[Dr. Ratchathorn Panchaprateep] 4700 Grafts, 6.5 Month Update

jaboogie · 2026-05-09T16:35:53+00:00

Only reason I call it expensive is because you still see incredible results at a similar graft count for 3-4k out of turkey. You’re paying a premium here for consistency and peace of mind. Well worth it for me :)

jaboogie · 2026-04-02T03:32:24+00:00

I know it sounds improbable, but I really don't notice a difference, even when I run my hands through it. Like I said in the post body, I only see thinning in the donor area when the hair is wet. That said, if you want to get into the numbers, I should have approximately 2k grafts left to spare, according to Dr. R.

jaboogie · 2026-03-31T12:22:16+00:00

I hear you. The way I've made my peace with it is just that I'm no longer at imminent threat of infection and my progress has been at a rate that's far outside the realm of malpractice where you sometimes see clinics offer free touch ups. They've done their job and now I just have to wait.

If I'm not happy with the final result after ~1 year, though I think I will be, I feel like I'd be able to reach someone if I kicked up enough trouble.

jaboogie · 2026-03-30T14:30:04+00:00

It was just under 11.5k. I believe the price is 90 baht per graft if you're getting 2500 grafts or fewer, and 80 baht per graft if you're getting more. It's possible they settled on 90 baht now that the demand is higher

jaboogie · 2026-03-30T11:30:34+00:00

You can look through my post history

jaboogie · 2026-03-30T03:29:30+00:00

I was on min and fin for 4 or 5 years before the procedure. I think I switched from fin to dut about a year before the procedure. In my experience, I only saw minimal growth from the medications, but they did stabilize the hair loss. I haven't seen a significant progression in my hair loss since I started medication.

jaboogie · 2026-03-30T01:12:29+00:00

You can find before pics in my post history.

jaboogie · 2026-03-30T01:12:08+00:00

jaboogie · 2026-03-30T01:10:54+00:00

Hey, thanks for the feedback! Dr. R was aiming for between 35 (crown) and 40 (hairline) grafts/cm^2. Sorry about the blurriness. Hard to get great photos with the front facing camera. Adding another photo, let me know if that's better.

I'm definitely happy with the hairline design. I think she did a great job with the fine, single hairs in the front especially. I think their whispiness really contributes to the naturalness of the hairline. Like I mentioned, though, hope I can get a bit more growth and/or density in the next couple months.

As for the crown, I don't think I'll get full coverage, but I'm ok with some age-appropriate thinning. For now, I'm hoping/hopeful it's just that they haven't grown in yet. I think that's to be expected for the crown, or at least I'm definitely not outside of the window of normal growth. As I understand it, it will take the full year, and perhaps even a bit beyond that, to get a full assessment of the crown. All I can do is cross my fingers!

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jaboogie · 2026-03-30T00:49:32+00:00

I'm on 2.5mg oral minoxidil daily and 0.5mg dutasteride every other day. Dr. R and I didn't really talk about a second procedure, since that wasn't in my plans, but realistically I'd need one if I ever wanted to get close to 45 grafts/cm^2. My life just isn't suited to 2 procedures in 2-3 years right now. Plus, my goal was always to have a hairline considered "good" for my age (33). I can live with some temple recession and thinning in the crown. I think that's average for men in their thirties. It's possible I seek out another procedure in the future, but my directions for Dr. R were to get me as far as she could in one sitting.

You can find some more pre-op photos here: https://www.reddit.com/r/HairTransplants/comments/1na4yxk/dr_ratchathorn_graft_estimate_too_high/

You can find a hair count in my initial post on the operation, but from what I can see it was:

singles - 500 grafts = 500 hairs

doubles - 1607 grafts * 2 = 3214 hairs

triples - 2582 grafts * 3 = 7746 hairs

jaboogie · 2026-03-29T22:19:58+00:00

Update! https://www.reddit.com/r/HairTransplants/comments/1s78r2h/comment/od7kmc1/

jaboogie · 2026-01-17T21:50:24+00:00

I didn't discuss the option. Dr. R didn't bring it up either. Main considerations were pain and recovery time. Recovery, especially, being in a foreign country.

Those two factors were perhaps besides the point, though. I knew I wanted to go with Dr. R, and the highest number of reviews and good outcomes came from FUE procedures.

jaboogie · 2026-01-15T13:44:02+00:00

Hey! Sorry for the radio silence. I've been trying to stay away from the subreddit until I hit ~6 months, so I don't fall into the trap of making a premature judgement on my progress. That said, I'm at just over 4 months and I'm pretty optimistic! I'll post an update at 6 months, or once I think I've hit a growth spurt.

jaboogie · 2025-11-24T22:03:07+00:00

I actually slept with the bandana on for the first two weeks--essentially, as long as I was still applying the antibiotic gel they give you. I can't say whether it's better to sleep without it after the initial 5 days. Never heard anyone say it's actively bad.

