FUE Hair Transplant

Hey everybody! Just a heads up; this post is going to be VERY long; I wanted to make sure that if anybody was in the same boat as me; that any extra advice/tips would be super helpful. Anyways! Lets get into it! I am M33, live in NSW and have been battling hair loss with varying success for the past decade. At time of surgery, my regimen is 1mg Fin/day, and 0.5mg Dut/3 x a week (as directed by my Dermatologist) I spent a huge amount of time researching different doctors and clinics in an attempt to find the best Doctor for my situation.I landed on Dr Laorwong after seeing the density results he is able to get, and the hairlines he can produce pretty consistently.As an Aussie; It was one of the more convenient options given that there isn’t much on offer here in Australia, or NZ – So I made a point of documenting the process for a someone who has never been to Thailand, and share my experience to maybe help others who were like me, and felt VERY overwhelmed by the prospect of travelling abroad to get a Hair Transplant! I departed Sydney on the 17th of March; flying out at 10pm, bound for Singapore which was a straight-forward process.After having a bit of a nap at one of the many (albeit awkwardly sticky) airport chairs, I made it back to the terminal for the connecting flight with Scoot (who fly out for Thailand earlier than they state, at least in my experience over the past week and a half) I landed at about 8am at Suvarnabhumi airport (Bangkok), found my way down to the Taxi-terminal, which is a very orderly and easy to follow process - Go to the taxi screen thingy outside of the comfort of the chilled international airport, and take a ticket; a long line of taxi's are on the other side of the road and one of these driver's number/parking position is what you receive on your ticket, you go up, they put your bag in their car and off you go! I was nervous that the 60-ish mins the taxi ride would take according to Google Maps would cost an arm and a leg... Well, with a bit of morning traffic, and friendly, yet silent drive to the Cascade Hotel, it turned out to cost me about 18 Aussie Dollary-doos!(Note – in Thailand; they ask if you want to take the highway; think of it like the M7; except they take cash, so have some Baht with you to hand over – generally 20-50 baht depending on the toll) Cascade hotel's check-in is at 2pm, so arriving at about 9:30am with my bag was a bit of an uncertainty; but the lovely staff were more than happy to keep them in storage prior to my checking in that afternoon. - They took my bags, i went over to the 7/11 that is LITERALLY right next to the hotel; picked up some of the highly recommended necessities:* Mozzie spray* Sunscreen (which comes in like... a kids yogurt sachet things?)* A Bottle of Pocari Sweat (Had this in Japan, it’s a bit like a boring Gatorade, but super hydrating and delicious!)* Water!! From here, I opened up the Grab app, and set the destination for my first destination, theChatuchak Weekend Market… My god was I NOT ready.It is one of the largest outdoor markets on the planet, and you feel it; I visited over 2 separate days, and STILL didn't get through all of it. Some notes for the market if you plan on visiting;* They charge 5 baht to go through a turnstile to use the bathroom... I only had to go once over the 2 days because of my second and more prominent note… * you will be DRENCHED in sweat. I am from country NSW, I can deal with 40+ degree days - But the humidity and pure mass of people in the area made it feel like a soup. I purchased a few different bits and pieces (some underwear, a shirt + a pair of shorts was all I came with, knowing full-well that I was going to buy all required clothing whilst in Bangkok)I grabbed a few button-up shirts (a requirement to wear on surgery day) and headed back to the hotel! The Cascade Hotel The hotel room was great; don’t get me wrong, people often I suppose ‘look down’ on Thailand for various reasons – But the moment I walked into that hotel, any sort of culture shock dissipated with the kind staff being genuinely sweet and helpful.Besides having to buy a big bottle of water to brush my teeth; the hotel was awesome!A nice pool, a great café (with the best food I had in my entire trip tbh), icy cold air-con, VERY effective Block out curtains, and overall it certainly feels like a significantly more expensive hotel than what they charge per-night. I will note, the 2 most important reasons I would recommend you choose Cascade;1. it is about 700m up the road from Absolute Hair Clinic (literally just leave hotel, walk right for a few mins; there it is) 2. The hotel staff - They were amazing; anything that was needed was provided. Needed a HDMI cable? Let us find you one to borrow, Its raining? Here take an umbrella. Need to weigh your bags? Let one of our staff walk you through the back streets of Bangkok to a 7/11 whilst in your boxers and hotel room slippers at 1am. But overall, I loved it there; the café, massage day-spa, and rooftop bar are great, and the place goes above and beyond for every guest. (and by the looks of the several navy 'surgery caps' I spotted in my time there; they are used to foreigners staying there for Absolute Hair Clinic) The next day involved heading to MBK (picking up a fine selection of North Face, Patagonia and Nike shirts, along with a world of sports shorts that are a requirement for white guys in the weather that Bangkok offers!)A funny thing that I experienced in my first trip to MBK – If you see people running around and closing shop/hiding things; come back in a few hours, the police/government are coming through and they are hiding their fake stuff >.