You need your donor density and donor hair mass measured to find out if you are a suitable candidate and what you can expect. Make sure that you get numbers from your doctor as this is mathematically based. I have answered this question many times, so read many of my answers here: https://baldingblog.com/?s=how+many+grafts
There is a misconception that many patients and surgeons that they must replace the recipient area density in the balding area when having a hair transplant. Nothing could be further from the truth. Too many Reddit patients are wasting their donor supply by using too many grafts to cover Class 3 or 4 patterns of balding. Too many Reddit patients do not seek a Personalized Master Plan ((https://baldingblog.com/creating-a-personalized-master-plan-for-present-and-future-balding) with their surgeon before they embark on a hair transplant in Turkey or elsewhere. First, look at the analogy and the following numbers: Assuming a surgeon removed 12,500 grafts from the donor area in a Class 7 patterned patient. The average man has 50,000 follicular units (grafts) on his head (race in not dependent upon this number) of which 12,500 grafts reflect the donor area (12,500 grafts reflect 25% of the total follicular units). The total donor supply equals 25% of the total hair supply. This means that if the surgeons did only FUE and transplanted 12,500 grafts in the recipient area, there would be nothing left in the donor area. In such a surgery, the patient would likely become either bald in the donor area or heavily overharvested in the donor area if partial follicular units were excised rather than full FUe grafts. This patient would have a new problem: a bald donor area. His recipient area density would not exceed 30% of the original recipient donor density. With too many grafts removed from the donor area, there is no going back after this is done. Even transplanted numbers of 5000, 6000, or 7000 grafts reported by many Reddit patients reflect the maximum yield of their donor area if they have fine or possibly medium-weight hair. They may end up with a see-through donor area for their entire lives. Many of these Class 3, 4, or 5 balding patterns may leave very few grafts left in the donor area to address almost certain future balding because hair loss is ALWAYS progressive. When I review Reddit’s transplanted patient posts, I often see too many grafts for a particular balding pattern, reflecting poor planning and an impulse surgery decision in men who are often too young.
Transplanting into the recipient area is not blindly removing as many grafts as possible and moving them into the recipient area. An experienced, well-trained hair transplant surgeon, with proper knowledge of both the original donor density and hair mass of the patient’s donor area, can make proper artistic and mathematical calculations to obtain good results with less than the original recipient area density achieved. I have done this thousands of times on very bald men, even those in patients with a Class 6 or 7 pattern of balding, and I have never removed a total of 12,500 grafts. I have had thousands of satisfied patients over my 33-year career. I suggest that many of you review Dr. Linkov’s interview with me, which covers much of the history of botched hair transplants, even on celebrities such as Frank Sinatra. Here is the podcast link: https://baldingblog.com/dr-gary-linkov-blog-features-william-rassman/
When I transplant a Class 4A pattern balding patient, I often try to get frontal densities in the 35-40% range for the first 1 inch of hairline; then, I reduce the density I create. If the man has a particular hairstyle they like (for example, combing their hair left to right with a part on the left side), I would place a disproportional number of grafts on the parted side to enhance his styling and achieve a fuller look and save donor hairs on the opposite side. For the very bald man, such discussions with their surgeon are critical, as their donor supply may only be able to supply the needed hair to achieve a full-looking head of hair, only, if proper planning is done in advance.
Yesterday, I met with a patient I had transplanted twice over 1 year, the last surgery just 8 months ago. He had a Class 6 balding pattern and a very poor donor supply, needing more hair to get to a full-looking head of hair than he had. To substitute for his lack of donor hair, I used beard hair for the top and mixed the beard hair with the hair I got out of his donor supply. The result was amazing. Such meetings make my day.
FYI: STATEMENT: 50% of recipient area density in a man with black hair and white skin is as good as 100% recipient area density. That observation is even more favorable as the skin becomes darker and the hair becomes lighter, or the hair and skin color match. HOW THIS WAS DETERMINED: This was demonstrated by Dr. Manny Marrit some years ago when he plucked out 50% of the hairs on one side of the head of a man with medium-weight hair, which was black, and his skin was white. No one could tell the plucked side from the Non-pucked side.)
