Dr. Ted Miln | 6005 grafts, FUT/FUE Combo | June 2024

[TakeAction]

My Background: 

I started losing hair in my early 20s diffusing into a NW7 pattern and was shaving my head by my mid twenties. I had a decent amount of diffuse hair left, especially in the midscalp, but the crown was massive and as the hairline started to recede, even hair fibers weren’t really an option. I tried a hair system for a year and hated it. I got SMP in early 2021 and while it came out well, I still felt bald and unattractive.

Eventually I got over my fear of finasteride and started medication. I went straight to dutasteride. I never noticed a ton of regrowth but my progression has halted since starting the medication well over a year ago. No sides. Also added oral minoxidil at 5 mg.

I spent about two years obsessively researching doctors and I knew for my case with my advanced pattern, starting with FUT could give me an additional 3k or more lifetime grafts, which I would probably need. I had several options, but none that I felt super comfortable with.

Just a couple months ago, @Melvin- Admin uploaded a podcast with Dr. Ted. I listened to the entire episode and was impressed. I then looked at his Instagram page and was blown away, especially by some of the high norwood and FUT/FUE combo results. Scouring other forums, I also found a few independent patient reviews that were outstanding.

I knew I’d probably need at least 5k and likely more to get a result I wanted, so I wanted to get as much as I could in one go and maximize my lifetime donor availability. The FUT/FUE combo would allow me to do a large strip on day 1 and use FUE (with minimal extractions around the strip to allow for a high yield in the future on a second strip) on day 2 to add whatever remaining grafts were needed. This approach is highly underrated and I’m guessing most doctors don’t do it because patients are averse to getting FUT and most doctors don’t even learn FUT anymore so they can’t offer it in the first place. Dr. Ted is not biased toward FUT or FUE, he just does whatever is best for the patient.

I messaged him on Instagram about a consultation and soon after, his clinic manager Chelsey (who’s also one of the technicians) reached out to schedule a consultation. Dr. Ted and I talked for about 30 minutes over video, discussed medication and goals, shared photos and it went great. Chelsey then reached out later to see if I had any follow-up questions. I sent a few, and soon after received a phone call from Dr. Ted answering those questions in detail. At this point I felt super confident about moving forward and went ahead and scheduled a 5000 graft, 2-day FUT/FUE combo procedure for June.

Between that time, both Dr. Ted and Chelsey answered any questions I had within a 24-hour window. I’m also 5 hours behind them on Eastern Standard Time (New York) so I’d often be sending messages while it was nighttime in the UK and then get a response first thing in the morning. Communication was excellent.

 

Travel:

Dr. Ted’s clinic is located about 30 minutes from the city of Cardiff in Wales. I flew from New York to London, took a train to Cardiff and finally took an Uber to a beautiful Airbnb in the town of St. Athan where the clinic is located.

The clinic was an easy 15 minute walk from the Airbnb the next day. I did have some trouble finding Ubers in St Athan, would definitely schedule a taxi service in the future. But walking was no problem. It’s a very walkable, safe neighborhood.

 

Procedure:

As I walked in, I was greeted warmly by the staff who escorted me to the patient waiting room to fill out some quick consent forms. I was given co-codamol pills for pain, diazepam (valium) and another medication that is supposed to help minimize bleeding during the operation.

Soon after, Dr. Ted walked in and greeted me with a warm welcome. We rehashed what we’d discussed over video and he took me through the plan for the day. Hairline design was a bit tricky because I have SMP and the SMP hairline is a bit low and we agreed that placing the new hairline about 1-1.5 cm behind the SMP made sense to maximize density.  I plan on getting the SMP in front of the transplanted hair lasered off soon, but depending on how I style my hair it may not even be necessary. The (right) laser technology used to remove SMP does not damage hair, but regardless it’ll be done in an area of my hairline that’s bald as it is (and is not being transplanted into).

The first day would be focused on the hairline and to add uniform density throughout the large diffuse thinning area. The second day would be more focused on the crown.

