Advice from the Australian community

[Toot]

Hi guys, i am 32 years old i have been on finasteride and Minoxidil for the past 8 months with no side effects thankfully. I started to slowly lose hair from my right side around 2 years ago which meant to couldnt part my hair in a way that hid the baldspot/high hair line i had since birth (I have attached some pics below for reference) i havent lost any hair from my crown or even really the left side. Not sure what norwood scale i am. I went to a clinic in Sydney and got some measurements done ( attached below) but i had a small issue that turned me off the clinic. 

 

I am in the process of making my decision of where to get my transplant done. I have been researching now for around 18 months and in all my research i cannot go past Dr Arshad in the UK. I live in Australia so it is a big journey to travel that far. However i found even if i go to Thailand or India to one of the network doctors on here the cost is almost the same if the surgery is performed by a surgeon. I know the travel and time cost are higher but given the significance of what i am having done i really dont think that should determine my decision. 

 

I have noticed a lot of guys from here only really look at Thailand or india and dont give much attention to the clinics in Europe I would love to hear why?
Or know if any experiences people have had/advice people think i should be armed with before making any commitment.

I have also heard of some people getting good work done here in Aus but eveyrthing i have read on here suggests that staying local is a bad idea. 

Edited July 20, 2022 by Toot
Grammar

[deeznuts]

Europe is great. I don't know why more people don't go to Europe with Bisanga, De Freitas, Zarev, Couto, and more

[Jonulous]

Unless the Thailand prominence is sort of just on the coat tails of all the other cosmetic medical tourism that flows in that direction? Possibly the case.

I did the Europe option. Perhaps one thing that drags it down for some is the value added taxes (VATs) that can be applied over and above the base price across the EU (unsure with the UK now it is its own realm). But there are actually carve-outs from having to shell out for that, as I or others can attest.

 

[Melvin- Admin]

Convenience is probably the biggest reason. Thailand is a short plane ride, where as Europe is much longer. In terms of quality. There are some talented surgeons in Europe. But there’s also great options in Thailand and India. So it boils down to results, cost, and convenience. 

[Gatsby]

I would consider Dr Pradeep Sethi and Dr Arika Bansal of Eugenix in India two of the best surgeons in the world. Dr Path and Dr Kong from Thailand have presented their excellent results here and many other Aussies on this forum have gone to them. I'm from Melbourne and I've been researching hair transplant surgeons for the past 37 years so I can promise you that you really dodged a bullet by avoiding surgery here in Australia. The other crazy thing is that here you will pay just as much or more as many of the best surgeons in Europe or Canada, etc. The worst thing you could do is to jump into surgery not only here in Australia but surgery ASAP. Spend some time on the forum and look at the surgeons who's work you feel you admire. It's great that you can tolerate finasteride orally and got onto meds early. That already puts you ahead of the pack. But whether it's Belgium, India or Brazil, the travel is nothing compared to looking at the results in the mirror everyday for the rest of your life if you don't do your research. All the best!