Dr. Kongiat Laorwong 3647 Graft (probably NW 4 or so)

[Wingtsun]

Hi,

First of all, I'd like to thank the people on this forum for the huge amount of details and information I've gathered here while reading posts and comments.

I'd like to give back to the community and try to give a detailed write up about my experience and thoughts. 

History

I'm 37 and have started balding in my early-twenties. Both of my granddads were bold so probably it is in my family.

Starting research

I have never really thought about getting a hair transplant although I was always hiding my head with a cap and was super unconfident in myself. I just never thought I could do such a big surgery and stop exercising.

Eventually a few month ago I started thinking of getting a hair transplant because I just wanted to get my confidence back and go out without thinking about my hair and a cap. 

Searching for a Clinic

I started reaching out to clinics and contacting them to get my estimated graft count and just to see what the would say.  In the beginning it was mainly in Turkey as they are the most famous ones in terms of how many clinics operate there and how many people go to them.

The first places I reached out were Serkan Aygan, Vera, Smile, Cosmedica which are all hair mills in Turkey. I saw reviews on youtube and so on and thought they would be ok.

Then I found this forum and started checking out Dr.s not clinics because I got a bit afraid of how it would look like after my surgery with a hairmill.

All of the above clinics quoted me around 3500-4000 grafts.

After researching for here for a bit and basically ended up with the following short list of clinics to consider:

• Turkey: Gur or Turan (Gur with around 3000 grafts and turan with 3500)
• Thailand: Dr. Laorwong (Absolute Hair Clinic) Got a 3500 quote
• Spain: Dr. de Freitas (said 3000 just for hair line and mid scalp and I would need to return for another one for my crown)

In the end, my decision wasn't based just on price. I was looking at recommendations from other people who went through with the procedures at those clinics, the distance I'd need to travel

I thought about going to Dr. Gur but eventually went with Dr. Laorwong since I have seen better work from him on this forum and he is a bit closer to where I live. 

The price was per Graft about 2 Euros so a bit more expensive then Dr. Gur. Dr. de Freitas said 8000 Euros for 3000 grafts but he wasnt open until summer next year.

Booking

I booked the date and sent the 20000 Bhat to reserve my date. Thats all I had to do.

Arriving in Bangkok

I arrived in Bangkok on a Thursday morning  and went to my hotel. After I checked in I went a bit sightseeing until my pre op consultation.

Pre-op Consultation

I arrived at the clinic at 3 p.m. to have my pre-op consultation in person with Dr. Laorwong. When I arrived, I filled in a health questionnaire and waited. I guess the consultation was just standard procedure - he checked my hair, and my donor area, discussed the proposed hairline with me, explained how far he can go, how many grafts, and answered some of my questions.

When it finished, I was tested for HIV and given some special shampoo with instructions to wash my hair twice that evening and twice the next morning because I had some pimples on my scalp. He also gave me some antibiotics to take the day before.

Surgery day

After waking up I went to the gym for a light and I mean light session and the went to get breakfast.

I arrived at 8 a.m. at the clinic and got prepped for the surgery - marking the hairline and other lines, shaving my hair, taking blood for PRP, giving me some meds and then straight to the OP Room where anaesthesia was applied.

I was scared of that part. I've heard that it was the painful part of the procedure and was a bit stressed out about it, but it ended up being around 1/10 in terms of pain. Almost felt nothing. That was the scarriest part for me lol

They gave me valium for sleep and I was in and out of sleep the whole day. It felt like 2-3 hours at most.

I finished at 7:30 pm got some food and went back to my hotel with a taxi.

Post-Op days

I had my wash and check in with the doctor at 2 p.m. so I figured why not walk around a bit in the shopping malls. The clinic gave me a black bandanna I had on so it wasnt really bad and nobody could see that I just had a surgery. I walked around 7000-8000 steps until I went to the clinic.

After the wash and check in I went back to one of the shopping center chilled at starbucks for a bit a walked around a bit again.

Ended up walking 15000 steps that day and pretty much every day I was in Bangkok which was 10 days.

The clinic never gave me saline spray but for the first 5 days they applied an antibiotic ointment on my scalp. 

I was in Bangkok for a while and because of my pimples the dr. offered me to come in and get a wash and Lllt for 2 more days so 7 days in total which was really nice and I did not have to worry about washing it myself.

Photos

Before

One day after my surgery

7 Days after Surgery

14 Days after 

1. 
2.  
3. 20 Days after surgery

 

TBH I dont know if the density is there. I think its getting more sparse but I honestly have not experienced any shedding. I am loosing some hair during shower but only like 20 or so but its not like other people who are loosing 100s of hairs and loose everything in like 5 days or so. It looks to though I am loosing because looks a lot less then before but I am also not sure about the hairline density in my post op pictures.

Any feedback would be appreciated. 

Thank you

[Gatsby]

@Wingtsun you've gone to an excellent surgeon and the work looks very clean. I look forward to following your updates!

[Wingtsun]

@Gatsbythanks. I hope it will turn out good! Super nervous how it’ll turn out and paranoid right now lol

[Scree]

Super nervous and paranoid sounds about right. I'm the same about 2 months post-op. Stiff upper lip and trust the process.

[Jupiter_]

happy growing..you got a lot of grafts for not a big bald area since you had many native hairs...this will give you a nice coevrage if you have high yield. Good luck!