< 3pm; Pre-op Consult with Dr Laorwong. I arrived at Absolute Hair Clinic, opened the door to see the familiar marble entrance decor, was hit with icy cold air-con, a table full of Absolute-Branded bottles of water, and a coffee machine for visitors to use.The staff requested to de-shoe and put on a pair of one of their MANY rubber slides.I had to fill out the paperwork that was explained concisely by the lady at the front desk. From there I was asked to follow the nurse to the lift (yep... 7 floors of Laorwongy goodness!)We went up to a nice little room that had a roller-blind over a mirror with a leather spinning seat in front of it. I met Dr Laorwong, and as expected he was quite reserved, humble, and not a huge conversationalist.I noted my hair loss history and current situation (fin, and alternating days of Dut as prescribed by dermatologist 6 weeks ago)we went over a plan and he drew a hairline; This was where it got a bit overwhelming - If you are reading this and KNOW exactly the sort of hairline you wanted/wanted to go back to pre-MPB or whatever; I envy you. I had spent so long looking at transplant results over the past few years that I genuinely couldn’t figure out what I wanted... We spoke for a while, and he spent a lot of time trying to draw it correctly, using alcohol on a cotton ball to change and redraw it after reobserving what would look better where.Prior to this, if you had said to me "Laorwong is an artist" i would have thought you were a pretentious douche... But Laorwong spent 45 minutes softly moving my hair around, drawing on my scalp, checking angles, getting out the ruler to ensure uniformity, etc - The dude truly cares. Unsure on the final design due to my own apprehension; I asked "Is this the FINAL design? can we tweak it tomorrow?" Laorwong reassured me that is totally fine We shuffled off to a small room that is set up with a bunch of photography lights and apparatus.They sat me in the chair, and took DSLR photos of my current hair, with lines and angles drawn on, and from there I was given the pre-op shampoo and instructions.I headed back to the Cascade and was in the cold-feet stage of "oh god... what if it’s the wrong thing??" and went through the ENTIRETY of r/hairtransplants, and every Laorwong job I could find on hairrestorationnetwork, trying to find my future hairline! 7am; Morning of the Surgery I awoke to torrential downpourwith my one pair of shoes, my new 300 baht "Nike" sports shorts, and my floral button up shirt; i went to the lobby and was offered an umbrella for my long, wet, final walk of anAussie bloke in his 30’s with a Dracula-esque hairline.The umbrella did its best bless it - but by the time i made it to the clinic, i looked like i just jumped out of the pool.Arriving early (Doc said 8am, head nurse lady said 8:30am... I made it there before 8 and had to be let in by the cleaning lady hahaI stood under the aircon and tried to dry off, and was greeted by the nurse who lead me up to the same room as the pre-op consult yesterday. Dr Laorwong came in and we went through the hair design again, and I expressed my concerns - His initial idea was for me to come back for another surgery, and I said that if its needed then that’s something I can look into in a year or two, but personally; I didn’t want to have a really thick, full frontal 2/3rds and be very sparse at the back for the next year or 2.I suggested that the frontal be packed as is his specialty, but to spread out the rest of the donor to ‘fill-in’ the rest as he saw fit.Dr Laorwong agreed and worked with me on where he thought best to fill-in.I then asked about temporal points and he said "that’s not a bad idea" drew them, rubbed them out, redrew them - This whole process took about 45 mins and involved the shaving of my head (which was a bitter-sweet affair to be really honest) I took the provided medication which involved valium, some numbing sticky tape thingies on top of my eyebrows, and anti-biotic nasal gel that was swabbed up my nose (that was a new one lol), and was lead to the surgery room! I was asked to lay face down on what is essentially a modified massage table – I was told I could have my phone in the ‘cubby' thing that the face hole looks down into. I asked for the Wi-Fi password, and they gave me a QR code to scan and bam; I was ready to roll! Operation! As with MANY others, I will say that the injections of the anesthetic were the most painful part; specifically, the 'nobbly bits' on the back of the head/above the nape of the neck.The typical massage gun was used and for the most part did actually help the pain for most other injections. From there, I was out - I have had some Diazepam in my time, and maybe it was a combination of being anxious all night and not sleeping well, along with the exhaustion of shopping for the 2 days prior; but i fell asleep and awoke at about midday needing to pee; the staff helped me up and i went and did my business, came back, laid down and fell right back to sleep! Fast forward about an hour and a half, I was gently woken and told "extraction is all done! time for lunch!"The day before i was asked what i wanted for lunch, and having read all about it on here, I asked for Chicken Pad Thai, to which the lady said she will ensure that it would be delicious (Spoiler; She was right, the shit was awesome hahaha) After lunch it was time to relocate the 4007 grafts! I went back to the Surgery room and they laid me on my back, and placed some gauze over my eyes.I did think at the start that it was paper towel, as i could hear them cutting paper or something similar (them cutting surgical drapes or something?)After a bit of peeking in the reflection in the window opposite the foot of the bed; It turns out that this sound was the scalpel cutting into my scalp... So that is what that sounds like i guess? This part was harder to fall asleep during, but was a painless and largely... boring affair, but Laorwong was the one making specific incisions, and I saw him with his flip-down binocular thingies being very precise with the incisions he was making, occasionally pointing out specific things to nurses that were busy sorting out the myriad of other things happening around him.Laorwong was in and out of the surgery room as the hours rolled on, I believe he did the hairline and part of the crown (although it was sort of asleep so I cannot confirm 100%) When awake, I made conversation with the nurses, who were giggly and enjoying their time there until the Doctor entered, to which they went into ‘shhh, its the boss!’