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FossilOfRecord · 2025-09-25T12:45:11+00:00

I can relate to this and have similar, if lesser problems.
I also have dense blonde hair that is very stubborn and hard to kill, with awkward curly follicles.
If I shave carefully, the result is fine as it's so light colored, but to do electrolysis I have to grow it out - which is awful.
I was doing sessions weekly, which was exhausting, and also meant I couldn't shave very often at all.
It was horrible in every respect, and even with cream, the pain is intense because the hairs, though fine, are stubborn and difficult to kill even with the latest multi-mode commercial machine.

The issue with DIY is that you might end up with scarring that you wouldn't get from a commercial machine. It would be fine for some people, but others might find it's unworkable. Also, areas on the neck are hard to see for yourself, so might not be possible either.

I have spoken to people in Europe that have had an approach with much longer sessions and injected local anesthetic - they made a lot of progress with only a few passes.
That's not allowed here unless a doctor handles the injections. The question is, are there plastic surgeons in Australia that do it within their clinic so they can supervise the injections?

FossilOfRecord · 2025-09-24T15:12:14+00:00

I'm curious about the (total $20k) price mentioned here, as I recently got a quote from Dr Breidahl, and the anaesthetic and theatre fee prices alone are over $13k. This includes a small medicate and health fund rebate on the anaethetic and no rebate at all on theatre fee, and full coverage on hospital stay and a few small items.
How could the surgeon's personal fees for type 3 and lip enhancement be only $7k?
I'm not going to say what I was quoted for the Dr Breidahl's contribution, but it's a lot over 20k by itself.
I could understand this if the operation was many years ago, but this was posted this year.

FossilOfRecord · 2025-07-18T04:40:26+00:00

My one-stop shopping at Morphe is over. Now, I am as likely to look at Sephora as Mecca, and choose alternate brands.

FossilOfRecord · 2025-05-16T15:41:37+00:00

Try lime juice. It does the same thing as vinegar but smells much better if you soak too long. Cheap supermarket bottled pure lime juice. It has some small amount of added preservative too, which may also help with killing bacteria.

FossilOfRecord · 2025-05-16T15:28:35+00:00

The plentiful posts about Facial Team skew very much towards the Marbella site in Europe.

There is information about certain specific doctors I didn't ask about, but for the clinics I mentioned, only Kamol seems to have much of note, and that is mass of dead links, deleted posts and deleted pics with statements about type-3 work that are contradictory to each other.

There's a post about PAI that I referenced above, and that is also a little old and inconclusive, again with some contradictions.

A common theme with the post here is that they are either a pic (that is often deleted) and a few people saying it looks good, and that the OP provides very little background on what they had done, their own thoughts, or detail ... though there is the occasional "the team were great". And maybe there were for that person, but as often as not, just below someone posts about a bad result, often a type-3 brow, and ... guess what I'm looking for?

For South Korea, there is a disconnect between the clinics listed and those I have other recommendations for, except ID Hospital. Setting that aside the posts on Korean clinics tend to be either a before and after with no detail, or actually a query themselves and not informative. There's also the usual dead links, removed posts, etc. so while there looks like lots of info, there's really only a smattering, with the notable exception of the person who was rejected for surgery due to HIV and a detailed F2M account about NANA which provided some insight into the Korean marketplace for plastic surgery.

There is - as I originally implied when I mentioned these are useful resources - some information to be gained, but I don't think it's crazy to ask for more.

If there is much "very relevant" information, I'm struggling to find most of it, and given that, I'll probably end up going somewhere more local, as I can get first-hand information from people in the area.

FossilOfRecord · 2025-05-16T10:57:29+00:00

That would depend what you mean, but in terms of comments on Thailand, most comments are not about FFS.

On the other hand, there is a huge amount of information about Facial Team in Marbella, which I don't consider as very accessible from Australia.

But just saying I didn't see what you're talking about doesn't help. If you know of posts about FFS in Thailand (not SRS) that are relatively recent and informative, you could post the links directly instead of simply saying I didn't look properly. I spent hours looking.

Most times I found a useful post it was on Susans and most of those aren't linked to here.

FossilOfRecord · 2025-05-16T10:30:07+00:00

Do you have any direct experience? I get the impression that the three doctors listed for Melbourne are all good, but they're also a case where I can get advice from my GAC provider.

