How Many Sessions are Required for Hair Transplant?

Hair transplant is one of the most commonly performed cosmetic surgery procedures performed worldwide. It not only helps you restore lost hair but also your youthful appearance and self esteem. It is an amazing procedure that gives you the most natural looking hairline in a most natural way. But as you plan a hair transplant surgery, there are several questions that cross your mind and one among them is “how many sessions are required for hair transplant?” If you are also wondering how many hair transplant sessions you will need, here are some simple tips to help you get a rough estimate.

Factors that determine No. of Hair Transplant sessions:

Two factors that primarily decide the number of sessions include:

• The number of grafts needed, and
• The hair transplant technique used

1. Number of grafts needed:

Number of sessions that you would need for your hair transplant is dependent upon the number of grafts that you would need to cover your baldness. Usually an experienced surgeon can transplant as much as 3000 grafts per session. However, it varies from one surgeon to another. If you need hair grafts more than 3000 then you will most probably need two sessions that will be performed on consecutive days.

You may think that a surgery spread through two days will be stressful and costly but it is not wise to ask your surgeon for a longer hair transplant session either, because such sessions inherit some serious risks like:

• A tired and worried surgeon is more likely to commit mistakes.
• There is a greater likelihood of door area scarring in an excessively large session.
• Large session may mean decreased graft survival and increased risk of damage to grafts.

Now you must be wondering how to calculate the number of grafts needed. Only a hair restoration surgeon can tell you the exact number of hair grafts that you would need. However, there is a method that would help you in getting a rough idea about the number of grafts so you will be able to reach to an estimate of your hair transplant cost.

Calculate number of grafts you need:

While there is no method to calculate the exact number of hair grafts required to cover baldness, by using this method even a layman can have a rough idea of hair grafts that he will need to cover bald patch(s) on his scalp.

The method assumes that a severely bald person who is NW7 has a bald area of 200 centimeter square to be covered with hair transplant. Generally it is assumed that the person requires 1000 grafts for each Norwood level. It means NW7 would need 7000 grafts and 35 grafts per centimeter (7000/200=35). Now calculate number of square centimeters you need to grow hair on.

• Take a transparent paper with markings of square centimeters.
• Place it on your head and mark the areas where you need more hair.
• Carefully count how many square centimeters fall in the marked area.
• Multiply it with 35. It is the estimated number of grafts that you would need for your hair transplant.

Knowing the number of grafts needed is also important for you from the cost point of view, as the surgeons mostly charge per graft. So, if you have an estimate about the number of grafts required, you can easily calculate the estimated cost of your hair transplant by multiply number of grafts with cost per graft.

2. The hair transplant technique used:

Your number of sessions will also depend on the hair transplant technique used.

• Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE): Despite being a more advanced technique, FUE does not allow transplantation involving a larger number of grafts in a single session. Just because FUE involves manual extraction of follicles one by one, it is a time consuming procedure. It allows for hardly up to 2000 grafts per session.
• Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT): The traditional strip method transplant, aka Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT), is a relatively faster technique and allows for up to 3000 grafts implantation in single session. Forcing the surgeon to transplant more than that in a single session will increase your risk of donor area scarring.
• Stem Cell FUE: The latest Stem Cell FUE is the fastest hair transplant method to date and it allows for implantation of up to 4000 grafts during a single session. But if you need more than 4000 hair grafts for a thicker density or you have a larger area to cover, even Stem Cell FUE may not help.

Sometimes larger hair transplants that need two sessions use a mix of two methods for donor hair removal and some surgeons offer discounts to their patients.

Free Consultation:

To know more about the number of grafts and the number of sessions required for your hair transplant, book a free online consultation now and let our experts guide you.