My Donor area from your post two days ago

That’s pretty cool that I have that many grafts available! I assumed it’d be very rare for most people to even have 7,000 grafts available let alone 8,000. Are those numbers affected depending on if I were to choose FUT or FUE (I know I’ve read that FUE effects donor density much more than FUT)? (Previous post: https://baldingblog.com/estimating-lifetime-donor-supply/).  Do all good doctors use the same formula as you? Also, just out of interests how are you so accurately able estimate the hair density and # of grafts of the entire donor just from assessing one high-powered, magnified image of small section of the donor area? Is it because the hair (density, caliber etc) is uniform throughout the donor (provided there’s no Dupa or miniaturization present)? 

FUT stretches the entire scalp (minus the width of the scar), while FUE doesn’t stretch the scalp. I have had patients who received between 9,000 and 11,000 grafts with strip surgeries in the days before FUE.  I have seen some people whose scalp would not stretch, and they end up with more scarring with the strip procedure. Of course, overharvesting is a real problem with FUE.  The surgeon must always keep an eye on the ‘residual donor supply’ as he/she continues to harvest more FUE grafts over time. 

Most good doctors will take a few views from different parts of the donor area and then average the numbers into a total view of the donor area. As one more laterally, the densities often drop off.