Absolute Hair Clinic | Dr. Kongkiat Laorwong | FUE 4128 | 45M | NW6 | October 2023

[Gatsby]

I have to agree with @Berba11. If you look back to the original pre op pics this is too early at 5 months to judge anything. Growth will continue for the months ahead. The donor has already bounced back well. 👊

[mrmane85]

For 5 months you are rocking my bro. 

[rja]

Hello everyone.

So I've gone back to Dr Laorwong to do my mid-scalp and crown at the 5.5 months mark. When I scheduled it I didn't actually notice it was slightly before the 6 months mark but I guess that doesn't make too much of a difference now

Prior to the procedure I've spoken with him about his idea for the second part and sort-of agreed on a 2000-2500 grafts procedure to cover the remainder of my bald head.

The number was surprisingly the same one that I've been quoted by both Eugenix (I've had a consultation w/ Dr Erica) and Hairtran (I've consulted w/ Dr Patty), which made me feel more confident.

I'll save the details around the pre and post-op process as it was practically identical in both cases for me - I stayed for the same amount of time in Bangkok, had the same pre-op tests and medications, and the same post-op care for 5 days before I headed back home.

I had a pre-op consultation with Dr Laorwong the day before and he examined my donor and was (I believe) quite surprised. I think he didn't expect it to that good. I was telling him that I wanted to use as much beard hair as possible, and as far as I was concerned he could take out 100% of my beard if he can, but he said it might not be necessary.

I ended up with 3847 grafts taken from my scalp donor only and implanted into the bald part.

The extraction started at about 9 am (got there earlier to get a haircut, medications, etc) and the transplant ended at about 9:30 pm.

It was a more difficult session this time than the one I had before. For some reason, I had a lot of lower back pain and a more frequent need to go to the toilet which made them have to pause a couple more times during the whole day. I'm not sure if it was one of the medications they gave me or something else I've taken or eaten or something, but it was extremely annoying for me and I can only imagine it was the same for them.

I was also surprised (and a little bit disappointed) that they didn't use beard grafts. I was hoping to leverage beard hair and save scalp hair for the future, but perhaps it won't make a difference... time will tell I guess.

All in all, I think I got good coverage now, even though the density might not be great, but as some of you have said in previous comments - compared to where I started from - there's no comparison!

Below are a few photos from different moments:

Pre-op before hair cut:

Pre-op after hair-cut and with Dr markings on my head (my scalp was red in many places with dry skin - I've had this happen every now and then - it comes and goes):

Next day after the first wash:

Last day (5th day) after the wash:

Other interesting (I think) details:

• I asked the Dr if I should continue with Min 5mg or cut down to 2.5mg - he suggested to continue with 5mg
• He also suggested to start taking Fin 1mg daily to preserve my hair. I've started taking it (been a week now) but I was surprised as to why he suggested it now and not the first time. He said he thinks I might still be losing hair (as in - my progression hasn't stabilised yet) so it's best to take it
• I also asked him how many grafts he believes I still have left in case I need them in the future and he said around 1000. Not sure if that's a good or a bad number to have, but I have a feeling that in a year or two, after both transplants have had time to mature and stabilise if I see that I need and decide to go for a third one for density, I'm going to insist on 100% beard grafts, so it won't make much difference.

I'll try to get some reasonable photos of my front in a couple of days and upload on the 6 months mark.

Thank you all for your support and for following up on my story here!

 

[Melvin- Admin]

This is gonna be an incredible journey to follow 🙏

[rja]

On 4/13/2024 at 3:11 AM, Melvin- Admin said:

This is gonna be an incredible journey to follow 🙏

Thanks @Melvin- Admin  

[rja]

Ok, so here are some photos I took this morning at the 6-month mark.
Please note my hair was still slightly wet from the morning shower.

• Not a lot of change (in my opinion) for the front part, especially considering the photos from 2 weeks ago.
• From a quick conversation with Dr Laorwong, he told me that he thinks about 80% of my grafts have sprung, so he expects about a 20% improvement in density by the 1-year mark.
• Continuing on Min 5mg and added Fin 1.25mg (a 5mg tablet cut into 4) as of a week ago.
• My donor site is still a little sensitive and red but it mostly doesn't bother me.

In general, I look like a plucked rooster at this point 😜 but I know it's temporary...

 

 

[rja]

Hi guys,

Today is the 1-month mark for my second HT (6.5 months for the first).

I've taken a few photos to show the progress.

