How Many Grafts are Needed?
Q:
Dr. Mohebi,
My brother is completely bald on top and crown area. I am doing research for him to see what options he has. Could you tell us how many hair grafts he may need? We are not expecting the exact number but would like to have an estimated number of hair grafts.
A:
Your brother seems to be a class VI-VII in Norwood Scale. That means he will need as many grafts as we can harvest in one session. A better question is how many grafts we can harvest? The answer to that question has to do with the density of hair on the donor area and the laxity (looseness) of the scalp, if he wants to receive a strip hair transplant.
Normally, with the FUE method we can harvest 1500-2000 grafts in one day, for a person who has never had a hair transplant before. With the strip method, the number of follicular units will be over 2500 grafts. This could be close to 5000 grafts in one day if the person has high density and good laxity of scalp.