Pretty soon the diazepam kicked in and my anxiety dropped to near zero levels. The clinic is set up in a way that makes it quite relaxing already, and I truly felt in that moment that I’d made the right choice.

Dr. Ted took some pictures from different angles, shaved my head, and then took pictures with the shaved head. He also drew out the areas that would be worked on.

Once the planning was complete, Dr. Ted led me into the operating room and asked me what kind of music I liked. We put on a long Above and Beyond mix that elevated my mood even more. The staff began the anesthetic injections and I cannot emphasize enough how easy they were. 

They use a vibrating device that is placed next to the needle during the injection to distract you from the pain. The needle is also quite small and the pain medication they give you beforehand lessens the pain even more. 

The procedure went smoothly, Dr. Ted and his team removed the strip and closed the wound and we took a quick 15 minute lunch break.

They ended up getting a 4182 graft strip which I believe was 27x1.5 cm, for an average of just over 100 FU/cm. This was a pleasant surprise although I’m sure my overall donor density is lower than that since the strip focuses on the occipital region where I have very good density.

Then Dr. Ted made all the incisions as the technicians dissected the strip and sorted the grafts. He also removed a dermal cyst that’s been in my scalp for years free of charge. 

The technicians placed the grafts until they finished around 7. I dozed off for most of the time after lunch and it felt like it went by pretty fast.

Afterwards I was given the post-op kit but had issues finding an Uber. Dr. Ted kindly drove me back to the Airbnb himself and even dropped off some food since I was having issues finding food delivery as well! He truly goes the extra mile for his patients.

On day 2 I headed over with much less anxiety. Same as day 1, took the same pills, went to the operating room and received injections. The injections did start to wear off a little sooner than the ones on day 1, and I simply asked for more and was given more before any real pain set in. Dr. Ted extracted just over 1800 FUE grafts before lunch. This brought us to 6005 grafts total! And as if things couldn’t get any better, Dr. Ted did not charge me for the 1000 extra grafts. Again, Dr. Ted went the extra mile. I’m incredibly grateful.

After lunch, Dr. Ted made the incisions and the techs placed the grafts to end at 3:30. We spoke about donor reserves and Dr. Ted thought that I could likely do another 3k strip and also get at least 1k via FUE outside of the strip area in the future if needed, which would put my total lifetime graft availability at approximately 10k (not including beard). Had I only done FUE, there's no way I would have anywhere near that available.

I can honestly say that my 7 hour flight from NYC to London was more uncomfortable than the second day of the procedure. That’s how smoothly it went.

I went in the next day for my first wash, was shown how to do it and wrote down some notes so I wouldn’t mess it up at home. Dr. Ted checked in and everything looked good.

 

Overall Thoughts:

I was blown away by the attention and care I received from Dr. Ted and his team. You can tell by talking to him and the way he works that he’s obsessed with perfecting his craft. He’s devoted himself to mastering both FUT and FUE so that he can use the technique that suits the patient. We rarely see FUT/FUE combo procedures on this forum and very rarely with the amount of grafts that Dr. Ted does on a regular basis. If I went to almost any other doctor, I would’ve needed 2 procedures to get this done.

Mihai, Chelsey, Fernanda, Jordan, Rhiannon, Heather, and Becky were all extremely professional. They are very experienced and worked diligently. Many of them have been with Dr. Ted for years before he opened his own clinic.

It’s only been four days since the second day of the procedure so I’m still taking this all in. It still doesn’t feel real. But the experience has been incredible and I’m very excited for these next 6-12 months.

Pre-Op (The hair loss is much more severe than it appears in certain angles/lighting because of the SMP)

 

 

 

 

 

After Day 1 FUT:

After Day 2 FUE:

 

Day 1 Post-Op:

 

Donor 3 Days Post-Op:

 

Close Up of FUT Closure:

 

 

 

Edited June 22 by TakeAction
.

