How Many Grafts Does the Average Patient Have for Hair Transplant Surgery?

How many follicular unit grafts are available for hair transplant surgery over a patient’s lifetime?

This hair loss question was answered on our hair restoration forum by Dr. Paul Shapiro  of Bloomington, MN who is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.   His professional answer is below.

In our experience most hair replacement patients have 6,000 to 8,000 follicular unit grafts that can be safely transplanted over their lifetime.

This brings up the basic question of what we are doing in  hair transplantation. We are redistributing a limited amount of donor hair to a potentially expanding bald or  thinning hair  recipient area.

For the readers of this hair loss blog who are not familiar with the concept of limited donor supply or just want a good review, the Hair Loss Learning Center  has a good animated video called “recreating a full look“. This video reviews the concept of moving a limited amount of donor hair and also has an interactive hair graft calculator to help you approximate the number of grafts you will need.

This hair transplant video can be viewed by clicking the link above and explains well the concept of limited donor.

Paul Shapiro, MD

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Bill
Associate Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Hair Loss Learning Center
View my Hair Loss Weblog

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