• I've started wearing my (front) hair combed backwards as can be seen in the photos. Frontal density is still lacking, but hopefully will improve with time.
• Started experiencing shedding from the new HT about 2 weeks ago
• Donor redness is gone (or unnoticeable)
• Lots of white hair on my sides

front:

front / top:

top:

back:

left:

right:

 

[Hairwolf]

As i previously mentioned the front is looking good considering your starting point. You have enough to comb it back with an illusion of density and chance of some more thickening and maturation.

Edited May 2 by Hairwolf

[franklewis92]

Ffront line looks very natural. Congratulations!

[rja]

8 hours ago, Hairwolf said:

As i previously mentioned the front is looking good considering your starting point. You have enough to comb it back with an illusion of density and chance of some more thickening and maturation.

Thanks @Hairwolf. I'm hoping it will thicken and mature more in the next 6 months, but I like what I see in the mirror, so I can't really complain  

[rja]

8 hours ago, franklewis92 said:

Ffront line looks very natural. Congratulations!

Thanks @franklewis92

[Gatsby]

Considering this is only 6.5 months @rja with HT number two just beginning this will be a great result. Give the donor time to thicken up and bounce back. I agree that combing it back looks the best IMHO. 👌

Edited May 3 by Gatsby

[rja]

1 hour ago, Gatsby said:

Considering this is only 6.5 months @rja with HT number two just beginning this will be a great result. Give the donor time to thicken up and bounce back. I agree that combing it back looks the best IMHO. 👌

Thanks @Gatsby. Yeah, I know it's just waiting at this stage. I'm keeping up the positive thinking and looking forward to seeing myself with long hair again one day 🙏

[rysker6]

Hey man this looks really promising, congrats!  Any updates ? 

Edited June 28 by rysker6

[4chanhrn]

Taking nearly 8000 out of that donor with just FUE without using body hair is extremely good donor management. And you have 1000 more they can still take out.

Excited to see what final result looks like.

 

[Sunshine09]

have you noticed more white hairs in the sides post HT? is this a side effect of an HT? i didnt think it would be...? can anyone confirm?

[Oben]

Looks good! Also donor looks good. Looking forward to see your result on the crown👌

 

[rja]

1 hour ago, Sunshine09 said:

have you noticed more white hairs in the sides post HT? is this a side effect of an HT? i didnt think it would be...? can anyone confirm?

I did notice that. In both HTs actually. I'm not certain if this is temporary (hopefully) or not.

When I looked at the transplanted hair, though, I see very little white hairs (almost nothing), so I can only assume the white hair is a side effect of sorts.

[rja]

7 hours ago, rysker6 said:

Hey man this looks really promising, congrats!  Any updates ? 

Thanks. I'll post new photos in a few days at the 3 months mark (for the 2nd HT).

[CautiousResearcher]

On 10/21/2023 at 6:34 AM, rja said:

Hi everyone,

First of all, I'd like to extend my gratitude for the huge amount of details and information I've gathered here while reading posts and comments on this forum from all of you who were so kind to share your personal experiences.

I'd like to give back to the community from my experience as well so I'm sitting here now to write this one up and hopefully help someone else make a decision (one way or another). It's probably gonna be a long one, so apologies in advance - I'll try to add sub-topics here for those who wish to skip chapters

History

I'm 45 (almost 46 actually) and have started balding in my mid-twenties. My father is bald and so is my brother, although my uncles and cousins aren't. It was always obvious to me that baldness was just one of those things that I can "look forward to" as I age, and while not being too happy about it, I learned to accept it in some way.

I started entertaining the idea of getting a hair transplant about 10 years ago, but never had the conviction to actually go and do it - I think it was mainly because I didn't understand how putting new hairs in a place that makes them fall would have any kind of success and I never really found the time to research more and understand how the mechanisms work.

Initial Consultation

The decision to finally go about and try to get it done was prompted by a Facebook ad I saw about a Hair Clinic in Australia that does Robotic Hair Transplants, I decided to go and check it out thinking "Hey if it's robotic, it's probably quite advanced so maybe there's a good chance of this working".

I scheduled a consultation with them and was told almost instantly when I came in that I was not a good candidate as I didn't have enough hair left as I was never on meds. The consultant suggested I get other family members I might have in the same situation on meds as early as possible to help them avoid reaching my situation at a later age and also gave me the name of a good SMP clinic they recommended 🤦‍♂️

I left the place quite shocked as this was not what I expected to hear. I kept thinking- "was hair transplant only relevant for people who already have hair?" That didn't make any sense, but I left it as is and went on with my life.

Coming back to it

A month or so later, while still having these thoughts in my head (and Facebook ads about clinics in Turkey popping up all the time), I decided to look for more information on the internet and found this site.