[HairRoss]

Great to see another patient of Dr Ted's. His FUT skills are top-notch and the FUT/FUE combo is definitely a wise choise to maximise the lifetime availability of grafts. Look forward to seeing your results 🙏

[WhiteyUK]

22 minutes ago, TakeAction said:

My Background: 

I started losing hair in my early 20s diffusing into a NW7 pattern and was shaving my head by my mid twenties. I had a decent amount of diffuse hair left, especially in the midscalp, but the crown was massive and as the hairline started to recede, even hair fibers weren’t really an option. I tried a hair system for a year and hated it. I got SMP in early 2021 and while it came out well, I still felt bald and unattractive.

Eventually I got over my fear of finasteride and started medication. I went straight to dutasteride. I never noticed a ton of regrowth but my progression has halted since starting the medication well over a year ago. No sides. Also added oral minoxidil at 5 mg.

I spent about two years obsessively researching doctors and I knew for my case with my advanced pattern, starting with FUT could give me an additional 3k or more lifetime grafts, which I would probably need. I had several options, but none that I felt super comfortable with.

Just a couple months ago, @Melvin- Admin uploaded a podcast with Dr. Ted. I listened to the entire episode and was impressed. I then looked at his Instagram page and was blown away, especially by some of the high norwood and FUT/FUE combo results. Scouring other forums, I also found a few independent patient reviews that were outstanding.

I knew I’d probably need at least 5k and likely more to get a result I wanted, so I wanted to get as much as I could in one go and maximize my lifetime donor availability. The FUT/FUE combo would allow me to do a large strip on day 1 and use FUE (with minimal extractions around the strip to allow for a high yield in the future on a second strip) on day 2 to add whatever remaining grafts were needed. This approach is highly underrated and I’m guessing most doctors don’t do it because patients are averse to getting FUT and most doctors don’t even learn FUT anymore so they can’t offer it in the first place. Dr. Ted is not biased toward FUT or FUE, he just does whatever is best for the patient.

I messaged him on Instagram about a consultation and soon after, his clinic manager Chelsey (who’s also one of the technicians) reached out to schedule a consultation. Dr. Ted and I talked for about 30 minutes over video, discussed medication and goals, shared photos and it went great. Chelsey then reached out later to see if I had any follow-up questions. I sent a few, and soon after received a phone call from Dr. Ted answering those questions in detail. At this point I felt super confident about moving forward and went ahead and scheduled a 5000 graft, 2-day FUT/FUE combo procedure for June.

Between that time, both Dr. Ted and Chelsey answered any questions I had within a 24-hour window. I’m also 5 hours behind them on Eastern Standard Time (New York) so I’d often be sending messages while it was nighttime in the UK and then get a response first thing in the morning. Communication was excellent.

 

Travel:

Dr. Ted’s clinic is located about 30 minutes from the city of Cardiff in Wales. I flew from New York to London, took a train to Cardiff and finally took an Uber to a beautiful Airbnb in the town of St. Athan where the clinic is located.

The clinic was an easy 15 minute walk from the Airbnb the next day. I did have some trouble finding Ubers in St Athan, would definitely schedule a taxi service in the future. But walking was no problem. It’s a very walkable, safe neighborhood.

 

Procedure:

As I walked in, I was greeted warmly by the staff who escorted me to the patient waiting room to fill out some quick consent forms. I was given co-codamol pills for pain, diazepam (valium) and another medication that is supposed to help minimize bleeding during the operation.

Soon after, Dr. Ted walked in and greeted me with a warm welcome. We rehashed what we’d discussed over video and he took me through the plan for the day. Hairline design was a bit tricky because I have SMP and the SMP hairline is a bit low and we agreed that placing the new hairline about 1-1.5 cm behind the SMP made sense to maximize density.  I plan on getting the SMP in front of the transplanted hair lasered off soon, but depending on how I style my hair it may not even be necessary. The (right) laser technology used to remove SMP does not damage hair, but regardless it’ll be done in an area of my hairline that’s bald as it is (and is not being transplanted into).

The first day would be focused on the hairline and to add uniform density throughout the large diffuse thinning area. The second day would be more focused on the crown.

Pretty soon the diazepam kicked in and my anxiety dropped to near zero levels. The clinic is set up in a way that makes it quite relaxing already, and I truly felt in that moment that I’d made the right choice.

