TomA

Thanks for answering for me while I was away!

At least that, wb. I'm not sure why Vinny is taking the stance that he wasn't talking about the pricing schedule. Charges for shaving and stitches are as much a part of the pricing schedule as the price per graft. In any event, wb280 is exactly right. Shaving makes things faster and easier for the doctor and that means the price is lower--in this case--for the patient. Maybe instead of adding a charge for not shaving, physicians could mark up the price a bit and have a discount FOR shaving. This kind of pricing schedule tends to reduce customer dissatisfaction. (Yeah, I'm a marketing prof.) This psychology works just as well in my classes: When I deducted points from students for not attending classes, I got a lot of complaints. But when I started giving bonus points FOR attending classes--POOF--the complaints were gone. In the end, the result is the same. But in the 10 years I have been doing this, I have only had ONE student that actually had the 'nads to say, "I wasn't there, but could I get the points anyway?" LOL. Likewise, it is hard to imagine someone saying, "I don't want to shave, but could I still get the shaving discount?"

It was done by Dr. Madhu.

Can you explain why you believe the pricing schedule relates to "quality of work"? That doesn't seem to make any sense. If you have 3000 grafts at Dr. Madhu's without shaving and with absorbable stitches, you will pay $3600. Which amounts to $1.20 per graft. Have you found a deal in the US in which you can get the same for even twice that price? As to the schedule itself, Dr. Path told me that my first transplant took a few hours longer than normal due to not shaving. I suppose that a lot of physicians that do not require shaving simply build this into the price.

That is my understanding. Dr. Path does demonstrations for other surgeons. New photos are now available in my blog.

I got my second HT from Dr. Madhu yesterday. He was there for everything except the implantation, and even then he looked in sometimes. You do meet with an assistant first (also an MD) who takes all of your information and then takes it to Dr. Madhu who then goes over it with you personally. All in all it was a great experience, though I obviously have no results to show yet...

LOL... ok, I'm just sitting quietly in my hotel. No pain whatsoever so far and it is already 11:00 PM. By the way, Dr. Madhu said that my scar from Dr. Path was hard to find--nearly invisible in some places--making it hard to follow when removing the strip from the donor area. He told me that he did the best he could to follow it. He also told me that he learned his closing technique from Dr. Path and he does it exactly the same way, but that second transplants rarely have a scar so invisible and that I should be prepared for that.

Dr. Madhu has wifi! I'm out of surgery and feeling very good... due to the meds I'm sure. I had 2249 grafts--the doctor's estimate was VERY close. Things went fast, too. I arrived at 9:30, due to myriad problems (having nothing to do with the clinic OR my hair) which the friendly staff is helping me to solve. We started at 10:20 and finished at 15:30 so 5:10 total, and I took two bathroom breaks. About 500 grafts were placed in the front hairline to thicken that up a bit. The rest were placed in the back toward the crown. If all goes well, I will go from a relatively large bald spot to a much smaller bald spot. I'll need one more for complete coverage according to Dr. Madhu (and Dr. Path told me the same thing several years ago). One difference this time is that I was awake for a much longer part of the surgery. I also got to see what some of the grafts looked like. Everyone here was wonderful, by the way. It has been a great experience thus far!

SURGERY TODAY! A bit nervous... mostly about the pain tonight. Had a consultation with Dr. Madhu yesterday. He recommended 300-500 grafts on the front left and the rest in the crown area. Due to laxity, he believes we will only get 2000-2200 this session--still not enough to cover the crown--however he will take as much as possible. Rather than covering the entire crown sparsely, he recommended continuing to work backward which will both provide better coverage and make a future transplant easier to do without a shave. Apparently, I have enough donor for at least one additional session in the future. OK, I'm off to surgery!

The recipient area.

From the doctor's recommendation page: Dr. Madhu makes use of parallel (sagital) incisions for single hairs while perpendicular (coronal/lateral) incisions are reserved for multi-haired follicular units. While Dr. Madhu’s use of sagital incisions for single hairs helps him and his staff in identifying slit sizes, he employs the lateral slit technique for multi-haired grafts because he feels it provides a greater illusion of density.

This is a legitimate question, as I personally would not have had the procedure if would have been required to shave my head. I stand up in front of people for a living. I can do that with a naturally bald look, but not with some random part of my head shaved. Dr. Path does not require that you shave, put prefers it. And (at least when I was there) he did did not charge extra if you chose not to do so, even though it takes him and his team a lot longer to do the procedure. Dr. Madhu does not require you to shave. He prefers that you do, however, and charges an additional US$425 if you don't. I'm having work done on the crown (mostly) this time, and might let him shave that IF he doesn't go too far. What do you think?

Work on the crown and above the left temple to thicken up the area near where I part my hair. Dr. Path originally offered me this option and I didn't go for it, because I didn't understand the benefits. I should have. I'm very happy with him. However, first, you have to book three months in advance to get in with him and I decided to do this three weeks ago. Second I will be in India anyway and am making a side trip to Hyderabad. Third, Dr. Madhu's pricing at $1.05 (flat) a graft makes this almost an impulse purchase. Dr. Path is at $3.10 (scaled) per now, so we are talking $3000 vs. around $8-9000.

