Thank you for taking the time to maintain this website. I met with a hair loss consultant last week for the first time. He recommended that I have 2500 grafs on my forehead area and a second transplant a year from now on the top of my head. Why not just have it all done at once? He claims that they dont charge per graf, but a flat fee regardless of how many transplants they do. Is this just a opportunity to make more money for a second procedure?
If the consultant you spoke with was not a doctor who does the surgery him/herself and is trained in hair transplantation as a specialty, then he/she is practicing medicine without a license and I would run for the hills. There are some clinics that promote consultants to recruit patients and I have seen some people get recommendations that are way out of line with their need. Doing more than 2500 grafts depends upon:
- The size of the bald area being treated
- The donor density
- The looseness of the donor area skin (laxity)
- The skill of the surgical team (only some teams are capable of performing 5000 grafts at one session)
Fees are generally priced per graft, but that is not a hard and fast rule. Whatever the basis for the charge, it should be both competitive to what a quality medical group would charge and show value for what you are going to receive (result focused of course). Selecting a doctor should follow the science I have outlined in How to Tell if You’ve Found the Right Hair Transplant Doctor.