Am I being paranoid about my FUE graft count? (photos)

Question

I had FUE hair transplant in Turkey done 3 weeks ago. I felt that the stated grafts implanted were far less than what they claimed. This is based on my following observations: 1. Large spaces between grafts on the top and back of my scalp 2. They finished in 4.5 hours! 3. The amount removed from donor area seems far greater than what was implanted. I feel that they didn't implant all extracted grafts. They claimed to have implanted 3,800 grafts. Am I being paranoid or are my assumptions valid?

Amir Yazdan, MD · Answer

This is one of the reasons we never advise going out of the country to get a hair transplant surgery. There is no way to continue follow up care, be evaluated if any issues arise after surgery and no quality control. Based on your photos it is not possible you had a 3800 graft procedure.

In fact, if you can do simple math you can come to this conclusion.

Your surgery was 4.5 hours long

If they extracted 2,000 grafts per hour (Extremely difficult to do) and they punched for 2 hours and had a 0.5% transection rate that would obtain 3800 grafts in 2 hours

Then if they made 1 recipient site per second for 3800 seconds straight that would amount to a little over an hours time.

So your surgery is at 3 hours

The assistants would then need to transplant at a rate of about 1500 grafts an hour to finish your surgery in the 4.5 hour time slot.

We havent anticipated time for anesthesia, hairline design, shaving the head, etc.

You can see that the question is almost laughable and not obtainable, yet so many patients believe such numbers and claims.

Our clinic has seen many patients that have bad experiences after getting an FUE or FUT out of the country and unfortunately most of these patients need a hair transplant surgery repair.

Next surgery look into a more qualified surgeon locally as there are many in california. Always remember, in life you get what you pay for and the cheap comes out expensive.

Ozge Ergun, MD · Answer

During a hair transplantation, if with FUT or FUE does not make any sense,all the grafts will be counted one by one and they will be separated in one-two-three etc follicules and it will be stated in a medical report. You should contact your surgeon/clinic and ask for the report.

Jae Pak, MD · Answer

If you trusted your doctor before your surgery, why would you not trust your doctor after the surgery?  It would be best to contact your doctor with your concerns.

Peter Ebizadeh, MD · Answer

It is highly unlikely that you had 3,800 follicular units performed in 4.5 hours but not impossible . Unfortunately, we have seen many patients whom have been told one thing and received something else when having their surgery performed in Turkey. We see these patients as they present to us needing some much needed revisions. I suggest that you consider a qualified hair surgeon in the United States if you are looking fro additional density in the future.

Sean Behnam, MD · Answer

Your question is very complicated to answer. However, you should contact your doctor. Unfortunately, going out of the state or country, the doctor performing the procedure may not care as someone that is close to you. Out of the 1,400 FUE cases that I have performed, I have never performed 3,800 grafts in one day, let alone in 4.5 hours. Nevertheless, it may be possible. At this point I would really focus on taking care of your grafts so that they will grow well. However, with regards with the count of the grafts, you will need to speak to the doctor that performed the procedure. At the end of the day, most doctors give all the counts to the patients.

Ali Emre Karadeniz, MD · Answer

You have obviously been to a Turkish technician clinic; these are clinics where a doctor does not take part in the surgery and the whole procedure is done by unlicensed technicians. When you have surgery at these clinics, the number of grafts done is the least important concern. The result of these procedures is that 6000-7000 punching attempts are done to get a couple of hundred good grafts. Half of the grafts go to the rubbish bin after being completely damaged. The remaining half that are severely damaged are transplanted. The result is usually poor growth and an unnatural result at the recipient area, a totally depleted donor area that looks moth-eaten. I hope you have not been to one of these clinics and you get a good result. If you believe you went to a professional clinic, I recommend you contact your surgeon to address your concerns. Good luck.

Justin Misko, MD · Answer

I recommend you contact the clinic that performed your transplant and speak with your doctor.  They can review the graft count and placement.

Bobbi D. Edwards, MD · Answer

I recommend you contact your physician and the number of grafts is part of your medical record. Every graft that is harvested and extracted successfully should have been placed.

Ilhan Serdaroglu, MD · Answer

Dont be paranoid because you are right and assumptions valid ! Unfortunatelly it is impossible to transplant 3800 grfats in 4,5 hours and you have less number of grafts that transplanted to bald spot.

Baubac Hayatdavoudi, MD · Answer

A 3,800 graft procedure in 4.5 hours would be incredibly fast. Normally this would be a 10 - 11 hour procedure at least.

Am I being paranoid about my FUE graft count? (photos)

Answers (12)

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