Hey guys,

I crunched some numbers today and now I'm feeling a little worried about my future outcome. I had my HT 12 weeks ago today (too soon to see any results I know) with Dr. Alexander. During my consultation, he said that my donor area looked very dense. I ended up with 2516 grafts and the hair breakdown was; 608 singles, 1885 doubles and 23 triples. I knew from the beginning that my number of triples was low but never thought about adding up the total number of hairs. My grafts only yielded a total of 4447 hairs!

What got me thinking about this was that I was perusing Dr. Rahal's site and found a chart that says that, on average, 2500 grafts will yield between 5800 and 6300 hairs.

If that's the case then my melon gave up over 1,000 hairs less than average! Should I prepare myself to be disappointed?

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David (TakingThePlunge)
Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant

I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice.

View my Hair Loss Website

Hey guys,

I crunched some numbers today and now I'm feeling a little worried about my future outcome. I had my HT 12 weeks ago today (too soon to see any results I know) with Dr. Alexander. During my consultation, he said that my donor area looked very dense. I ended up with 2516 grafts and the hair breakdown was; 608 singles, 1885 doubles and 23 triples. I knew from the beginning that my number of triples was low but never thought about adding up the total number of hairs. My grafts only yielded a total of 4447 hairs!

What got me thinking about this was that I was perusing Dr. Rahal's site and found a chart that says that, on average, 2500 grafts will yield between 5800 and 6300 hairs.

If that's the case then my melon gave up over 1,000 hairs less than average! Should I prepare myself to be disappointed?

__________________
David (TakingThePlunge)
Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant

I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice.

View my Hair Loss Website

In my opinion, the most important thing is the quality of the hairs, not the number. For some people, 4000 hairs is literally like 8000 for others.

I would not worry about that at this point being so early. How did you decide on 2500 grafts? I have seen some great results posted by Dr Alexander recently. I hope yours turns out great as well.

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4374 grafts-7/2/2008-Dr Rahal
485 singles
2336 doubles
1526 triples
16 quads
9809 total hairs

Thanks for the positive words guys.

wantego,

At my consultation, I simply asked Dr A how many grafts he recommended for me. He said 2500 would give me the result I was looking for. He showed me some patient photos of guys w/similar degrees of hair loss and a similar number of grafts and then drew the hairline on that he felt was appropriate. I trust him 100% and know he did the best with what he had to work with. I'm just hoping that I'll get a result that I'll be happy with for a while. I know I'll probably need another HT at some point but I'd like to be able to enjoy this one for a couple of years.

You guys have put some of my fears to rest. Thanks again!

__________________
David (TakingThePlunge)
Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant

I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice.

View my Hair Loss Website

The average graft has 2.2 hairs in it.

Dr A does fine work and looking at your pics it will be a good job. Are you on meds to maintain the mid/crown?

__________________
Consultant for Dr. Feller, Coalition Member and Dr. Lindsey, Coalition Member.

See my results --->>My Hair Loss Website

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own. "Research-Research-Research"

Hi TTP

I am just 18 weeks out from surgery with Dr Alexander and I had the exact same worry.
My breakdown was pretty similar yours, I had 647 single grafts, 1920 doubles and only 11 3+ hair grafts
At the minute I getting quite a bit of growth coming through and I am feeling quite optimistic about things. Dr Alexander said he had packed the grafts in quite tightly and I can already see a "cosmetic" difference. The growth and hairline so far looks totally natural.
I am sure you have similar exciting developments to look forward to, but it is a real b1tch waiting for it!
Hope this helps.

Cheers

Spex,

I started Rogaine Foam and 1/4 Proscar daily one week after HT. I was really reluctant to get on the Finasteride but I knew I needed to slow further hair loss if possible when I saw the pics of my crown. Keeping my fingers crossed for a little thickening in that area.

Hair of the dog,

Nice to hear from a fellow Dr. Alexander patient. Your feedback was exactly what I was hoping for! Not only did you have a similar hair count but the same doc as well!

Thanks again for all the valuable feeback! This is the best club I never wanted to belong to!

__________________
David (TakingThePlunge)
Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant

I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice.

View my Hair Loss Website

Taking the Plunge,

In my opinion, you're going to have a great result. Don't get too hung up on the numbers.

But continue to be realistic in your expections. 2500 grafts isn't going to give you true density or full coverage. You might want/need another procedure to give you the density/coverage you desire - but give your first one a chance to grow out before making a decision on another surgery.

Hang in there my friend.

Bill

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To learn about how I restored my hair, view my my hair loss website.

Remember, true beauty radiates from within, not from the skin.

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own.

Bill,

As always, your input is greatly appreciated! I feel like I have realistic expectations. I just became a little concerned when I realized that my donor strip produced around a thousand fewer hairs than average. From everyone's feedback it seems that this alone is not a major concern and I feel a lot better about it now.

I love this community! In the old days, all you had was an ad in a magazine, a brochure or a TV commercial with faked photos and a local doctor you never heard of promising you the world. Today we have the world at our fingertips! The value of our shared knowledge and experience cannot be overstated!

I understand you are going in for another HT soon. Best of luck!

For anyone interested, I just posted 12 week pics on my blog.

__________________
David (TakingThePlunge)
Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant

I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice.

View my Hair Loss Website