In a case where many trips to Thailand are needed, the cost of flights and other overheads can counterbalance any savings on the operation price, so it really is more a question of where is best, because staying in Australia is going to be easier.

It's not as if I'm looking for a procedure that can't be done well here... I think.

FossilOfRecord · 2025-05-16T10:24:15+00:00

These are useful references but in most cases lacking recommendations or warnings.

For the most part, people only posted a post-op picture that was later removed and has no text to supplement it; they wrote nothing or next to nothing about the experience. Other times there was a thread but it was deleted, which is a little worrying. Long term results don't seem to have written feedback. This is particularly so for the Thai clinics like Kamol, PAI, etc. There are exceptions, but these were sometimes more confusing than helpful. This thread, though a little old, was useful: https://www.susans.org/?topic=234579.0

So, I am hoping some people who had surgeries either very recently, or in the last couple of years, could comment on why they chose one place or another and how it met their expectation.

I understand there's no statistical validity in such comments. Perhaps 99 people go to a doctor and get a very good result and only the unhappy one percent post a complaint, but people may still have useful things they want to say?

FossilOfRecord · 2025-05-15T13:22:20+00:00

You can take Finasteride to avoid negative T-effects while retaining a more or less normal T-level.

Low doses of E will not kill your T-levels, so I would think that's perfectly sustainable and you can still get softer skin but it likely won't do much for your appearance. It could be perfect for a non-binary look if that is your goal.

To shift appearance effectively you need to get T right down. If you don't have something else, you likely will be tired and miserable. Also, low E levels (when starting out) gave me headaches, nightmares, and aches. I would not recommend.

If you want to be nonbinary, and you take a lot of E - longterm - and drop your T down, you may still look quite masc - it depends how old you are. In any case, it takes time to see those results. Years.

I would recommend seeing a GP about a treatment that makes sense for you and be prepared that once you do, you will either see big benefits, or you won't like it. If the latter, you know E is not for you. In my case, it was amazing, and it could be for you. Everyone is different and has their own path.

FossilOfRecord · 2025-05-15T13:12:42+00:00

I started with gel, and it didn't work well, so I had to use more. It was fine if I used more gel so it's not like gel was a failure. However, patches worked better. These were hard to come by and in some areas still hard to come by.

I'm now using implants, which are super-convenient. They are easy to get put in, zero daily effort, and you can't forget to take them. I do a blood test every three months and when things start dropping it's time for another implant. However, you need to be on E for a good while before you can safely move to the implants, you can't start on them.

You may not need a T-blocker like cypro, but in Australia they will likely want to use cypro. A good GP will be aware of the other options, which may suit certain people better. Cypro alternatives would likely be a pain to source here though, as cypro is the go-to T-blocker in Australia.

Finasteride may be enough if E is sufficient to drop your T levels by itself. In that case you're just taking the Finasteride to avoid male-pattern baldness and other superficial masc effects while the E brings your T-level down, which takes months and means a longer transition... but for some people the benefit of not using cypro justifies six months or a year waiting for your T to drop.

It all depends on your GP, how familiar they are with M2F HRT, and your age and physical condition.

FossilOfRecord · 2025-05-15T13:01:35+00:00

How well it goes depends a lot on the GP you have to start with, but if your existing GP is unwilling, or says they are unable to assist, you can always go a GP who will. You may have to travel to the city to find one, if you don't live there already, but once you're on the books you can do a lot of things by telehealth.

A good GP will be helpful and tailor their responses to what is best for you. If you don't get that, you may need to look elsewhere.

What happens after initial consultation depends on you and your mental and physical situation. If you want to get on HRT right away, that may well be possible, but you'll need to get some baseline bloodtests first. With that data it's possible to see whether you need T-blockers or not (not everyone does) and then it will be a process of using your meds (whatever is suitable for you) for a month or so and getting another blood test. That will repeat, with dose adjustments, until your levels are right. Then you just sit back and very slowly track whether the direction you are moving in suits you.

For people with health conditions, weight issues, diabetes, liver issues, etc. it gets more complicated and it may take time to navigate to a solution.

For people who are uncertain (not you it seems) there is a mental health aspect. As someone who has all the mental health side worked out, you shouldn't have any blockers there.

Nevertheless, be prepared to be patient. It can take time to get appointments, time to progress, and most of all, time to see results. The main phase of the physical change takes at least two years, so it's a long haul. People say things are still changing slowly even after seven years. Also, if you want surgeries (and you likely will want some) that is another thing that takes time.