Dr. Ted took some pictures from different angles, shaved my head, and then took pictures with the shaved head. He also drew out the areas that would be worked on.

Once the planning was complete, Dr. Ted led me into the operating room and asked me what kind of music I liked. We put on a long Above and Beyond mix that elevated my mood even more. The staff began the anesthetic injections and I cannot emphasize enough how easy they were. 

They use a vibrating device that is placed next to the needle during the injection to distract you from the pain. The needle is also quite small and the pain medication they give you beforehand lessens the pain even more. 

The procedure went smoothly, Dr. Ted and his team removed the strip and closed the wound and we took a quick 15 minute lunch break.

They ended up getting a 4182 graft strip which I believe was 27x1.5 cm, for an average of just over 100 FU/cm. This was a pleasant surprise although I’m sure my overall donor density is lower than that since the strip focuses on the occipital region where I have very good density.

Then Dr. Ted made all the incisions as the technicians dissected the strip and sorted the grafts. He also removed a dermal cyst that’s been in my scalp for years free of charge. 

The technicians placed the grafts until they finished around 7. I dozed off for most of the time after lunch and it felt like it went by pretty fast.

Afterwards I was given the post-op kit but had issues finding an Uber. Dr. Ted kindly drove me back to the Airbnb himself and even dropped off some food since I was having issues finding food delivery as well! He truly goes the extra mile for his patients.

On day 2 I headed over with much less anxiety. Same as day 1, took the same pills, went to the operating room and received injections. The injections did start to wear off a little sooner than the ones on day 1, and I simply asked for more and was given more before any real pain set in. Dr. Ted extracted just over 1800 FUE grafts before lunch. This brought us to 6005 grafts total! And as if things couldn’t get any better, Dr. Ted did not charge me for the 1000 extra grafts. Again, Dr. Ted went the extra mile. I’m incredibly grateful.

After lunch, Dr. Ted made the incisions and the techs placed the grafts to end at 3:30. We spoke about donor reserves and Dr. Ted thought that I could likely do another 3k strip and also get at least 1k via FUE outside of the strip area in the future if needed, which would put my total lifetime graft availability at approximately 10k (not including beard). Had I only done FUE, there's no way I would have anywhere near that available.

I can honestly say that my 7 hour flight from NYC to London was more uncomfortable than the second day of the procedure. That’s how smoothly it went.

I went in the next day for my first wash, was shown how to do it and wrote down some notes so I wouldn’t mess it up at home. Dr. Ted checked in and everything looked good.

 

Overall Thoughts:

I was blown away by the attention and care I received from Dr. Ted and his team. You can tell by talking to him and the way he works that he’s obsessed with perfecting his craft. He’s devoted himself to mastering both FUT and FUE so that he can use the technique that suits the patient. We rarely see FUT/FUE combo procedures on this forum and very rarely with the amount of grafts that Dr. Ted does on a regular basis. If I went to almost any other doctor, I would’ve needed 2 procedures to get this done.

Mihai, Chelsey, Fernanda, Jordan, Rhiannon, Heather, and Becky were all extremely professional. They are very experienced and worked diligently. Many of them have been with Dr. Ted for years before he opened his own clinic.

It’s only been four days since the second day of the procedure so I’m still taking this all in. It still doesn’t feel real. But the experience has been incredible and I’m very excited for these next 6-12 months.

Pre-Op (The hair loss is much more severe than it appears in certain angles/lighting because of the SMP)

 

 

 

 

 

After Day 1 FUT:

After Day 2 FUE:

 

Day 1 Post-Op:

 

Donor 3 Days Post-Op:

 

Close Up of FUT Closure:

 

 

 

6000 grafts seems a lot looking at your hair loss, but good luck hope everything turns out great

[TakeAction]

5 minutes ago, HairRoss said:

Great to see another patient of Dr Ted's. His FUT skills are top-notch and the FUT/FUE combo is definitely a wise choise to maximise the lifetime availability of grafts. Look forward to seeing your results 🙏

Thank you, looking forward to yours as well! 

