Hair Transplant FAQ

FUE — follicular unit extraction — removes individual follicular units from the donor area at the back and sides of the scalp and places them where hair is thinning. Micro FUE is the same principle performed with a smaller extraction punch. A smaller punch takes less surrounding tissue with each graft, which is what allows grafts to be placed closer together.

The punch is the instrument that removes each follicular unit. Most FUE is performed with punches around 0.8 to 1.0mm. At 0.75mm, each extraction takes less tissue with it — less trauma to the donor area, smaller healing points, and grafts compact enough to place at higher density.

It describes how grafts are distributed rather than how they are extracted. Single-hair grafts go at the hairline, where fine individual hairs make the transition look natural. Multi-hair grafts go behind it — the mid-scalp and crown — where the job is volume. Matching graft type to zone means the donor area goes further.

The scalp is numbed with local anesthetic before anything begins. The injections themselves sting briefly; after that, most patients describe pressure and sound rather than pain. Most of the discomfort comes in the days afterward, and is generally manageable with the medication you are sent home with.

No. FUE is performed under local anesthesia, so you are awake throughout — able to talk, listen to music, eat and use your phone. General anesthesia is not used, which is part of why recovery is quicker than people expect.

It depends almost entirely on graft count. Smaller sessions can finish in a few hours; larger ones run most of a day, with breaks. Your specific timing is estimated at your consultation, once the graft count is set.

Yes, and it is worth saying out loud. Almost everyone is. Tell the team — knowing what happens next, step by step, tends to help more than anything else.

Many people return within a few days, and the deciding factor is usually visibility rather than physical readiness — the recipient area is visibly healing for roughly the first week to ten days. If your work is physically demanding or spent in the sun, plan for longer.

Small crusts form around each graft and generally separate within about a week to ten days, following the washing routine you are given. Do not pick at them — the grafts underneath are still settling.

Not immediately, and not a tight one. Anything that rubs or presses on new grafts risks dislodging them. Your team will tell you when a loose cap is safe — generally after the first several days.

Yes — and this is the part that alarms people who were not warned about it. Transplanted hairs commonly shed within the first few weeks. The follicle stays in place; only the hair shaft is lost. New growth begins from those same follicles a few months later. Shedding is the expected course, not a sign of failure.

New growth typically begins around three to four months, becomes clearly visible around six, and continues thickening and maturing through roughly twelve to eighteen months. A hair transplant rewards patience more than almost any other procedure.

The follicles are taken from the back and sides of the scalp, which are genetically resistant to the hormone that drives pattern hair loss, and they keep that resistance after being moved. What a transplant does not do is stop hair loss elsewhere — untreated native hair can keep thinning around it, which is exactly why the plan matters as much as the surgery.

That is mostly a design question rather than a technical one — the shape of the hairline, the angle and direction each graft is placed at, and the density gradient from front to back. Done well, nobody can tell. Done poorly, everyone can. It is the thing to judge any clinic gallery on.

Some patients do, some do not. It depends on how much area needs covering, how much donor supply you have, and how your hair loss progresses afterward. Placing more hairs per graft and at higher density is intended to reach the target in fewer sessions.

Broadly: stable, patterned hair loss and a donor area with enough healthy follicles to draw from. Beyond that it is a medical judgement made in person — your loss pattern, donor density, scalp condition, age and general health all bear on it.

There is no single number, but younger patients are often advised to wait. Hair loss that is still actively progressing makes it difficult to design a hairline that will still look right in twenty years. It is one of the most important things to talk through honestly at evaluation.

The great majority is androgenetic alopecia — male pattern loss — in which follicles sensitive to DHT gradually produce finer, shorter hairs until they stop producing altogether. It is genetic, progressive, and it follows recognizable patterns, which is precisely what makes it treatable by transplantation.

Often, yes. Female pattern loss more typically shows as diffuse thinning across the top with the frontal hairline preserved, and there are more possible contributing causes — thyroid, iron, hormonal change, medication — that are worth ruling out first. Candidacy is determined at evaluation.

Grafts start at $3 each, so the graft count is the main driver of the total — which is why nobody can give you a real number before assessing your donor area and your goals. Surgical supplies and other charges are billed in addition to the graft cost. You receive a written plan with your exact graft count and final price at your consultation with Dr. Adler.

Fifteen minutes with one of our hair restoration specialists, at no cost and no obligation. It exists to establish whether you are likely a candidate, roughly what your procedure would involve, and to answer whatever is holding you back from booking.

It is $125, and whatever you pay is credited toward your procedure when you book — so if you go ahead, the evaluation costs you nothing. You get an assessment of your donor area and loss pattern, and a written plan with your exact graft count and final price.

It is a fair question and worth thinking through properly rather than being talked out of. Prices in some countries are genuinely lower. What you are weighing against that is everything that comes after the surgery: whether you can see your surgeon for follow-up, who handles a complication three weeks later, and what recourse you have if the result is not what was agreed. Aftercare and any revision are far simpler to arrange in the same city than across a border.