I started reading about everything I could - posts about people's experiences, questions (and answers) about medications, technical info regarding how the transplants actually work, the differences between the techniques, industry buzzwords etc. I was especially happy and impressed to see people posting their photos pre and post-surgery and the follow-ups that came afterwards. People who were in a similar situation to mine (at least from my unprofessional evaluation of their pre-surgery photos) and what results they were getting. It gave me hope and determination that this is something that might actually work for me too!

With that information at hand, the decision was a no-brainer for me - I knew I was going to go through with it - it was just a matter of deciding where and when.

Searching for a Clinic

I started reaching out to clinics - mainly in Turkey at first, as they are the most "famous" ones in terms of how many clinics operate there and how many people go to them, but I wasn't shy from looking into other places.

After researching for a few months here, I basically ended up with the following short list of clinics to consider:

• Turkey: Dr. Resul Yaman
• Cypress: Dr. Christina (HDC)
• Thailand: Dr. Laorwong (Absolute Hair Clinic)
• India: Dr. Das (Eugenix)
• Brazil: Dr. Pitella

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 live in Australia) and also what was included in the package deal.

Another big factor was that I would certainly need a lot of grafts to be able to cover my bald head (I'm a NW6) and depending on the clinic and doctor, it would require multiple sessions, which might or might not be done in a mega-session.

Choosing a Clinic

I'll start with the "easy" choices.

Dr. Yaman's clinic was the first one I spoke with and they were certainly the cheapest option (even including travel, accommodation, etc) but I did not get satisfactory results from their representative (can't recall his name right now) when I asked about the procedure, how many grafts I would need, how this was calculated, who performed the actual procedure etc.

I had a couple of video calls with that person and the general responses I got were on the line of "Don't worry, we're very experienced, we've helped many people in your situation, etc".

They also promised some kind of satisfaction guarantee certificate which I couldn't figure out how it would help me in case of a problem. The only response I got (and a somewhat annoyed one) was that the certificate testified to their quality and that everything would be alright.

So Dr. Yaman was also ruled out.

I reached out to Portella's clinic and the response I got was so laconic that it immediately threw me off. I got an estimate of about 8000 to 10,000 grafts without a lot of details about the procedure and everything I tried asking was answered by saying I'd need to go through a paid consultation with the Dr.

I didn't feel like paying just to get simple answers and there was no one to actually talk to so I moved on.

I reached out to HDC and got a response back from one of their representatives @Doron Haratiand had great, informative and lengthy conversations with him. He was very patient, explained everything and shared his personal story (which you can find on these forums) and I was already planning to get the procedure done with HDC.

It was going to be a long and costly flight (3 flights in each direction actually), plus 3 consecutive days of surgery and a total of 5k to 6k grafts planned for transplantation.

At the last moment, though, due to some logistic and personal reasons, I have decided to look somewhere else.

HDC was out but not because of any fault of their own.

I was left with 2 options - India and Thailand. I reached out to both clinics to enquire about my case - get an evaluation, understand my options, check dates, etc.

Eugenix has many surgeons, some of them are considered among the best in their field (search the forums to find out more) and I was impressed with their results for high NW cases. But they were very expensive for the options I wanted to pursue with them (specific doctor, doctor's involvement in the process, etc).

Eugenix rep told me I'd need 2 sessions in total, spread at least 3 months apart to allow the donor area to heal. They estimated around 4k grafts for the first session for front + mid-scalp and TBD for the second one.

Luckily for me, the situation was perfect with Dr. @Kongkiat Laorwong.

I reached out and it was him who replied - not a representative. I've had a short conversation with him, got an evaluation, and a price that suited my budget, asked some questions and got answers and was doing it all directly with the Dr. himself!

I was also impressed by previously reading different accounts of people who went through surgery with him and testified to his humbleness, professionalism and great results. They also mentioned his involvement in all stages of the procedure and not just supervising. One of the accounts was from someone who had a problem with his procedure and the Dr. offered to fix it for free.

All of these factors combined were the deal breaker for me. I was dealing with the actual surgeon who was going to treat me, who was going to be involved at all stages of the procedure, who was showing a high level of personal accountability, who gave me a price that fit well within my budget, was located in a not-too-far region for me and had not-too-far-away availability.

I paid the booking fee and reserved a date with him shortly after and then went on to secure a flight.

Post booking

After I've booked the date and bought the tickets, there was very little I had to do. I decided not to shave my head until the procedure so that the Dr would have a better view of my hair type and donor area, but that was my decision - not something I was requested to do.