[TakeAction]

1 minute ago, WhiteyUK said:

6000 grafts seems a lot looking at your hair loss, but good luck hope everything turns out great

Thank you 😊 
 

I know what you mean, but the SMP makes a big difference in the visual appearance. My crown alone is easily 100 cm which would need 4000 grafts total for full illusion of density. it wasn’t completely bald, but pretty close. My midscalp has hair, but it’s very thin.

 

 

[Fox243]

Looks great. Still wish there were a more definite answer on whether FUT + FUE yields more lifetime grafts than FUE alone. @Melvin- Admin What are your updated thoughts on this? 

[Melvin- Admin]

Thanks for sharing your review. Dr. Ted is killing it lately. As for FUT+FUE its a great option in the right hands. 

[TakeAction]

18 minutes ago, Fox243 said:

Looks great. Still wish there were a more definite answer on whether FUT + FUE yields more lifetime grafts than FUE alone. @Melvin- Admin What are your updated thoughts on this? 

I broke it down here but FUT + FUE will always allow you to use more donor than FUE alone.

You could definitely debate whether one could get more donor using only FUE or only FUT, but think of it this way.

When you take a strip, you take 100 percent of the donor in the strip area.

With FUE, you can usually take up to 50 percent of the donor in the area of extraction. Some of the top doctors are doing 60 percent now.

Whatever area you took with FUT, you could only take at most 60 percent of the hair from that area with FUE.

Let's say the donor is 200 sq cm, and you have 75 FU/cm donor density. That's 15k FU.

If you max out FUE with the best doctors in the world, you could get 15k * 60% = 9000 scalp grafts.

Let's say you have laxity for two strips of 40 cm each, so 80 cm of strip total. You max that out and then max out the remaining donor area with FUE with the best doctors in the world.

You'd get: 80 cm * 75 FU/cm = 6000 grafts from strip, and 120 cm * 75 FU/cm * (60% FUE extraction) = 5400 grafts from FUE from the best doctors in the world, for a total of 11400 grafts.

Hope that makes sense.

There's also the argument that you could get more with FUE + beard than with FUT + FUE (scalp only), which I think is a separate argument. We're talking about scalp grafts and you can always add beard grafts on top of FUT + FUE.

Edited June 22 by TakeAction

[Berba11]

This looks great and the documentation is top notch - great job! Excited to see this progress. Keep us posted!

[Fox243]

36 minutes ago, TakeAction said:

I broke it down here but FUT + FUE will always allow you to use more donor than FUE alone.

You could definitely debate whether one could get more donor using only FUE or only FUT, but think of it this way.

When you take a strip, you take 100 percent of the donor in the strip area.

With FUE, you can usually take up to 50 percent of the donor in the area of extraction. Some of the top doctors are doing 60 percent now.

Whatever area you took with FUT, you could only take at most 60 percent of the hair from that area with FUE.

Let's say the donor is 200 sq cm, and you have 75 FU/cm donor density. That's 15k FU.

If you max out FUE with the best doctors in the world, you could get 15k * 60% = 9000 scalp grafts.

Let's say you have laxity for two strips of 40 cm each, so 80 cm of strip total. You max that out and then max out the remaining donor area with FUE with the best doctors in the world.

You'd get: 80 cm * 75 FU/cm = 6000 grafts from strip, and 120 cm * 75 FU/cm * (60% FUE extraction) = 5400 grafts from FUE from the best doctors in the world, for a total of 11400 grafts.

Hope that makes sense.

There's also the argument that you could get more with FUE + beard than with FUT + FUE (scalp only), which I think is a separate argument. We're talking about scalp grafts and you can always add beard grafts on top of FUT + FUE.

I’d generally agree with this but when you take FUT, you often can’t take the grafts right above and below the strip as those are needed to camouflage the strip.

[Berba11]

5 minutes ago, Fox243 said:

I’d generally agree with this but when you take FUT, you often can’t take the grafts right above and below the strip as those are needed to camouflage the strip.