-mode, which was funny. Overall, it went smoothly; about 8:30pm the surgery was complete and I was asked to sit up and hop off the bed and into a chair for head wrapping.When they began wrapping my head, I started to feel faint; ringing in ears and woozy - I let the staff know and they placed me back on the bed, they then went and retrieved me a sugary drink and a salmon rice-roll to try and get my blood sugar and BP back up.After about 10 mins of looking very pale, I had improved and felt much better. I was given the all clear to head back to the hotel! Feeling a bit 'floaty' and hungry, I headed to the 7/11 and grabbed a bunch of toasties, and went back to my room to watch YouTube videos and trying to keep my head upright. Post-op That night i took extra-caution to ensure that I didn’t screw anything up - I slept in the chair in that sits at a the table in the room (which my friend’s jokingly called the ‘cuck chair’), neck pillow on, and all prescribed medication in me. I slept this way for 2 nights (until my back Nope'd out, and i had to do my best to stay on my back when in bed for the remainder of my nights in Bangkok) The next afternoon, Laorwong checked in and admired his handiwork, happy with how it looked. We discussed the processes and things I can do to mitigate any issues (notably how itchy it was starting to get, and he immediately said “I will write a prescription for an antihistamine and that should fix it” - As promised, I went downstairs and he had authorized it, and the nurse had given me the prescription, labelled with my name and instructions, as well as a letter with all prescribed medication for when I depart Bangkok which I thought was really cool. Post-Op Care Routine For the next 5 days I booked a time to walk down and go through the washing process - What it involved each day was; * The bandages are removed (or bandana/pads/sweat band; depending on what day post-surgery you are on) * They ask you to lay in the hairdresser-style daybed thing with the sink at the end, and proceed to wash your scalp (and god is it refreshing in the Bangkok heat) * They then sit you up in front of the mirror and take a look at the donor and recipient sites, monitoring progress in your file. * From there you go into the lift again, go up to a floor that has a LLLT set-up - Pretty much another massage table with what feels like a space heater that gets pointed at the front of your head for 13 mins, and then it shuts off, the nurse comes in again and flips you over to do the other side (not unlike a medium-rare steak i suppose). It is slightly warm, because... lasers I guess - but the staff ALWAYS turn on the split system air conditioner as you enter each room. * At the end of the first wash session I was taken to the photo room again to get some high-res pics of the surgery result. * Finally, they put antibiotic cream all over your scalp, and proceed to cover it up and send you on your way! On the final day, Dr Laorwong came and inspected the progress and we spoke about the next few days/weeks and what to expect. When saying goodbye to him, I shook his hand and told him that it may sound silly, but he has changed my life - and he was very humble and very appreciative of the kind words. Arriving back home and progress since Overall, the week or so of having a good head of hair over Easter was brilliant; the confidence (even if wearing a hat or bandana) was worth the cost of surgery alone.I noticed that about 3 weeks post-surgery that shedding started to occur – No matter how much you KNOW its going to happen; its still a bit of a bummer losing the hairline you just got.At the moment, I am a few days short of One month, and I would say about 75% of the implanted hairs have shed out ☹ I will post photos below and am happy to answer anything and everything that anybody wants to ask.Sorry for the ABSURDLY long post – Hopefully this can help anybody out there unsure of the crazy adventure of medical tourism with Dr Laorwong! 😊 Wet and ready for Surgery! Dr Laorwong taking photos before Surgery Post-extraction, Post-Chicken Pad Thai - Pre-Transplant of hairs One-Day Post Day 2 Post-Surgery Day 3 Post-Surgery Day 5 Post-Surgery About to board the flight home! Day 6/7 Post-Surgery Day 8 Post-Surgery Day 9/10 Post-Surgery Day 17/18 Post-Surgery Update! 6.5 months Post-Op Hey everybody! A few months ago I got a new phone, installed reddit and carried on my merry way! But... As this is my alt reddit account, I totally blanked that I wasn't getting notifications for this post as I hadn't logged into it in a while -.-" I will post some update photos shortly - I DID find 2 things over the last couple of months.. I am over the moon with the progress. Laorwong did an excellent job, and I cannot fault his work at this stage (IMO) With the hair starting to grow in, even with a hat on, my anxiety about my hair/thinning/hiding my hairline is pretty much evaporated... It's CRAZY, I can't put into words how much it has changed my self-concious thoughts. As it is almost midnight - I found my most recent selfie, that was taken exactly a month ago, where I put some Toppik fibres in my hair when headed to work and was super happy with how natural it looked. Here I am, after a windy walk into walk with hair fibres in!