the horseshoe pattern. Have had hairloss for 20 years now and started taking Minox first after about 2 years of hair loss, of which I had a reaction to so discontinued it. Saw a HT doc who prescribed fin and I was basically on it for over a decade it helped to  mostly maintain rather than for regrowth although looking at old pics I had a lot more hair than now.  I stopped taking it and the hair loss  quickly progressed and then tried topical fin for a couple of years bit but naturally didn’t see any results. Have been back on oral fin for 2 years now and  yes you guessed it nothing in terms of regrowth blah blah.

So started doing research for the last year and and a half and added a dermaroller to my regimen. Tried it for a like a year: longer lengths; different brand but didn’t see any benefit so discontinued. I have been using a micro needling for the last few months, and have seen some thickening but not sure how much that is due to the device.

I also added RU about 8 months ago and have seen some thickening in patches all across the scalp from hairline to crown- not miracle stuff however but promising.

Thus, my question is, as it is sold as a ‘research chemical’ only, would a potential HT Dr be perturbed by disclosure of taking said chemical and basically reject you on that basis?

be good to hear your thoughts fellas. Thanks