Hair transplants: everything you need to know

A transplant does not create new hair. It redistributes hair from one area to another.

The hair for the transplant comes from the so-called donor area in the fringe of hair at the back of the head. Hair there has the decisive advantage that it is not affected by hereditary hair loss and therefore keeps growing for a lifetime – even after we have transplanted it.

Around 80 hair follicles (also known as grafts) grow per square centimetre in this area, and these are what we can draw on. In total, the average person has just under 16,000 such grafts in the donor area. About 35% of them can be used without “over-harvesting” the back of the head, which would make the treated areas visible.

The total number of grafts – a kind of reservoir of hair that we can extract over your lifetime – is around 5,500 to 6,000. Taking more usually leads to clearly visible effects at the back of the head. And those are exactly the problems we want to avoid.

Unfortunately, the number of available hair follicles is limited. And because hair loss continues over the course of life for most men, it is not advisable to transplant, for example, 4,000 of the total 5,500 to 6,000 suitable hair follicles (grafts) in a first step.

Ignoring this can cause problems later – for example if a greater need for treatment arises again and a follow-up treatment is wanted. By then the donor area is largely exhausted and the options are limited.

At Hair Doctors we therefore do not transplant as many grafts as possible from the outset. Unfortunately, many dubious clinics do so, both at home and abroad, for example in Turkey.

Make sure you do not fall for false promises. In the end, everyone has to work with the same conditions. What matters is how your specialist and their team handle the valuable resource of your hair follicles and grafts, and how they place them in the recipient area for an artful, aesthetic result.

Naturally you want to get rid of your bald patch now. But always consider how your hair may develop in the future. Especially if you are still young, your hair loss may continue to progress.

To assess the current stage of your hair loss, we use the internationally recognised Hamilton-Norwood scale. It shows the extent of hair loss on a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 is the mildest and 7 the most pronounced degree. If you are at grade 2 today, you may still reach grade 6 or 7 later in life. Your adviser can assess this well during your Hair Doctors consultation.

So as not to disturb the blood supply to your scalp, we can place around 30 to 40 grafts per square centimetre in one treatment (one graft contains approx. 2.2 individual hairs on average). A higher number can disrupt the blood flow to such an extent that the skin – and with it valuable roots – dies off. That is why we always stay on the safe side and plan conservatively, for the best possible result of your treatment, even years later.

With a densification treatment we can then achieve a higher density of around 60 to 70 grafts per square centimetre. This is of course only possible if you still have enough hair at the back of your head that we can redistribute to the areas being treated.

Depending on the method chosen, the number of grafts required and the areas to be treated, the costs of a transplant can vary widely. Prices per graft are a guide, but do not allow a reliable comparison, because what counts as a graft varies greatly from provider to provider. The following prices should nevertheless give you a rough idea of the treatment costs:

• Small transplant (e.g. eyebrows, eyelashes, moustache): €2,400–3,600
• Medium transplant (e.g. hairline, receding temples, temples): €3,600–4,800
• Large transplant (e.g. front or back of the head, beard): €5,500–8,500