Dr Suradej Pong (January 2014)

[Hairvana]

Hello Everyone,

 

This my hair transplant experience with Dr Suradej Pong in Chiang Mai. I'm a 30 year old male from Melbourne, Australia.

 

I could write a bit more about why I choose Dr Pong but I've narrowed it down to four main reasons.

 

Qualifications:

I was speaking to my general Doctor about going for a hair transplant and potentially getting one done overseas. At this stage I was considering Dr Path in Bangkok. My Doctor told me that an important factor with any surgeon is their qualifications and experience. This valuable information set me off in the right direction in considering a HT Surgeon.

 

While comparing Dr Path’s qualifications I found that Dr Pong’s were almost the same. The main difference is that Dr Path has many more years in the field. Dr Path comes highly recommended so when I learnt that Dr Pong was Dr Path’s student / apprentice in Bangkok I was reassured that he was a capable surgeon.

 

Experience:

Dr Pong has been doing hair transplants for over 10 years. I read ever forum post I could find on the online about his patients experiences and results and everything I read and saw was very positive. Also, the patient gallery on his website display good results. I believed all posts and photos to be genuine which made me feel comfortable to approach him for a consultation.

 

Price:

I had my first surgery in Melbourne, Australia about 6 years ago. I won't be mentioning the surgeons. That surgery ended up costing me AUD$7.70 per graft, so I ended up paying for 1000 grafts and received approximately 1,100 grafts.

 

A couple of years after my first surgery I discovered the world of online hair loss forums. In my years of lurking I saw what other surgeons where charging and felt a little bit ripped off. So, this time getting value for moneys was a factor.

 

Patient Results:

Viewing Dr Pong’s patient gallery results was the deciding factor for me. His results appeared the best out of all the surgeons I was considering.

 

Consultation, 23rd of January 2014

 

I arrived in Chiang Mai on a Thursday morning, my consultation was later that day. My fiance pre-arranged a private tour to drive us to the Doi Suthep Temple and to a local market before arriving at the clinic at 2pm. As we were driving around Chiang Mai some paranoia popped into my had about the clinic being and scam run by criminals or it being extremely dirty but once I walked into the clinic all those paranoid thoughts disappeared.

 

During the consultation I asked Dr Pong a lot of questions and he was very detailed in his answering of them. Dr Pong asked me a lot about which medication I was on and was really confused about some of the things my previous surgeon did.

 

My fiance always said that the scar from the donor area from my first surgery was pretty noticeable and I never really believed her because I thought she didn’t have a good idea about what one should look like. Dr Pong shared her opinion.

 

Surgery, 24th of January 2014

 

The surgery pretty much was like the one I had in Melbourne besides lunch.

 

I arrived at the clinic a 8.30am, read and signed some paper work, had my hair washed, had the photos taken then we proceeded upstairs for surgery. The tissue from the donor area and the stitches were all done by lunch, so, I was given lunch before the grafts into the recipient area.

 

I was given 2 Valium in the morning to help me sleep but they didn’t really help and I didn't sleep much at all. I back at my hotel around 5pm that afternoon.

 

All up I had 2783 grafts.

 

 

If anyone has any comments or questions please feel free to ask.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Hairvana

[joeshmo209]

So how did everything go? Are you happy with the results? Is the scar turning out fine?

[Hairvana]

It's coming up to 4 month post operation and everything is going very well.

 

I'm past the shock loss stage because I'm starting to notice my hair is looking thicker every time I look it the mirror. Two weeks ago when my girlfriend's Mother commented on how different my hair looked and wanted to know what I was doing, I knew then the growth was happening.

 

The scar is still red but there is no pain or tightness now. My girlfriend said the scar is barely visible.

 

I'm extremely happy with the progress so far, but there is still a while to go.

 

Photos on 20/05/2014

[thickandthin]

Nice progress Hairvana. How is your hair now?

[Hairvana]

I'll be providing some photo updates this week.

[Hairvana]

At this stage I'm extremely happy with my results.

 

 

 

 

[OnTheMend]

Dr Pong is a legend! I have had two operations with him and have been so impressed! Have a read of my profile. :-) ONTHEMEND

[aguafria]

I have similar hair loss to you. Thinning on the top of the head,etc.

I'm in CM now, but I was leaning more towards Dr Path in Bkk.

Your results look really good; one thing that struck me as strange about Dr Pong, is that all his patients hair looks the same. theres a certain style to the hair that I didn't quite like, but I wasn't able to tell if that was just how the nurse combed their hair before the photos or not; whereas with Dr Path, it just looked great in general; but the photos on his website aren't anywhere near as plentiful as Pongs website.

 

How is your density in the crown?

[KO]

How did I miss this? Looks good. Do you have any more preop and final photos? You have good hair characteristics. Coarse and dense. OTOH, it's hard to believe you accomplished this with just 2.7k grafts....did you see a great response from meds?

[Hairvana]

I have similar hair loss to you. Thinning on the top of the head,etc.

I'm in CM now, but I was leaning more towards Dr Path in Bkk.

Your results look really good; one thing that struck me as strange about Dr Pong, is that all his patients hair looks the same. theres a certain style to the hair that I didn't quite like, but I wasn't able to tell if that was just how the nurse combed their hair before the photos or not; whereas with Dr Path, it just looked great in general; but the photos on his website aren't anywhere near as plentiful as Pongs website.

 

How is your density in the crown?

 

 

Hi, I'm planning on going back this year to fill in my crown. As you can see in my pre-op photo with the out line on my scalp the crown didn't receive any grafts. The density of my natural hair in my crown area is poor I would say.

[Hairvana]

How did I miss this? Looks good. Do you have any more preop and final photos? You have good hair characteristics. Coarse and dense. OTOH, it's hard to believe you accomplished this with just 2.7k grafts....did you see a great response from meds?

 

Hi, It's been on my mind to submit some more photos recently, might get around to it soon. Thank you for the comment and I take it as a compliment that you find it hard to believe the results are based off 2700 grafts.

 

Regarding the meds, I really couldn't give you a great insight if they made a difference or not, I just followed Dr Pongs directions and took the medication regime he prescribed. My crown area hasn't improved for what it is worth.

[scars]

Hi Hairvana

 

I am hoping to see Dr Pong this July , I have had few operations here in Melbourne and with age have lost some hair but my main concern is the Scars in the front ( forehead area ) both Temple / sides and some at the back which are very visible , so my plan is to cover these scars is more important at this stage