FUE has it's borders as well - to get the maximum amount of grafts via FUE requires testing the "safe zone" borders, and given that it's a fairly young technique, we don't have long term data on how well those grafts hold up over longer periods of time.

The thing about FUT and the hair either side of the strip is that whilst it can't be harvested via FUE necessarily for the reason you stated, you can usually cut a second and even third strip (laxity depending) from it, so you'd be getting 100% of those grafts as well. FUT & FUE combos probably do enhance the achievable numbers from scalp alone.

[Fox243]

19 minutes ago, Berba11 said:

FUE has it's borders as well - to get the maximum amount of grafts via FUE requires testing the "safe zone" borders, and given that it's a fairly young technique, we don't have long term data on how well those grafts hold up over longer periods of time.

The thing about FUT and the hair either side of the strip is that whilst it can't be harvested via FUE necessarily for the reason you stated, you can usually cut a second and even third strip (laxity depending) from it, so you'd be getting 100% of those grafts as well. FUT & FUE combos probably do enhance the achievable numbers from scalp alone.

You still have to leave hair between the following strips. 

[4chanhrn]

Looks like good work. Looking forward to seeing results. I'm shooting for FUT+FUE and similar numbers as well. One more thing about FUT is that it gives you grafts from safest area least prone to miniaturization. With FUE and extended donor area, minitiarization is possible, especially if young age and not on meds. For scar, you can always beard FUE into it if it's a concern.

More choices for FUT is always nice. There are handful of doctors who can do FUT and do it well. Dr. Ted looks to be one of them.

[Nobaldscalp]

Good lukc..the work looks great ! ✌️

[Mickey85]

That suture work looks amazing. Reminds me of Dr Bisanga's suture style. Very clean, close and tight. Best of luck in the upcoming months.

[TakeAction]

Scabs are mostly off. Transplanted hair blends very well with the native hair. Not much redness at all, seems to be healing well.

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:38 PM by TakeAction

[Melvin- Admin]

5 hours ago, TakeAction said:

Scabs are mostly off. Transplanted hair blends very well with the native hair. Not much redness at all, seems to be healing well.

 

 

Graft placement looks absolutely mint! 

[TakeAction]

7 days post op (8 days since FUT)

[Gatsby]

@TakeAction the work looks excellent and that surgical scar line from your FUT looks pencil thin and very smooth. Wishing you all the best and I look forward to your updates.

[CautiousResearcher]

On 6/22/2024 at 7:19 AM, TakeAction said:

My Background: 

I started losing hair in my early 20s diffusing into a NW7 pattern and was shaving my head by my mid twenties. I had a decent amount of diffuse hair left, especially in the midscalp, but the crown was massive and as the hairline started to recede, even hair fibers weren’t really an option. I tried a hair system for a year and hated it. I got SMP in early 2021 and while it came out well, I still felt bald and unattractive.

Eventually I got over my fear of finasteride and started medication. I went straight to dutasteride. I never noticed a ton of regrowth but my progression has halted since starting the medication well over a year ago. No sides. Also added oral minoxidil at 5 mg.

I spent about two years obsessively researching doctors and I knew for my case with my advanced pattern, starting with FUT could give me an additional 3k or more lifetime grafts, which I would probably need. I had several options, but none that I felt super comfortable with.

Just a couple months ago, @Melvin- Admin uploaded a podcast with Dr. Ted. I listened to the entire episode and was impressed. I then looked at his Instagram page and was blown away, especially by some of the high norwood and FUT/FUE combo results. Scouring other forums, I also found a few independent patient reviews that were outstanding.

I knew I’d probably need at least 5k and likely more to get a result I wanted, so I wanted to get as much as I could in one go and maximize my lifetime donor availability. The FUT/FUE combo would allow me to do a large strip on day 1 and use FUE (with minimal extractions around the strip to allow for a high yield in the future on a second strip) on day 2 to add whatever remaining grafts were needed. This approach is highly underrated and I’m guessing most doctors don’t do it because patients are averse to getting FUT and most doctors don’t even learn FUT anymore so they can’t offer it in the first place. Dr. Ted is not biased toward FUT or FUE, he just does whatever is best for the patient.

