What is the average amount of follicles does one have?

[milo12]

Hello everyone,

 

Curious to know what is the average amount of naturally occurring hair follicles per cm2 does the average young man and woman possess in his/her 30s. That is, on a dense scalp with no signs of thinning of course.

[Transhair]

anywhere between 80-110ish. Differen ethnicities and stuff can change the number, mostly lower.

[milo12]

anywhere between 80-110ish. Differen ethnicities and stuff can change the number, mostly lower.

 

Do you know of any patients who have had transplants of 80 - 90 cm2 successfully without shock loss? If you do know could you please post links?

[hsrp10]

80-90cm2 range seems like the Armani type of over-harvesting overkill that you don't see recently, thankfully.

 

The highest advertised I've seen with doctors with a somewhat decent reputation is Dr. Keser in Turkey at 70cm2, and even the density king Rahal transplants at "only" 60cm2 seems.

You wanna go dense but I wouldn't go over the 60-70cm2 range, and only over 60 if you have fine caliber hair.

[milo12]

80-90cm2 range seems like the Armani type of over-harvesting overkill that you don't see recently, thankfully.

 

.

 

I have heard of bad press about Armani. But the gallery of pics of patients looks quite amazing.

 

Who in your honest opinion is the best right now? So far I think either Konior, Erdogen or Feller.

[hsrp10]

Yeah, over-harvesting and zero planning for the patient's future were among his trademarks which garnered him a bad reputation.

 

I think the best overall patient experience can be had with a Konior procedure. He's actually not the densest transplanting surgeon out there and often does more with less grafts. But his artistic touch and meticulous attention to detail cannot be beat. He's both a master and a machine at the same time.

It's hard to book a surgery date with him these days though and the cost especially for FUE is rather high, which are his only two drawbacks.

 

Erdogan is in my top 3 pics, not a big fan of the techs doing a lot of the heavy work (they do both the extractions and graft placement there) but the results speak for themselves I guess and haven't seen any or many poor cases from them.

 

I will state my opinion that I've never been a huge fan of Feller but have high hopes for Blake and his future work.

I'm intrigued by Dr. Keser btw but as there are not many published results out there so there is some potential risk if choosing him due to the unknowns.

[milo12]

Yeah, over-harvesting and zero planning for the patient's future were among his trademarks which garnered him a bad reputation.

 

I think the best overall patient experience can be had with a Konior procedure. He's actually not the densest transplanting surgeon out there and often does more with less grafts. But his artistic touch and meticulous attention to detail cannot be beat. He's both a master and a machine at the same time.

It's hard to book a surgery date with him these days though and the cost especially for FUE is rather high, which are his only two drawbacks.

 

Erdogan is in my top 3 pics, not a big fan of the techs doing a lot of the heavy work (they do both the extractions and graft placement there) but the results speak for themselves I guess and haven't seen any or many poor cases from them.

 

I will state my opinion that I've never been a huge fan of Feller but have high hopes for Blake and his future work.

I'm intrigued by Dr. Keser btw but as there are not many published results out there so there is some potential risk if choosing him due to the unknowns.

 

Hello hsrp10,

 

I am honestly very confused as to which doctor to see about a potential hair transplant. To me 50 grafts/cm2 is not enough. That would create a see-through look. I would like 70 grafts/cm2 though. Maybe you can help me decide if you do not mind.

 

Looking forward to hearing from you about this!

[hsrp10]

There are many factors involved, and I don't know your particular case but don't think you could go wrong with choosing Dr. Erdogan in terms of results and decent price.

[voxman]

If you get to 200 posts and haven't decided, you get suspended from the forum.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Milo12,

 

Good question. The average number of hairs on one's head is about 100,000 follicles. that includes the donor and recipient areas. Since the average number of hairs per FU (follicular unit) is 2.2 is, the average number of FU's on the scalp is about 46,000 (these are rough numbers by the way). The average FU/cm2 is approximately 80 though some people have less or more. But density in FU/cm2 isn't the only factor to consider. Hair shaft thickness (in microns) and scalp to hair contrast ratio is an important factor in determining the overall cosmetic affect. Strategic placement of the FU's is another.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[mav23100gunther]

Hello hsrp10,

 

I am honestly very confused as to which doctor to see about a potential hair transplant. To me 50 grafts/cm2 is not enough. That would create a see-through look. I would like 70 grafts/cm2 though. Maybe you can help me decide if you do not mind.

 

Looking forward to hearing from you about this!

 

I'd look at Dr Rahal and Dr Erdogan. Both do great at dense packing. I believe the needles used by Rahal are effective in achieving such high density. Erdogan also seems to consistently perform high density cases.