I should also mention I did not take any medications. I actually asked him specifically if I should take Fin/Min in the period prior to the operation but was told that the meds wouldn't help me grow any hairs so there was no need for me to take anything.

Arriving in Bangkok

I arrived in Bangkok on a Saturday night on a direct flight with Jetstar (never ever going to make that mistake again!) and went to the White Ivory Bed & Breakfast hotel I booked. I decided to stay there as I read about it in one of the posts I mentioned earlier and was happy with the reviews I saw of it on booking.com. It is a nice place, the room was small but cozy, the air conditioning was working well and the bed was comfy. It is located about a 7-minute walk from the clinic. Just perfect.

Pre-op Consultation

I arrived at the clinic at 3 p.m. the next day 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.

Surgery day

I went down to have breakfast at 7:30 and met @Ake who was sitting there to have breakfast as well, started talking and discovered we were both here for the same reason and he was going to have his procedure the next day. I didn't have much time, but we exchanged contacts and I went to the clinic.

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 OR 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 4/10 in terms of pain. The pain's all in your head (pun not intended but happily accepted ).

I was a little dizzy most of the time they were puncturing me and taking grafts out and only got up for lunch for maybe 20 or 30 minutes once they finished. The procedure continued afterwards with the implantation part. There was another anaesthesia applied above the eyebrows first, then slits were opened and the transplant began. I got up maybe 2 or 3 times to go to the toilet and to stretch, but I don't really remember most of what was happening.

It took longer than I imagined. I recall asking at some point why this was taking so long and was told there were a few grafts that were coming out. Half drowsy as I was, this scared me, but Dr. Laorwong was there to sort that out in person, so I relaxed.

It was after 11 p.m. when I left the clinic, with bandages, medications and a head pillow and went to the hotel to try to sleep.

Post-Op days

I was still jet-legged and I am a lousy sleeper in general so I didn't get much sleep. Sleeping with the neck pillow I was given without the ability to roll to the sides wasn't helping me too much either, but I managed to get a few hours eventually.

I got up early, met @Ake for breakfast and went to the clinic to get my first wash and laser treatment. 

The package includes 5 such days post-op and I was more than happy for it. Laorwong's team was extremely nice and professional and was very gentle with the care they were giving. I was (and am) very grateful for that.

The rest of the days were very similar - wash and laser in the morning and have the rest of the day to figure out what to do around Bangkok. I was told I didn't need to stay indoors, was given a surgical headband (bandana) and was just asked to be careful not to touch and scratch the donor and transplanted areas.

I met with Dr. Laorwong 3 times during these 5 post-op days - on the first, 4th and 5th days. He took a look at my head and seemed to be satisfied.

Next steps

In my case, I already knew my journey was not over. I needed to come again to do the second part for my mid-scalp to crown and so I took advantage of my last day to speak with Dr. Laorwong and book myself in for 6 months ahead.

I've had a great experience and I know the hardest part is ahead of me (not just the second surgery but the year-long wait for results of the first), but I'm trying to stay optimistic.

I'll post some photos below and keep the follow-ups every now and then to show progress. Hopefully, all will go as expected.

Thanks for reading!

Photos

Immediate post-op:

Next day - donor area:

Fifth day post-op:

 

Thanks for providing so much detail about your choice of clinics/surgeons and your experience with Dr Laorwong.  Super helpful as I go through a similar process of considering surgeons. And Dr Laorwong is in the list. 
 

thanks man!

[Al - Moderator]

This is turning out to be a total transformation.

[rja]

On 6/29/2024 at 1:49 PM, CautiousResearcher said:

Thanks for providing so much detail about your choice of clinics/surgeons and your experience with Dr Laorwong.  Super helpful as I go through a similar process of considering surgeons. And Dr Laorwong is in the list. 
 

thanks man!

Glad I could help! Good luck to you!

[rja]

Hello!

Here are photos I've taken yesterday evening for my 3 months update (2nd HT).

The photos below were taken not in the best of light. Melbourne weather is sh*t and my apartment's lighting is not helping here either, but hopefully, it's enough to see some details.

[Hairwolf]

This is shaping up well mate. Your donor is a bit wavy which will help with illusion of density. Will be interested to see this one in 3 months !

[CautiousResearcher]

7 hours ago, rja said:

Hello!

Here are photos I've taken yesterday evening for my 3 months update (2nd HT).

The photos below were taken not in the best of light. Melbourne weather is sh*t and my apartment's lighting is not helping here either, but hopefully, it's enough to see some details.

must be so encouraging to see that growth!  looking forward to watching the progress over the next several months!