I messaged him on Instagram about a consultation and soon after, his clinic manager Chelsey (who’s also one of the technicians) reached out to schedule a consultation. Dr. Ted and I talked for about 30 minutes over video, discussed medication and goals, shared photos and it went great. Chelsey then reached out later to see if I had any follow-up questions. I sent a few, and soon after received a phone call from Dr. Ted answering those questions in detail. At this point I felt super confident about moving forward and went ahead and scheduled a 5000 graft, 2-day FUT/FUE combo procedure for June.

Between that time, both Dr. Ted and Chelsey answered any questions I had within a 24-hour window. I’m also 5 hours behind them on Eastern Standard Time (New York) so I’d often be sending messages while it was nighttime in the UK and then get a response first thing in the morning. Communication was excellent.

 

Travel:

Dr. Ted’s clinic is located about 30 minutes from the city of Cardiff in Wales. I flew from New York to London, took a train to Cardiff and finally took an Uber to a beautiful Airbnb in the town of St. Athan where the clinic is located.

The clinic was an easy 15 minute walk from the Airbnb the next day. I did have some trouble finding Ubers in St Athan, would definitely schedule a taxi service in the future. But walking was no problem. It’s a very walkable, safe neighborhood.

 

Procedure:

As I walked in, I was greeted warmly by the staff who escorted me to the patient waiting room to fill out some quick consent forms. I was given co-codamol pills for pain, diazepam (valium) and another medication that is supposed to help minimize bleeding during the operation.

Soon after, Dr. Ted walked in and greeted me with a warm welcome. We rehashed what we’d discussed over video and he took me through the plan for the day. Hairline design was a bit tricky because I have SMP and the SMP hairline is a bit low and we agreed that placing the new hairline about 1-1.5 cm behind the SMP made sense to maximize density.  I plan on getting the SMP in front of the transplanted hair lasered off soon, but depending on how I style my hair it may not even be necessary. The (right) laser technology used to remove SMP does not damage hair, but regardless it’ll be done in an area of my hairline that’s bald as it is (and is not being transplanted into).

The first day would be focused on the hairline and to add uniform density throughout the large diffuse thinning area. The second day would be more focused on the crown.

Pretty soon the diazepam kicked in and my anxiety dropped to near zero levels. The clinic is set up in a way that makes it quite relaxing already, and I truly felt in that moment that I’d made the right choice.

Dr. Ted took some pictures from different angles, shaved my head, and then took pictures with the shaved head. He also drew out the areas that would be worked on.

Once the planning was complete, Dr. Ted led me into the operating room and asked me what kind of music I liked. We put on a long Above and Beyond mix that elevated my mood even more. The staff began the anesthetic injections and I cannot emphasize enough how easy they were. 

They use a vibrating device that is placed next to the needle during the injection to distract you from the pain. The needle is also quite small and the pain medication they give you beforehand lessens the pain even more. 

The procedure went smoothly, Dr. Ted and his team removed the strip and closed the wound and we took a quick 15 minute lunch break.

They ended up getting a 4182 graft strip which I believe was 27x1.5 cm, for an average of just over 100 FU/cm. This was a pleasant surprise although I’m sure my overall donor density is lower than that since the strip focuses on the occipital region where I have very good density.

Then Dr. Ted made all the incisions as the technicians dissected the strip and sorted the grafts. He also removed a dermal cyst that’s been in my scalp for years free of charge. 

The technicians placed the grafts until they finished around 7. I dozed off for most of the time after lunch and it felt like it went by pretty fast.

Afterwards I was given the post-op kit but had issues finding an Uber. Dr. Ted kindly drove me back to the Airbnb himself and even dropped off some food since I was having issues finding food delivery as well! He truly goes the extra mile for his patients.

On day 2 I headed over with much less anxiety. Same as day 1, took the same pills, went to the operating room and received injections. The injections did start to wear off a little sooner than the ones on day 1, and I simply asked for more and was given more before any real pain set in. Dr. Ted extracted just over 1800 FUE grafts before lunch. This brought us to 6005 grafts total! And as if things couldn’t get any better, Dr. Ted did not charge me for the 1000 extra grafts. Again, Dr. Ted went the extra mile. I’m incredibly grateful.