Edited October 26, 2023 by Jupiter_

[Wingtsun]

@Jupiter_

hey thanks for the heads up! I hope it’s gonna be good lol

[Hairwolf]

Good write up and some sharp pics!  Your unaffected hair is quite dense looking so this should be a one and done for you! Hairline design looks good, and yes you are probably just beginning the ugly duckling phase. Mine started at 3 weeks also.

Keep updating and happy growing!

[Wingtsun]

@streethawk

thanks for the words! The doctor said my donor is pretty good and I have pretty thick hair for a Caucasian person so I hope it will turn out good! Just wondering if the ugly duckling phase starts like that for everybody? Like starting with light patches and then I starts really heavy

[Happychap]

6 hours ago, Wingtsun said:

@streethawk

thanks for the words! The doctor said my donor is pretty good and I have pretty thick hair for a Caucasian person so I hope it will turn out good! Just wondering if the ugly duckling phase starts like that for everybody? Like starting with light patches and then I starts really heavy

You're in for a killer result dude!  Just got to grit your teeth during the ugly duckling phase, it's a wild ride.  I had completely bald patches, random bits falling out/ growing here and there etc.  Was annoying to look in the mirror every morning.   At around the 4 month mark it's like my body found the accelerator and floored it.  I feel your pain - waiting is frustrating but an awesome result is coming!  Keep us posted with updates 

[Cooper48]

Thanks for sharing. Looks great. Just have to take it easy and wait and see. I’m at 5 weeks so right in the middle of wait and see. Not fun to look in the mirror but trust the process and the good dr. 

[Wingtsun]

@Happychap

hey man! Thanks! 
it’s really confusing because everybody puts pictures on here after a week or so without shedding and then 1 month progress with almost all hairs gone so how they actually shed(I mean the pattern) nobody knows haha

thanks that you explained to me how your shed was! 

 

[Wingtsun]

33 days since surgery(almost 5 weeks)

It’s been almost 2 weeks since I uploaded my journey and the first few weeks and I’m definitely in the middle of the ugly duckling phase! 
I noticed my corners to be sparse after 10-14 days after the surgery but didn’t loose a lot so I was a bit worried it could be that the transplant wasn’t dense enough and I didn’t loose a lot of hair until 3 weeks after surgery. 
after 3 weeks I could definitely see that my hair wasn’t there anymore and on some days I was loosing a lot in the shower but on some days almost nothing. I’m still loosing so probably not over yet.

let me know what y’all think.

donor picture of my back after 33 days

[Spring15]

Best of luck

[hairman4321]

looks really good at your 1 day after surgery photos. good head shape, you could rock a buzz cut!

[AlexMeister21]

Everything looks on track. Do you know how many grafts were placed specifically in your crown area and then how many were in your frontal third?

[romeo_gent]

Hi Wingtsun, thanks for the sharing. I myself is in the research phase, and Dr Laorwang's clinic is one of my shortlist also. However, due to Dr Laorwang busy schedule, i'm considering his partner, Dr Ratchathorn, which is less mentioned here.

Your head in 2 weeks post ops looks really good. stay strong for the ugly duckling phase and I got a good feeling that your head will turn out stunning! Good luck!

[Wingtsun]

@romeo_gent

hey man! 
thanks for your words! I hope so! I think everybody is like that but I’m super nervous how it will turn out! Density is thing I’m most nervous about!

through WhatsApp you should be able to contact him! Just send pictures and he should respond! Got my answer in a few hours! I’m in Asia so in a close time zone. Maybe if you consider that when sending a message and it should be easier to get back to you for him! 
also I had to wait 2 months for my surgery 

[Wingtsun]

@hairman4321

thanks man! 
some people actually told me that my head shape is pretty good recently! Never thought about that lol

[Wingtsun]

@AlexMeister21

i asked him but I didn’t get a precise answer! He said front and mid scalp around 3000 and crown around 600 if I’m not mistaken.

not 100 % but around that. 

[romeo_gent]

4 hours ago, Wingtsun said:

@romeo_gent

hey man! 
thanks for your words! I hope so! I think everybody is like that but I’m super nervous how it will turn out! Density is thing I’m most nervous about!

through WhatsApp you should be able to contact him! Just send pictures and he should respond! Got my answer in a few hours! I’m in Asia so in a close time zone. Maybe if you consider that when sending a message and it should be easier to get back to you for him! 
also I had to wait 2 months for my surgery 

Hi Wingtsun, I contact the clinic via their published line account. The one who responds to the messages in line is Dr Ratchathorn

 

[Wingtsun]

12 minutes ago, romeo_gent said:

Hi Wingtsun, I contact the clinic via their published line account. The one who responds to the messages in line is Dr Ratchathorn

 

Maybe try WhatsApp! Dr laorwong is the person who responds to WhatsApp.

I honestly don’t know much about dr ratchathorn.

[romeo_gent]

I'm getting quite comfortable with Dr Ratchathorn so I think I will stick to her. She is from the same clinic and they seem to help each other too during the procedure.

[Wingtsun]

1 hour ago, romeo_gent said:

I'm getting quite comfortable with Dr Ratchathorn so I think I will stick to her. She is from the same clinic and they seem to help each other too during the procedure.

When are you planning on doing your surgery?

[romeo_gent]

1 hour ago, Wingtsun said:

When are you planning on doing your surgery?

1st week of Dec.... 

[romeo_gent]

I cannot PM you, but I do have some questions to ask you. if that's okay with you, can you drop me a message in tele: alexystillgreat