 

Stay away from Armani.

[wantingmore]

Im curious as to your guys opinions as to the Fu/cm ratios as a couple of the consults ive had mostly from rahal office ( i do have fairly good donor) they said 45Fu/cm will be good

to shoot for i realize it has to with amount you are trying to cover and the hair characteristics etc but from your guys experience on here would a 45Fu/cm create a good density ? when you guys are saying on here that a 50Fu/cm is weak and your shooting for 60-70 ?

[hsrp10]

Based on your other post you seem to have dark but fine hair and you state you will not be taking meds.

So I would try to go higher at 60 grafts/cm2, kind of the density Ernie had in his transplant if you look at his results.

 

But it will depend on how much donor you have available, and also an onsite evaluation by a HT surgeon naturally will give a much more detailed estimate than we can online. If I'm mistaken and your hair is more coarse than you can go lower in density.

[hsrp10]

Btw, I uploaded the temple corners that Dr. Bisanga transplanted at 60cm2 (density confirmed at his office in person about 2.5 years post-op) to my photo album.

Even with fine caliber hair on caucasian male approaching 50's with wet hair, to me it looks like real hair and no illusion of density.

 

This is why recently I've been trying to stress in other posts about people with fine hair trying to go a bit more dense that the often mentioned 45-50 grafts/cm2 recommendations

One of the miscalculations I did when I first started my journey was ignoring hair caliber in the required density calculation..

 

Hair Restoration Social Network ? Community for and by Hair Loss Patients

Hair Restoration Social Network ? Community for and by Hair Loss Patients

[wantingmore]

thanks HSRP10 i had a look at ernie's story and his 60cm2 he did state that rahal said he had fine hair so im hoping mine is a bit thicker as they keep suggesting 45cm2 and if they go to 50cm (which still sounds light based on what ive read here) that one less zone will have to be treated I know a guy can't have it all but I'm wondering if any one knows on here of anyone that had frontal zone transplanted at 45cm2 whatever thickness they had and had what looked to be a good result that wasn't see through ? I ended up booking with rahal on a cancellation for next week so I will also start to document my journey nervous/excited! thanks for your all your help up to now!

[hsrp10]

I ended up booking with rahal on a cancellation for next week so I will also start to document my journey nervous/excited! thanks for your all your help up to now!

 

Wow, next week?! You must be pumped and nervous at the same time I can imagine.

Going with FUT right?

I think if your hair caliber is similar to Ernie's then you should shoot for the higher end in terms of possible grafts/cm2.

45/cm2 might be a good "average" density but in the front 2cm you really want it to be higher, at least 55 or in the upper 50s (as mentioned 60cm in my case gives me a "real hair" density look).

 

Btw I removed my pics from my album as I have already decided my 1-2 best surgeons for next year, but am unable to edit the above post.

Will go into read-only mode on the forum soon but will still respond to PMs.

 

Good luck with your surgery and looking forward to the updates.

[wantingmore]

thanks buddy! Yeah Im excited/nervous reading through the aftercare stuff (all things I've researched) but reality kicks in for sure I'm tied into now no turning back. Year long mental and physical journey. I will be for sure taking your advise into my conversation with Dr.Rahal as to getting some higher Fucm2 closer to mid 50's in at least the front first bit as you mentioned. Thanks for that input!

[Ernie]

thanks buddy! Yeah Im excited/nervous reading through the aftercare stuff (all things I've researched) but reality kicks in for sure I'm tied into now no turning back. Year long mental and physical journey. I will be for sure taking your advise into my conversation with Dr.Rahal as to getting some higher Fucm2 closer to mid 50's in at least the front first bit as you mentioned. Thanks for that input!

 

My hair is fine to very-fine. Certainly see what Dr. Rahal says about your hair caliber/thickness.

 

Since you're 35yo and this is your first HT, you may be able to convince the doc to go 60grafts/cm2 in the hairline. Unless your above a NW3? Can't remember if you are or not.

 

FYI Dr. Rahal saw my thread (via emailing his techs w a link to my post), and nonchalantly he said, "yup, looks pretty good" -- in other words I'm more impressed with his work on my head than he is, lol. What I'm trying to say is he gets results like mine all the time apparently.

 

You have nothing to fret about

[DavidAnderson]

I think the OP's question as Bill answered is what is the average density does someone have not what is needed to achieve acceptable density.

 

Most patients have around 75-80 follicular units per cm2 in the donor area. This is of course average.

 

What is acceptable density to be placed depends on the patients hair characteristics and where you are placing the grafts.