After lunch, Dr. Ted made the incisions and the techs placed the grafts to end at 3:30. We spoke about donor reserves and Dr. Ted thought that I could likely do another 3k strip and also get at least 1k via FUE outside of the strip area in the future if needed, which would put my total lifetime graft availability at approximately 10k (not including beard). Had I only done FUE, there's no way I would have anywhere near that available.

I can honestly say that my 7 hour flight from NYC to London was more uncomfortable than the second day of the procedure. That’s how smoothly it went.

I went in the next day for my first wash, was shown how to do it and wrote down some notes so I wouldn’t mess it up at home. Dr. Ted checked in and everything looked good.

 

Overall Thoughts:

I was blown away by the attention and care I received from Dr. Ted and his team. You can tell by talking to him and the way he works that he’s obsessed with perfecting his craft. He’s devoted himself to mastering both FUT and FUE so that he can use the technique that suits the patient. We rarely see FUT/FUE combo procedures on this forum and very rarely with the amount of grafts that Dr. Ted does on a regular basis. If I went to almost any other doctor, I would’ve needed 2 procedures to get this done.

Mihai, Chelsey, Fernanda, Jordan, Rhiannon, Heather, and Becky were all extremely professional. They are very experienced and worked diligently. Many of them have been with Dr. Ted for years before he opened his own clinic.

It’s only been four days since the second day of the procedure so I’m still taking this all in. It still doesn’t feel real. But the experience has been incredible and I’m very excited for these next 6-12 months.

Pre-Op (The hair loss is much more severe than it appears in certain angles/lighting because of the SMP)

 

 

 

 

 

After Day 1 FUT:

After Day 2 FUE:

 

Day 1 Post-Op:

 

Donor 3 Days Post-Op:

 

Close Up of FUT Closure:

 

 

 

Man, @TakeAction, thanks for posting with so much detail.  I’m also researching Dr  Ted, and your description of his care and going the extra mile says a lot.  Grateful for you sharing your journey. 

Edited Wednesday at 06:04 PM by CautiousResearcher
Typo

[TakeAction]

2 minutes ago, CautiousResearcher said:

Man, @TakeAction, thanks for posting with so much detail.  I’m also researching Dr  Ted, and your description of his CSRE and going the extra mile says a lot.  Grateful for you sharing your journey. 

Glad it helped 😊 He’s the real deal

[TakeAction]

Just got the sutures removed, feeling great. Scar is healing very well and Dr. Ted said the laxity seems to already be recovering. I did scalp laxity exercises for about 10 minutes a day 2 months leading up to the procedure, was very aggressive with them. May have helped but the most important part was Dr. Ted's FUT skill.

[CautiousResearcher]

4 hours ago, TakeAction said:

Just got the sutures removed, feeling great. Scar is healing very well and Dr. Ted said the laxity seems to already be recovering. I did scalp laxity exercises for about 10 minutes a day 2 months leading up to the procedure, was very aggressive with them. May have helped but the most important part was Dr. Ted's FUT skill.

Dude, looking good!  I’m a newbie so no expert by any means, but for just having sutures removed, that donor scar looks really good to me. Can’t wait to watch your progress. 

[TakeAction]

24 minutes ago, CautiousResearcher said:

Dude, looking good!  I’m a newbie so no expert by any means, but for just having sutures removed, that donor scar looks really good to me. Can’t wait to watch your progress. 

Thanks! Yeah I'm super happy with how it's looking so far

[CautiousResearcher]

On 6/23/2024 at 6:40 AM, Mickey85 said:

That suture work looks amazing. Reminds me of Dr Bisanga's suture style. Very clean, close and tight. Best of luck in the upcoming months.

Hey @Mickey85, I clicked on "the only two links you'll ever need," but both said "Page Not Found."  Any idea what's up?  Those topics look really intriguing