The Patient's Guide to Hair Restoration - New Hair Institute

Chapter 17
Determining Quality and Value
Quality
Quality in hair transplantation is priceless and although we often tie
quality, value, and price together; quality should never be compromised. Small,
delicate grafts are critical to high quality results in hair transplantation. Value
must be judged by evaluating both quality and cost. When comparing the cost of
procedures offered by different medical groups, it must be an apples-to-apples
comparison. Ask:
• How many grafts will I receive in each session? What
is the size of the grafts and how many hairs will each
graft contain? How many hairs will be moved in each
session?
• Will I have sufficient donor hair after completion of
this procedure for future hair restoration?
• How much will I pay for each graft in each session?
How many sessions will I need? What can I expect to
pay for the entire hair restoration process?
Your goal should be to achieve the best quality work with the highest
number of hairs moved in the smallest, most practical graft size. One hair at a
time may produce inadequate density. Naturally appearing follicular unit grafts of
1-4 hairs may make more sense. When hairs are clumped together in unnatural
groupings, there may be a lower initial cost, but these hair transplants will be
detectable to the naked eye (toothbrush look) and an unnecessarily rapid
depletion of your remaining donor hair as more hair is moved in this way. It is
critically important to recognize that compromise may be necessary, and each
patient must be in a position to understand the benefits and liabilities of each
element in the decision process when planning the size and distribution of the
transplants.
The larger the size of your grafts, the more hairs will be in each graft and
the more unnatural you will look as these larger grafts produce a greater contrast
to the surrounding skin. Larger grafts also tend to be more wasteful and deplete
the donor supply faster than smaller grafts. Smaller grafts appear more natural,
but they may have a smaller impact on the balding area if they are not done in
substantial quantities.
Negative Value
Having an unnatural appearance, spending money out of proportion to the
benefits you receive, losing valuable time in living a normal life, and accelerating
the hair loss process, are all signs of negative value. Deciding whether to have