A large balding area may require 5,000 or more hair grafts for transplantation surgery. Despite the possibility of getting these many grafts, there are some things to consider.
In this guide, you’ll learn more about what 5,000-graft hair transplants are, what coverage they can provide and why you might need more than one surgical session for them.
How Much Do 5,000 Grafts Cover On Head?
A 5,000-graft hair transplant can restore the hairline as well as improve the density in the front and crown. A Norwood Scale Stage 5 patient with extensive hair loss may require as many as 5,000 grafts.
However, 5,000-graft hair transplants are only possible if the patient has that many grafts in their donor area. It’s usually not a problem since around 6,000 grafts can be safely harvested from the back of the head.
A 5,000+ graft hair transplant before and after result
Despite this, practitioners may consider extracting body hair, such as ones from the beard, if scalp hair isn’t sufficient to achieve the desired density. Unfortunately, though, body hair transplants might not yield satisfactory results.
In any case, your surgeon will discuss your style preferences with you beforehand, such as the side on which you part your hair or whether you’d like more density at the front to maximize the donor area and meet your aesthetic goals.
Scalp micropigmentation might also be recommended to create a better illusion of density.
Is 5,000 Grafts A Lot?
A 5,000-graft hair transplant would mean transplanting around 10,000 hairs, since each graft contains two hairs on average. Considering that most people receive around 2,000 grafts during a single session, according to the ISHRS, this is an unusually large number of grafts. According to the same practice census data, only 1% individuals get 4,000 or more grafts in their first procedure.
The rarity of this type of hair transplantation might have a few explanations. For instance, it is possible that people choose this surgery before their hair loss becomes so extensive that they require such a large number of grafts.
Your hair transplant surgeon may also advise against the transplantation of all 5,000 grafts in a single session of the surgery.
Can You Get 5,000 Grafts In One Session?
Some clinics may transplant 5,000 or more grafts in a single session, but practitioners with Longevita do not do so for a variety of reasons, including:
- Avoiding damaging the donor area permanently.
- Preventing graft survival rates from being lowered by too much time outside the body.
Typically, a maximum of 4,500 grafts will be extracted and transplanted, and if you require additional grafts, you’ll have a second hair transplant 6-12 months after the first one.
Patient received 5,000 grafts in two hair transplant surgeries
In such cases, patients usually have the front of their scalps transplanted in the first procedure, while the crown area is addressed in the subsequent surgery.
How Much Do 5,000 Hair Grafts Cost?
In the UK, the cost of 5,000 grafts of hair transplant can be around £20,000 at an average of £4 per graft. In contrast, a-5,000 graft hair transplant in Turkey might cost anywhere from £3,000 to £5,000.
The overall cost of the surgery can vary depending on several factors, including the experience of the surgical team, location of the clinic as well as the pricing model (fixed or per graft).
Interested In A Hair Transplant?
If you’re thinking about getting a hair transplant and are not sure about where to start, feel free to get in touch with us about any pre- or post-operative query. Longevita’s experts are more than happy to help!
Dr Cagla
Dr Cagla earned her medical degree at Trakya University’s Faculty of Medicine in Bulgaria and has almost 6 years of hair transplantation experience. She is a specialist in FUE, DHI and Sapphire hair transplants of the scalp, eyebrows and beard and has performed over 6,000 surgeries. Dr Cagla is multilingual, with fluency in English, Bulgarian and Turkish.
