is my Donor Hair at the back inadequate for a 4,800 FUE graft? (photos)

There are limitations with consultation online with photos.  If you want an assessment it is best to see a doctor in person.Harvesting 1000 or 4000 grafts should not be your focus as much as what a doctor can provide in terms of final results. (normal looking hair line, etc)

I always caution anyone going abroad to get a hair transplant surgery. While I understand the cost of the surgery may be cheaper, its most often true that you get what you pay for. The truth is, doctors outside of the U.S. are not held to the same high standard of care that U.S. doctors are. This opens you up to increased risks all around. Including but not limited to, infection, scarring, shock loss, and a botched surgery. Unfortunately, I have multiple patients that come in every week seeking a hair transplant repair due to a botched surgery from abroad. The best thing you can do is thoroughly research your prospective hair transplant surgeon. You should make sure that they are experienced, certified by the ISHRS, and have positive testimonials. 

Regarding your donor area, this is best assessed via an in-person consultation. Pictures don’t allow us to accurately gauge the density. It should be noted that extracting 4800 grafts in one procedure greatly increases your risk of scarring and shock loss in the donor area. Keep this in mind as you have consultations with hair transplant surgeons. You can either spend a little more to have a hair transplant done right the first time, or spend a lot more and go through a lot of stress when you try to have a bad surgery fixed.

Thanks for posting your photos. Based on them with a combined surgery 4500+ grafts can be taken out from your donor side. But with performing only one method surgery we would not recommend it to you as it can damage your donor side. For more details you could always contact our clinic and we will be happy to assist you during making a decision for procedure.

4800 FUE grafts is a large case. For cases of this size we break the case up into two consecutive days.  From your photos it does look like the donor area could support this size case, but given your recipient photos I wonder if there is the need for that many grafts.

Based on these photos, it looks like 4800 grafts would considerably thin out your donor area. I estimate your frontal area needing a minimum of 2000 grafts, although this varies depending on the density you desire and design of your hairline.  Your density options will be limited by the finite nature of your donor supply. FUE harvesting would certainly limit you to a session of no more than and possibly less than 2000 grafts based on this photo you submitted. A proper physical exam, however, is necessary to determine exact graft numbers. I recommend following up with a hair transplant surgeon experienced in FUE surgery. 

The only way to know for sure is to have an examination done in person. Anything else is simply an estimate and may or may not end up being accurate depending on the density and thickness of your hair. If you do not have an in person consultation I would highly recommend getting a smaller procedure done first, just to ensure the donor area isn't over harvested. A typical male should be able to donate 4800 grafts but if you're below average it may cause your donor area to look patch/thin after.

it is possible to take out 4800 but the sude effects could be devastating. Donor depletion is one the most common sude effects for larger fue havesting sessions. In addition if there is not enough grafts available, sometimes they move outside of the donorzone. There is no eveidence that area outside of the do or zone is genetically resistant to DHT, therefore there is high possibility that these hairs will fall off in the future.  

It is difficult to assess donor thinning from your pictures, however you do have thinning in the nape of the neck. 4800 FUE grafts cannot be safely removed in one session from the safe donor area. You should have an in person assessment by a full-time hair restoration surgeon.

4800 grafts may very well cause balding in the donor area.  To determine the donor density, I would have to examine you. That will tell me how many grafts you could tolerate. From your pictures, you don't need 4800 grafts, about 2000-2500 will be adequate.