Historical costs per graft

[jeff1986]

Has anyone done a study how costs to transplant a single Follicular Unit have changed over last 2, 5, 10 and 20 years? My understanding is that even nominal prices (non-inflation adjusted) keep on falling all the time. I also expect this trend to continue once Artas robot will go mainstream and Hair Transplant surgeons will become ~ 2-3x more efficient.

 

I would like to hear opinion on following subjects:

1. How much on average you paid 2, 5, 10 or 20 years ago to transplant a single graft.*

2. Do you feel that there will be even more deflationary forces once Artas robot or other technological advancements will go mainstream? Also could it be that nowadays there are way more Hair Transplant surgeons than few years ago and competition is driving down prices as well? **

 

 

 

* I know that it is not completely fair to compare nowadays FUT and FUE with older day methods due to lower yields and scars that remained.

** I would be interested to hear Hair Transplant surgeon opinion on this matter. Especially if you have been somehow involved with Artas robot.

[Blake Bloxham]

Jeff,

 

Price per graft has dropped exponentially in the past 20 years. As methods became more effective and larger procedures with much, much smaller grafts became commonplace, the prices went way down.

 

Automated FUE machines, in my opinion, will actually do the opposite: drive price per graft up. These machines are expensive, and will likely increase the price of a procedure. What's more, I don't know if we have much objective data saying the ARTAS makes hair transplantation more efficient - more automated maybe, but not sure if that equates to efficiency, nor do I believe it will become the "mainstream" standard.

 

Hope this helps.

[Al - Moderator]

Want to go way back? I paid $18.50 per graft in 1989, but these were 3.75mm grafts with maybe an average of 6 to 8 hairs per graft. I then had some smaller grafts probably in 1991 and 1992 ranging in size from I think 2.5mm to 3.5mm, but still paid the same $18.50 per graft because they charged per graft, not by how many hairs or how large or small the grafts were. I think I probably got around 3 to 6 hairs from a lot of those smaller grafts. The actual price went up to $21.50 per graft, but I had paid $200 down payment on future procedures to keep the same pricing.