• Welcome to Hair loss Experiences hair loss forum.

    Free impartial hair loss advice, hair transplant advice, hair loss medications and hair loss news.
    You can contact us directly at [email protected] if you experience any problems.

Ht with Dr Suradej Pong, Chiang mai, Thailand

josh

josh

Valued member
Hi all,

I used to post here during this forums glorious inception period, a few years ago. I'm not sure who's still here... obviously Bigmac, and I see Janna too.
Anyway, greetings to you all.;)

When I first started researching ht's , the sensible course of action recommended to me , and acted upon, was to get on finasteride. Fin has been an absolute life saver to my hair, and consequently I drifted off the hair loss forums. However, both the left and right hand sides of my hairline are very sparse and thin, and vanity being what it is, this has constantly bugged me.

This year I managed to wrangle 6 months for myself in Thailand. It occured to me that this really is a perfect opportunity to restore my hairline, and do so without anybody knowing.

There are 2 quality docs here in Thailand. Dr Path in Bangkok and Dr Suradej Pong in Chiang Mai. Dr Pong trained under Dr Path, and has been practicing on his own for 10 years. Both are very popular, but Dr Pongs better prices clinched it for me. After all the initial correspondence, I decided to make a booking. Dr Pong didn't have an available slot for a month, but as I'm basically bumming around Thailand at the moment, that wasn't a problem.

Surgery was last Monday, and everything went quite smoothly. 1110 grafts were extracted, and the transplanted area was roughly 25sqcm, so this gives an average density of 44 grafts per sqcm (presumably higher in the frontal hairline, and lowering as it goes back). Added to the small bit of native hair in those areas, this should do the job.

I shall endeavor to post and update pictures over the next few months.


 

Attachments

  • DSC_0009.JPG
    DSC_0009.JPG
    47.5 KB · Views: 3,604
josh

josh

Valued member
area to be transplanted drawn.


 

Attachments

  • DSC_0040.JPG
    DSC_0040.JPG
    43.6 KB · Views: 3,588
D

Dazzster26

Valued member
Hi Josh

thanks for your excellent post and its always good to here about people using the meds and getting good results before actually going for a HT, I wish you all the best and will be watching for your updates

Cheers

D
 
Westcoaster

Westcoaster

member
Congratulations on your op, have you more pre-post op pictures?
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hi Josh,

Good to see you back,i`m pleased you had a good experience with Dr Pong and good to hear that Fin has worked well for you.

It will be great to follow your progress so no going away for a while.

Anyway, heal and grow well mate.

Thanks Bm.
 
josh

josh

Valued member
Dazzster,
thanks for the good wishes

Westcoaster,

I don't have immediate post op pics. I'm 1 week out, so I have some I've taken myself.

Bigmac,
Yea, for sure I'll stick around. Now that I've had a procedure I can dispense lots of long-winded advice on the intricacies of surgery.
B.t.w. How do I post multiple photos?


 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
you can click the gallery at top left of page, upload your pics there, then when you post you will see a g icon on top tab, click that, it takes you to gallery, click a pic and it will go on your post, then click G again and repeat as many pictures you want.
Sometimes the G icon not there for IE9 so i use firefox browser to do it.

Be great to see and hear your updates.

Cheers Bm.
 
josh

josh

Valued member
Cheers Bigmac,

Sorry for the delay...I've been traversing down south in Thailand for the last couple of days.

I don't have any post-op pics, so the following were taken 3 days ago, 1 week out from surgery. I wasn't required to shave down, so the new grafts are almost acting like a concealer amongst native hair. The left side scabbed up more for some reason, but all the scabs have pretty much disappeared today (day 10).

The hairline is intentionally asymmetrical. Dr Pong suggested that this would look more natural, especially when I get older, and I agree !

24_100931_520000001.jpg
24_100932_060000002.jpg
24_100931_510000000.jpg

 
Last edited:
josh

josh

Valued member
I had the sutures removed today. There are are number of dissolvable stitches still in place, but completely unnoticeable.