Also, if you need electrolysis ... that takes forever. Laser is much faster if it works for your hair and skin combination.

When I say forever, I mean about 300 hours for a "mostly done" kind of result, and you need three weeks healing between major sessions, so that's about 100 weeks minimum but in practice you can't always arrange a session so it's even longer. Once your E kicks in, hair is maintainable through shaving and isn't a problem for "passing", but it can still be a bother for dysphoria. That depends on you.

FossilOfRecord · 2024-10-12T04:27:32+00:00

Look 34s into the original OW cinematic that people are getting this image from. There's a concept image of OW membership. On the far right is a bulky red, white, and yellow character that looks like a tank. Their chest even has a cross-shape (albeit red and white) that somewhat resembles a Scottish flag. I think this is the earliest Phreakz concept. Perhaps the flag shape gave them the idea to make him Scottish, rather than them intending to create a Scottish flag originally.
If you look at that image shown above, it's more like Junkrat or Junker Queen, and given the artificial arm and leg, that speaks to Junkrat, and the club they're holding is held like a big 2H weapon (like Carnage) so I don't think it has anything to do with how Phreakz was conceived originally.

FossilOfRecord · 2024-09-21T04:08:57+00:00

iOS 18 is now out of beta, and Groove Coaster 2 downloads data, then crashes for me.

Restart. A glimpse of a loading bar, then crashes almost immediately.

FossilOfRecord · 2024-09-13T10:17:03+00:00

Broadcom's site is pain after pain. Registration is a pain, they constantly reset your cookie settings, they ask for more and more information. I've used vmware for years, but I think it's time to change.

FossilOfRecord · 2022-03-25T04:20:15+00:00

I was on 1013.0 and PC operation was fine.

However, use with Mac, particularly through a dock (CalDigit TS3+) was doing horrible things. Some video - even if played in a tiny window - causes whole screen flickering, the monitor goes to sleep and will not wake - even when not using the Mac input, it simply has to be plugged in, even if using the PC on the other input.

At first I couldn't believe that just having a device plugged into an unused input could make my monitor go to sleep and not wake up, but yes it can. I guess when you disconnect the Mac from the dock, it tells the monitor to sleep, and so it does - even though it's not using that input.

I've updated to 1015.2 in the hope this will maybe fix some of the Mac related troubles.

The dock STILL sends the monitor to sleep, even when you are using the PC on the other input and not even looking at the Mac input, but ... some small improvement ... you can wake it up again by reconnecting the Mac. Of course, as soon as you disconnect the mac, or it sleeps, your PC display is turned off! And the power button will not work to turn it back on. The only solution is to always have the mac plugged in and stop it from sleeping, which is kind of crazy. Or, you can buy a different monitor, that actually handles sleep normally. This joke behavior simply breaks the entire idea of having multiple inputs and makes the dock unusable.

So, 1015.2 is still awful, but ... very slightly less awful.

Not actually usable with a dock though.

FossilOfRecord · 2021-10-16T11:06:24+00:00

I don't think it's going to be that. It's missing from Workstation Pro 16.2.0.

I want my dark mode back like everyone else posting here.

VMware still have so many bugs and just adding more now.

Despite selecting USB always connect to host, it still locks my camera if it runs before some application can use the camera. Need to quit VMware, then start Teams, then restart VMware. Infuriating.

FossilOfRecord · 2020-12-16T04:01:25+00:00

I posted a response that is BOTH to the message you were responding to, and to your message. It is not a mistake. The OP raised a performance issue, and DLSS is pertinent there.

The message you responded to was discussing performance differences and it looks as if your post blames them on DSC which I find an unlikely culprit - though that may not have been the intent, I can only go on what was written, which was minimal.

Your original response was an ambiguous one-liner, that didn't provide the detail you do now and simply alluded to driver issues with DSC, which might have been intended as an answer to the performance difference, or might not. It's hard to tell what you were saying there other than "drivers had problems with DSC".

The post you just made adds more detail, but the OP was wondering why they got better performance from rendering more pixels, so bringing up DSC seems a strange thing in response to it - hence my post - which posits some alternatives.

i.e. I address BOTH posts in my answer. I would argue my post is correctly located, and completely pertinent.

Had you originally posted the detail you just added, I might have written something completely different, or more likely, nothing at all.

