Hair Transplant: How Many Grafts Do I Need?

Everyone will agree that if we see initial signs of hair loss despite being worried about it we ignore the signs and try to self treat the situations with advertised remedies or natural remedies. But at later stage when you feel it’s unstoppable and involve a major portion of your head you tend to refer the doctor. The extent of hair loss is assessed by Norwood classification explained as follows:

What is Hair transplant?
Hair transplant is a restoration procedure in which hair follicular grafts are extracted from the donor and implanted at the recipient area intending to cover the baldness. This procedure is usually thought to be regenerating lost hair follicles which is not true and is purely a restorative procedure. It is a minimally invasive safe procedure which is gaining importance as being a least complicated procedure which offers no morbidity and fast recovery if performed by qualified and experienced surgeon.

What are grafts?
In hair transplant procedures, grafts are basically the tissue containing hair follicles which are extracted from higher density donor area and implanted at the desired location for maximum coverage in recipient area. These grafts are opted from the DHT resistant safe donor area which is intended to stay for lifetime and deliver permanent results.

There are 2 techniques employed for harvesting of grafts during hair transplantation including FUT and FUE. The choice of opting these techniques for hair transplantation depend mainly on number of graft required for the procedure.

The hair graft calculator is designed especially for patients to vaguely self estimate the number of grafts required for their baldness which will be confirmed during primary consultation by the surgeon. This calculates the needed grafts/square centimetre bald area.

How many grafts do I need?
Answer to this question could be only confirmed by your hair transplant surgeon as it varies from person to person and depends on multiple factors explained as follows:

1.     Area of baldness: The number of follicular grafts required to cover the baldness depends upon the area or extent of baldness assessed by Norwood’s classification.  The maximum numbers of grafts are required in extensive bald case of Norwood VI and VII.

2.     Availability of hair follicles in donor area: The density of donor area is crucial in determining the available number of grafts which could be extracted without resulting in overharvesting and density depletion in donor area. In addition, the density of donor area also decides that either the hair follicles could be sufficiently extracted from the DHT resistant area of scalp or need extraction from other parts of body.

3.     Thickness of hair: If the quality of follicular graft is thick equal amount of coverage of baldness can be achieved as with more number of thin grafts. Including, curly and wavy hairs shows fuller look or more coverage after hair transplant as compared to straight hair.

4.     Family history of extensive baldness: In patients with family history of extensive baldness care should be taken in deciding the number of grafts extracted. The main motive in these cases should be preservation of hair follicles for future sittings also so as to cover the future baldness.

5.     Age of the patient: Younger patients with baldness usually need to be cautiously decided for hair transplant as their hair loss is usually unstable and rate of progression is unpredictable. If still hair transplant is considered then judiciously number of grafts are extracted in the session so as to preserve the hair follicles for future sittings in cases of progressive baldness. 

6.     Experience of Surgeon: If an experienced surgeon performs the surgery there are high chances of increased survival rate of the grafts which is crucial to achieve in extensive cases. In hair loss cases less damage to grafts carries a major role as you know the importance when you have lack of anything and in hair loss you have lack of hair follicles. On other side, inexperienced surgeons extract more numbers of grafts in advance so as to overcome the wastage of damaged grafts by them. Hence, it is of utmost importance to choose an expert surgeon as every follicular graft could be precious for your hair loss presently and for future as well.

7.     Patient’s expectation: Unrealistic expectation of teenager look cannot be fulfilled by any mean which should be clearly informed to the patients. But how much ever possible within the limits of the safe area patient’s expectations should be taken care of. It is always better to inform abut the minimal expectations you can achieve for the patient for better satisfaction post procedure. 

Dr Suneet Soni, founder of Medispa centre is famous for his genuine suggestions and judicious approach to deliver world class hair transplant results with long term benefits during future sittings if required. He is also well appreciated for his expertise in performing graft harvesting with least damage rate of <1%. The genuine realistic suggestions, judicious choice of technique of hair transplant and sound decision making of number of follicular grafts extracted are the major constituent of a successful hair transplant with long term benefits.

If you have any doubts or queries consult the best hair transplant clinic in Delhi and Jaipur, kindly book your appointment with Medispa hair transplant centre for a life changing experience.