That would be cool. I will be there on July 29th or 30th and will be flying back to BKK on August 2. Any hotel recommendations would be appreciated!

I got a couple of phony relationship spams here last night. This is the typical relationship spam BS... probably the same person as well. Pretty stupid to send two, as it makes the scam even more obvious, but, hey, its a spammer. They are not exactly the brightest people. I can't believe that anyone around here would fall for these, but just in case, the user names are: christina4u who wrote: My name is Miss Christina, i saw your profile today and after going through it, i fill more intrest to contact you ,i will like you to please send me an email at my email address via (christinawilliam90@yahoo.com) for me to send you my pics and to tell you more about me. then from here we can move on.I will be waiting for your reply on my email address above.thanks Christina.(christinawilliam90@yahoo.com) The other is aarifasweet who wrote: Hi dear new friend, how are you ? i am miss Aarifa Ebue i saw your profile today and became interested to be your friend for i know that our friendship will produce a fruitful result. hopeing that you will accept my request,if you accept my request Please send an email directly to my mail (aarifaebue@hotmail.com)so taht i will reply you as soon as possible with my pictures and also tell you more about myself I believe that we shall move from here,note (age,colour,distance and language does not matter in life) it is love that matters a lot in life,for love is the ultimate in life,and i believe nothing will stop our love in life,so i am waiting for your reply at(aarifaebue@hotmail.com) thanks and remain blessed yours new friend miss Aarifa

ZERO. No... I don't think this will happen, as I have stopped losing hair (and do not use minoxidil). Toppik makes TOO much mess for me. I use Dermmatch, though, but sparingly. One container lasts me 9 months.

LOL... you guys are funny. Well, I leave for India in 5 days. Will visit Dr. Madhu on the 30th for an overview and then have the surgery on the 31st. I only have two apprehensions at this point: 1. The PAIN on the first night. I hope he gives me something pretty strong as it was nearly unbearable after my first one. I just had paracematol (Asian for acetaminophen) and whoa... that night sucked. 2. Hoping the scar ends up looking as good the second time around!

Not joking. Check here: Bangkok Red Zone (the ones at the end are the ones where we got pinned down by the snipers for a few hours). Yes she is going to India. We pretty much go everywhere together--though she wouldn't go near Rajaprasong during the protests. My poor Thai language is why we got trapped by the snipers. The Thais in the area started yelling and disappeared--I didn't understand what they were saying. (Apparently it was something like get the **** out of here there are snipers around!) I was showing several British journalists around the area when I walked right up to an RTA soldier who was crouched down and pointing his M-16 directly up at me. The full story is under one of the photos at the end of that set.

Ha. I am in Bangkok now, and have been since May. To let you know how risk averse I am NOT, I have pix of me by the red shirt stage on my Facebook page. I also have pix of me holed up on a small soi (alley) in Bangkok hiding out from the May 19 snipers who ended up killing a couple people. Wow... you were lucky to get that appointment! Looks fine to me. You can see my 1 month scar on my blog (I think). It was just OK at 1 month (still quite red), but by 6 months it was hard to find. I had a lot of shock loss, too. It was my biggest concern AFTERWARD. But it all came back--don't worry about it at all.

Well, 1. I've not an exceptionally risk averse person. (Keep in mind that I went to Dr. Path based on my own research before he was ever recommended here.) 2. I will be in India anyway. 3. Dr. Madhu had an opening with less than a month's notice. Dr. Path typically requires 3 or more. 4. Dr. Madhu is currently at $1.10 per graft--an incredible price when you are earning in Dollars and paying in Rupees. Dr. Path is at $2.85 per. Maybe a $4k difference in the final analysis. Actually, as long as the Doc is good, I'm not very concerned. I have a feeling that Dr. Madhu will simply cut both sides of the same line, but I will be sure to ask him about that, thanks for the tip. My scar is very nearly invisible, and that is the biggest concern for me, I suppose. I have had several RNs that couldn't find it. Dr. Path seems to an especially good job in that regard. I haven't heard anything about Dr. Madhu in terms of scars.

OH, Bill... about the scalp exercises. Yeah, I know I should be doing that. Do they really help a lot? Any special tips? Are they still effective with only 3 weeks or so to go?

Thanks everyone... I'm intending to do as much as I can with the crown. Thanks BigBill, yes, Dr. Path did a great job with 3300 grafts.

I'm going in for my second procedure--this time with Dr. Madhu--on July 31, based on his recommendation on this site. Let me say that I have nothing but good things to say about my experience with Dr. Path, but I will be in India anyway and Dr. Madhu has excellent prices AND an open slot on the weekend. Round trip flights from Delhi to Hyderabad are only $100!

There was ONE guy that had ONE post here. Never believe ANYTHING from someone with one post. More likely it was a competitor in Hyderabad... :rolleyes:

Look the dontbafool guy has ONE POST. Which means he registered here just to post ONE BAD COMMENT about Dr. Madhu. Suspicious? Definitely. It's probably a jealous competitor.