Ronaldo Hair Sty;e - Hair Loss

How Much for 4,000 Grafts?

Every day we receive messages through Instagram and other socials, asking the same question “how much for 4000 grafts?”.

This is a primitive question, and even if we were to give you a figure for this number of grafts in a single session, the question suggests you are going about getting a hair transplant the wrong way.

This is generally a big thing done by commercial, extremely budget clinics in Turkey, which usually seldom involves speaking to a doctor or getting any medical opinion on your hair loss.

Shopping around is fine, but because one clinic suggests 4000 grafts, it does not mean the next 3 or 4 you speak to would come to the same conclusion.

As a patient, you should ask specific questions at consultation and with a doctor.

Every clinic is different, but to attain 4000 grafts, you will have to remove grafts primarily from DHT-sensitive areas or remove grafts by creating excision points exceptionally close together. This, of course, assumes the clinic in question gets the number quoted in the title of this piece.

Let’s take removing grafts from DHT-sensitive areas. These hairs are outside of the safe zone of the donor area. As illustrated in the image below.

Hair Loss Donor Area

The areas between the green lines are relatively safe and more DHT-resistant than those outside this zone.

However, if you are taking finasteride, a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor, then there is a chance that these hairs may last longer. If not, over the coming years, they will continue to miniaturise till eventually they shed and do not grow back. Please have a read about why we lose hair (men). So when removing grafts outside of the donor area, the lifetime expectancy of a hair transplant reduces; in other words, the likely hood is that you will need more.

Now let us look at the excision/extraction of the grafts too close together. This creates a different kind of problem, fused scarring. This is a big problem because when you keep the hair slightly shorter on the back and the sides, you will undoubtedly see fused scarring creating a streaky extraction pattern from the donor area. This creates problems aesthetically, making the back of the head look patchy, but also makes doing a future procedure extremely challenging. When heavy scarring like this occurs, it changes the direction of the hairs truly exiting the skin. As such, it can make it almost impossible to undergo further procedures, mainly through FUE successfully.

Many more ethical clinics will give you a more accurate treatment plan. Getting a 4000 graft hair transplant is a “one-and-done approach”. This rarely yields long-standing outcomes. Even with hair loss stabilising medication such as finasteride, you will continue to lose hair. As such, we recommend doing as much as possible with as few grafts as possible to future-proof yourself against ongoing hair loss. You wouldn’t want to look like old Ronaldo.

Please remember that when considering a hair transplant, you will be having elective surgery with all the implications and risks. Sadly has become a very commoditised industry, with many clinics preying on patients’ vulnerability. Take your time and do your research. Getting a hair transplant is more challenging than calling a clinic and getting booked in straight away; a process needs to be followed before you will be a suitable candidate for hair transplant surgery.

It has never been confirmed but it may well be that David Beckham has had a hair transplant. 

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