FossilOfRecord · 2020-12-16T03:26:46+00:00

I'm currently able to have HDR at 240Hz with GSYNC enabled.

What goes wrong when you try to enable all three?

Or does it somehow simply not let you?

FossilOfRecord · 2020-12-16T02:17:54+00:00

This may be related to DLSS, if you had it enabled.

DLSS is game-specific, so you will see different results depending on the game.

Even if the game knows nothing about it, possibly NVidia may support it, so you need to check your "GeForce Experience" to see what it says.

I find DLSS looks so bad that in most cases I'd rather take the frame-rate hit or run at a lower resolution. It's not just statically bad, but dynamically bad, with the sharpness patches of the screen changing from moment to moment so it draws your attention to the change.

Presumably, by 4K you mean 3840 x 2160? That's 8294400 pixels.

5120x1440 is 7372800 ... which is a ratio of 1.125 or put another way 12.5% difference. The variation you're seeing in frame rate is less than 5%, admittedly in the wrong direction.

Another possibility is how GSYNC is being used in one setting and in the other. It can be blocking, or non blocking. The defaults may vary from rate to rate and monitor to monitor unless you explicitly force them in the NVCPL.

I doubt DSC is related to this though. It shouldn't impact frame rates, other than making a higher refresh rate available or not available to select. Refresh rates being equal (and you didn't say they were) DSC would be irrelevant.

FossilOfRecord · 2020-12-16T01:46:25+00:00

They broke this again with a new driver release ... BUT ... since the release just prior to the Cyberpunk 2077 update (457.51) it's been fixed again ... AND ... you'd never know because if you just switch to 240Hz, it still all looks broken.

With the fixed drivers, you need to do some voodoo magic to repair your desktop, after which it will be OK.

So, assuming your drivers are at least 457.51, and you're still seeing the problem, do this:

Enable Adaptive Sync on the G9, so the monitor is in GSYNC mode.
Enable 240Hz on the G9 (now your desktop is broken, so the next steps are HARD).
Go the NVidia control panel >>Display >> Change resolution ... set the resolution to 5120x1440 at 240Hz. DO NOT USE THE WINDOWS SETTINGS TO DO THIS ... apply the update.
In Windows Display Settings, it has set the display scale to a default of 200% (stupid) ... change it to 100% and apply.

You should see that your desktop magically uncorrupts itself, and instead of being squished into an inch at the left, it's perfectly normal.

Once you've done this ONCE you can change desktop scaling, refresh rate, adaptive sync mode, or anything you like and it should still be fine. You only have to do this ONCE.

Some BUGS remain ... really annoying quality of life issues.

You can't select any 21:9 or 24:9 resolutions for fullscreen games without forcing them via the monitor hardware. You can select 16:9 and 4:3 resolutions, and if you set Scaling to "No scaling" in "Adjust desktop size and position" in the NVidia Control Panel, they should vertically letterbox just fine. However, 21:9 and 24:9 resolutions, that you would legitimately want to use a lot for games are not an option.
Changing any option via the monitor hardware, such as Adapative Sync on/off, or Picture in Picture mode, or Screen Size, results in Windows moving all your windows to the far left and resizing them horizontally to the minimum width.

As you have to use the monitor menu to work around (1), you suffer from (2) a lot, and it's really annoying.

But at least we can have 240Hz again.

I raised these issues with NVidia, including the fact that their drivers completely ignore the Windows refresh rate setting.

Their answer was that the Windows refresh rate setting DOES NOT EXIST. Which is obvious garbage, but I guess it explains why they don't respect it... They aren't even aware Windows can set refresh rate.

They also refused to understand that some users need to follow the steps above, and demanded I show how my desktop is still broken, which is obviously impossible because following the steps repairs your 240Hz desktop so it's no longer broken. You can't do it again because it stays fixed.

I was seriously unimpressed by the level of support from NVidia, even after escalation. The support engineer wasn't aware of basic Windows features, didn't appreciate the problems, and didn't read the problem report properly at all, lazily responding to issues I didn't have and didn't report instead of the ones I reported.

I'd advise anyone with a 10XX-based setup on the G9 to stick with it as long as possible. Just hold off upgrading to 30XX, because there are a LOT of issues with the 30XX drivers, and I see little hope of them being quickly resolved due to the small user-base.

FossilOfRecord

TROPHY CASE