I was wondering what the possible rate of extraction is per square Centimetre - theoretically if you had a 1mm punch , you could extract 100 grafts per Centimetre square ?

I know Surgeons take grafts from a wide area. Just wondering whats possible without shaving your entire hair off and you wanted to keep extraction zones on edge of your hairline, eg around the ears for example, and keep it discreet.

Well 100 hairs pr sq cm is above average, but no surgeon would extract all the hairs in a sq cm, because all the holes would be joined together and make a 1sqcm scar.

__________________
My Hair Loss Website

So any idea on how many grafts per centre square is the norm surgeons will extract ?

I've heard that most doctors feel do not feel comfortable in going past 35% MAX of the available FU's per cm2. I want to say that the average is about 25%, but I'm no 100% sure on that.

We try not to go past 20%---generally if we do more than 500 grafts, we buzz the entire donor and spread the extractions out.

Average donor density 80-90 FU'scm/2

So, at 20% 16-18 grafts.
25% 20-22.5 grafts
30% 24-27 grafts.

This is kind of a good tool to use because you can measure your available donor and see what a decent estimate of available grafts via FUE you might have.

While I am no way saying this is "THE" approach, because other doctors have made claims of up to 50% extraction, but I have found most conscientious clinics are 20-30%.

Obviously, if a guy has insane donor density, taking 35% would be 100% fine in his case.
Conversely, there are those that taking 20% of the donor is the maximum.

Another point I like to make is the 2 session approach. Taking say, 15-20% of a persons donor the 1st time may not impact them at all...no scarring, no noticeable thinning in the donor.
Then you go back in and take that additional 5-10% and there is now some gaps, thinning, etc...just less coverage, so it is certainly NOT an exact science.

However, taking 4-5K from the donor at one time does not give the patient or the clinic to assess the impact of removing a % of grafts, determining a safe approach or at least properly advising the patient that X may occur as a result of taking additional donor via FUE,and let them make this decision beforehand.

Take Care,
Jason

__________________
Go Cubs!

6721 transplanted grafts
13,906 hairs
Performed by Dr. Ron Shapiro

Dr. Ron Shapiro and Dr. Paul Shapiro are members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

Jason,

What is the total area of the safe zone?

Hi B Spot,

Thanks for the info. If possible I'd like to hear a little more about this aspect of Mops question.

"I know Surgeons take grafts from a wide area. Just wondering whats possible without shaving your entire hair off and you wanted to keep extraction zones on edge of your hairline, eg around the ears for example, and keep it discreet."

This interests me as well because for someone who has previous donor scars from an old Bosley session I definitely couldn't live with shaving the whole back of my head down for FUE. Would it be possible or feasable to extract donor grafts from a linear strip shaved down across the back. Similar to how the donar is shaved down for a strip just not as wide?
_______________________________________________
Shaved down donor area about this wide
_______________________________________________

Length of the strip would depend on how many grafts are needed. Obviously you couldn't obtain nearly as many grafts as if someone shaves the whole back of their head, but for someone intersted in FUE into an existing scar (like Spex had) or for someone looking for hairline refinement this would allow them cover the area with exisisting hair and go relatively unoticed.

Thanks

TC, it varies from patient to patient for FUE---I'd say 260-320cm of possible donor via FUE for most patients. I'm on the lower end, I think I am around 270cm.

Flyby, yes, if your hair is longer, we can buzz small strips around your head and take grafts from there and your existing longer hair will fall over the buzzed strips disguising the FUE extraction zones...this is not perfect, but we can do this. It severely limits the size of session you can have, and that can only be determined with an in-person visit to measure your donor density and plan things out accordingly. Unless your just doing some scar repair and we are only doing 2-400 grafts.

Cheers,
Jason

__________________
Go Cubs!

6721 transplanted grafts
13,906 hairs
Performed by Dr. Ron Shapiro

Dr. Ron Shapiro and Dr. Paul Shapiro are members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

Thanks Jason. So, conceivably, if I have a density of 80 follicular units per cm2 and 290cm of donor, shouldn't I be able to get over 7,000 grafts if I only take 30 FU's per cm2 from the donor?

Theoretically, yes. In actuality, probably not.

At some point, you will notice gaps or experience white dots. This may occur at 3500 grafts or it may occur at 7000 grafts. No one really knows for sure....which is why we feel 3-4K might be about the average amount of FUE grafts you can take from the donor before bringing dealing with the factors I listed above.

Most of us have different density throughout our donor as well. Say 85 in back and 60 on the sides. So while you might get 30 in back, you might only take 12-14 per cm on the sides.

So, for most average guys, we can get 3-4K safely, no noticeable gaps or scarring. After that is is purely individual.

Again, this is what we at SMG believe, so we are not stating it is THE way... others have said you can take 6-7-8K of FUE from the donor as the norm.

Cheers,
Jason

__________________
Go Cubs!

6721 transplanted grafts
13,906 hairs
Performed by Dr. Ron Shapiro

Dr. Ron Shapiro and Dr. Paul Shapiro are members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.