Is the Number of Grafts or the Number of Hairs More Important to the Outcome of a Hair Transplant?

This question, from our hair loss social community and discussion forums, was answered by Coalition hair transplant surgeon Dr. Michael Beehner:

Is the number of grafts or the number of hairs more important to the outcome of a hair transplant?

The number of hairs transplanted is a truer representation of how much “hair mass” was moved than the number of follicular unit grafts. It is my experience that, with normal styling, 12,000 hairs moved to the top of the head creates enough mass to look like a “full head of hair”.

The exception, of course, would be if the patient had a huge, bald vertex/crown in the rear. With today’s ultra-refined hair transplant techniques and using various size grafts of 1,2,3,4, and 5 hairs each, this can easily be accomplished in two sessions in most patients with at least average caliber hair.

Dr. Mike Beehner, M.D.
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David (TakingThePlunge)
Editorial Assistant and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog.
To share ideas with other hair loss sufferers visit the hair loss forum and social community.

Technorati Tags: hair loss, follicular unit, bald, hair transplant

David aka - TakingthePlunge

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View Comments

Radiance Hair Clinics says:

June 2, 2017 at 2:14 am

Hair growth occurs for a few years after which about 10 percent of hair falls down across a number of days. Major amount of hair loss should be checked out for the causes and should lead to consultation with doctors. But still, people need to understand certain reasons which most commonly lead to hair loss as it doesn’t give them unnecessary contemplation.
Tejinder Bhatti says:

December 2, 2014 at 3:33 am

A mere graft count may not be significant since the hair per graft may vary from patient to patient. Nor is the graft count alone a reflection of the quality of the procedure. It is pertinent to add here that since we are cherry picking grafts with higher hair mass per graft in FUE technique (rather confined to a strip), the number of hair per procedure for the same graft count is significantly higher in a satisfactorily done procedure. It is important to give a quantitative grafts count with 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s, etc. mentioned clearly to reflect the hair mass moved during the procedure for documentation and for future audit when results set in.