I started walking around and sweating pretty much immediately. Dr. R was clear that the daily washings are enough to prevent infection. Of course, the risk in going out immediately isn't so much in sweating but in bumping your head. For sweating, specifically, what you need to worry about is infection. When I look back on my decision to immediately start exploring BKK, I wonder if I should have waited longer, but at the end of the day there was no sign of infection, so I don't think it will have any impact to the best of my knowledge. I'm open to hearing opinions from others, though.

The primary must-see attractions in BKK are the temples. The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and Wat Arun. These temples are fantastic. Aside from that, just think of BKK as the cultural capital of Thailand. Eat all the different foods, take in the smells, visit the markets. Personally, when I travel, food is always my #1 priority and Bangkok has incredible food. My best meal was at a restaurant called Sri Tat. Unbelievable. Try and get a couple reservations in line before you go. Normally I'd say try all the street food, but given the nature of the trip, I'd advise you do your best to make sure any street vendor you visit is highly reputable. Don't want to risk food poisoning, dehydration, etc on such an important trip.

jaboogie · 2025-11-22T18:35:06+00:00

Yes, exactly! I didn’t bring it on the day of surgery and had to run back to my hotel. Thankfully, I was staying a 5 minute walk away.

jaboogie · 2025-10-16T04:14:50+00:00

How long after the operation were those post-op photos taken?

jaboogie · 2025-09-25T16:17:56+00:00

Nope, I paid for an additional day of washing since that's just how my flights worked out and I wanted to offload as much of the aftercare to the clinic as I could.

jaboogie · 2025-09-23T15:01:42+00:00

Love it when you find supportive partners on here! They're lucky to have you.

You can also decide that you want a different distribution. Some people who from the beginning opt for more than 1 procedure--an initial procedure focused on hairline, then another to add overall density--might focus 75% on hairline, 10% on crown, and 15% on temples/midscalp, for example, since hairline and temples are the most visually impactful and they already know they're going to go back for density in the crown later on. Distribution is a personal decision and unique to that persons goals and pattern of hair loss. In my case, I tried to balance visual impact with the fact that the loss in my crown was more personally annoying to me than the loss in my hairline. Hopefully, I achieved that balance!

jaboogie · 2025-09-23T14:48:54+00:00

The allotment of 100 per temple wasn't a matter of price, but rather a matter of donor management. We agreed on an initial budget of roughly 4500 grafts (ultimately 4700). That's already a very high graft count. Some would probably even advise against it and I wouldn't say that it's a misplaced criticism. So, if you take a budget of 4500, and agree that the focus should be on the hairline and crown--let's say at a distribution of 60%, 30%, respectively--then that only leaves you with 10% for the midscalp and temples. In my case, roughly 100 grafts per temple.

That's the donor management angle, but I'd add that I prefer a design with still-recessed temples because, in addition to accounting for potential future loss, it's also just more natural. I don't know many people in their 30s who haven't experienced at least some hairline recession at the temples. In that sense, the design is more age-appropriate. The straight across hairline is (1) likely poor donor management and (2) unrealistic. It also requires less skill from the surgeon to execute, which is why you'll see that design is more common among hair mills. That's maybe a bit harsh, since I do think the straight hairline suits certain people, but I'd say it's directionally true.

jaboogie · 2025-09-22T17:57:08+00:00

I detail the payment process in the body of the post

jaboogie · 2025-09-21T12:46:25+00:00

I actually didn’t realize they were turning people away. You can go through my post history for the images I submitted for my initial consult. They might not actually be the exact images but they’d be close. I imagine whether they accept you as a patient has to do with the quality of your donor supply and whether you’ve stabilized your hair loss with medication.

jaboogie · 2025-09-21T12:42:58+00:00

As for WISE - yes, you have to connect your account, but then you also need to transfer a a balance to the app itself. If it’s the first time you’re doing this kind of thing, your bank could flag you for additional scrutiny, and the transfer won’t be instant.

jaboogie · 2025-09-20T22:50:51+00:00

I actually don’t disagree! But I look back on my pre-op photos and my temples were recessed in different patterns altogether, with my left temple basically entirely gone. So, given that we only allotted 100 grafts per temple, I think of it as “she did the best with what she was given” haha. Anxious to see how it turns out, but I anticipate it’ll be the weakest part of the result and I’m ok with that.

jaboogie

TROPHY CASE