Density question?

[dakota3]

How many hairs/grafts per CM is considered a good density? 40/60/80?

[dakota3]

How many hairs/grafts per CM is considered a good density? 40/60/80?

[Bill - Seemiller]

dakota,

 

It honestly depends on your hair characteristics, number of hairs per graft and your goals.

 

Typically at 50% of your natural hair density, you will present a good illusion of fullness. Since the average natural hair density without loss is approximately 80 FU/sq cm, 40 FU/sq cm should give you a significant improvement in the appearance of density.

 

In my opinion, the higher density you can get in an area (taking into consideration future hair loss, coverage verses density, feathering of the immediate hairline, etc), the better it will look. But not every patient is a candidate for super high densities as it will depend on your amount of baldness and available donor hair.

 

Good topic!

 

Bill

[hairbank]

Originally posted by dakota3:

How many hairs/grafts per CM is considered a good density? 40/60/80?

 

You need to account for where the grafts will be placed for sure.

 

In a perfect world, we'd all love to have 80-120 per sq cm everywhere and just go back to where we were before loss

 

However, donor supply is finite, so...........for me, in the frontal 1/3 I'd say 60-70 grafts per sq cm for a nice, dense, look. Midscalp maybe 45-50. Then the crown, depending on what you're going for, you'll need at least 45-50 as well in most cases if you want good coverage.

 

Maybe will choose to go with 25-30 for crown and focus on frontal 1/3 and midscalp since it's what more people see and that's a valid point. I had around 35-40 grafts per sq cm in the crown from HT #2 and it was still a little thin. After the second pass in some areas of the crown I'm sure I have over 50 grafts per sq cm and maybe more, so, we'll see what the coverage turns out to be when it comes in.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

This is a great topic and one that does not have a standard answer for all patients. Hair color/ skin color discrepancies will DRAMATICALLY alter both the least dense or most dense of the figures listed above. So will caliber of the transplanted hairs. Thus an asian man with really dark hair and light skin, with thin very straigh hairs packed at 70grafts/cm will not get the same result as a middle eastern man with salt and pepper hair, dark skin, and thick wavy hairs packed at 40 grafts per cm.

 

So while density is a useful topic for discussion, its not the entire issue. Talk with your doctor about your specific requirements and options.

 

Sometimes I have been accused of being "too blunt" however, I nearly always start the examination of someone's scalp by telling the patient what "you have going for you and against you" and specifically review color match, curvy vs straight hair, and hair caliber PRIOR to asking specifics about patient goals. That way we are on the same wavelength as we develop a treatment plan.

 

 

William Lindsey MD FACS Reston VA