I immediately went for a haircut, and went for a short scissors cut at the back. The hair around the scar is thin in places, so it's a little noticeable. The scar itself is very red now. I can't tell how it's coming along because of the redness. Is this normal?

24_100932_140000004.jpg
24_100932_090000003.jpg

 
janna

janna

Valuable Member
OMG, how the heck are you Josh?!
Really good to see you back. It's been ages.
I'll take a proper look at your photos and read the details of your surgery when I have more time. I'm trying to catch up after travelling to UK last week and a half. I just wanted to say a big welcome back and that you've been missed. I hope you get the result you so deserve.

Speak soon.

;);)
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Cheers Josh, not shaving down will have allowed you to hide the work quite well, the donor scar looks well concealed.
Enjoy the rest of your trip in Thailand and take care.

Cheers Bm.
 
josh

josh

Valued member
Hi Janna,
Thanks for the kind words and warm welcome;)
Very nice to see you here again(so to speak).

No doubt you're keeping Bigmac's inflated forum owner ego in check /images/emoticons/club.gif
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
josh wrote:
Hi Janna,
Thanks for the kind words and warm welcome;)
Very nice to see you here again(so to speak).

No doubt you're keeping Bigmac's inflated forum owner ego in check /images/emoticons/club.gif



Lol i like it Josh.
 
T

TR38

member
Congratulations on your recent transplant, may I ask what research lead you to this doctor? I`ve not heard of him before.
 
josh

josh

Valued member
Hi TR38,

Thanks for the congratulatory words.

I'm based in Australia. It was a few years ago when I first started researching doctors, and unfortunately all the clinics here range from bad to very average, with a commonality of above average prices. (Dr Woods does appear to do good work, but charges a whopping $16 a graft, and by all accounts is an arrogant so and so)

This led me to Dr Pathomvanich in Bangkok. Even though very few people at the time had heard of him on the forums, I had heard that he was top notch, and doctors such as Dr Wong from h&w who had worked with him, confirmed this. I contacted as many of his patients as I could find, all of which gave him glowing reviews, plus did a ton of more research on him, the details of which I won't bore you with.

Dr Paths clinic were booked up at the time, and they recommended that I contact Dr Pong in Chiang mai. Dr Pong trained under Dr Path, and at the time had been out on his own for about 6 years. Anyway, I decided to not to go for surgery at the time, and to see how I respond to finasteride.

Fast forward 4 years, and time to research again. Again, I won't bore you with all the intricacies of my reasearch , but Dr Pongs methods are almost a carbon copy of Dr Path's. His clinic is now just as popular(He's pretty booked out months in advance...a very good sign) If you run a search on other forums you will find quite a few on his western patients, all of whom are glowing in their reviews. I spoke to a few of his patients, all of whom were very happy. On top of that , he's got over 200 before and after pictures on his website, showcasing some very good work, in my opinion.

My experience with his clinic was 10/10, but of course, the only think that really matters is how I'll feel 12 months from now.
 
C

Colin

Valued member
Josh! Can you please tell us what price you got from Dr. Pong? Also do you know the price per graft charged by Dr. Path?

Godspeed.
 
josh

josh

Valued member
Hi Colin,

Dr Pong charges $2 per graft, Dr Path (roughly) $3 per graft. The cost per graft for both clinics comes down, the more you get. Although not relevant to me, I believe both clinics can handle up to 4000 grafts.
 
josh

josh

Valued member
Ok, I'm almost 4 weeks out. Grafts, as expected, have mostly jumped ship.

I went for another haircut today, and it's pretty evident that I'm experiencing quite a bit of shockloss below the scar (at least I hope it's shockloss) The scar itself looks to be quite good, albeit still quite red, and is well hidden. Unfortunately, the hair below it has disappeared somewhat, especially on the left hand side. Hopefully this will be a transient situation. Luckily, so far, there has been no shockloss in the recipient area.


24_260609_030000000.jpg


24_260609_220000000.jpg

 
Last edited:
Top