Checking how many grafts have been used after Hair Transplant Surgery

[Unam124]

Is there anyway of checking how many grafts have been used straight after a hair transplant surgery? For example if I have paid for 1500 grafts how will I know if that figure has been used (give or take a few )? Can counting the scabs / markings on my head be used as an accurate measure or will some grafts be undetectable within the first week after a surgery ? Many thanks for any info anyone has on this please.

[JoeTillman]

It can be done but it is rarely ever very accurate. You'd have to have high resolution, crystal clear focus from multiple angles and you'd have to have a way of making sure you're not double counting or missing any grafts as you verify from one photo to the next. The best time to take photos is right when you get home, or back to your hotel if you traveled, and to have someone else take them as selfies are very difficult to take when you're in need of high levels of detail. This also depends on if the recipient zone is cleansed after the surgery as most clinics will clean away all of the blood for a reduced degree of scabbing. You can and will lose some hairs in the first week so this also contributes to the count being inaccurate but you should be able to get a fairly close approximation in many cases. if you opt for not shaving the recipient area it will be impossible to count.

[Unam124]

Thanks for the reply, After surgery say maybe a few hours would you be able to see something in the region of 1500 markings on the scalp? Is it safe to presume that even with the blood cleaned by solutions etc from the surgery there would still be a noticeable mark to use to count if desired? Think perhaps what I'm trying to get at is how do you know you have recieved roughly the grafts that you have paid for? Again thanks for any help with this.

[JoeTillman]

Thanks for the reply, After surgery say maybe a few hours would you be able to see something in the region of 1500 markings on the scalp? Is it safe to presume that even with the blood cleaned by solutions etc from the surgery there would still be a noticeable mark to use to count if desired? Think perhaps what I'm trying to get at is how do you know you have recieved roughly the grafts that you have paid for? Again thanks for any help with this.

Ultimately, you don't know. You just have to trust that the doctor you chose has been honest with the graft count. The better ones are and it's rare that I see where clinics are placing far less than what they told the patient they were placing. If you do intend to try and hold them to their word by counting the grafts, this can be done as I explained above and yes, a few hours post surgery will be a good time, again, with the conditions I specified above. You won't get the exact number so if you come up short of what you were told you received you can't automatically assume you've been duped. That's just the way that it is.

[Unam124]

Ok thanks. I may be wrong but I tried to count the incision marks /scabs after surgery with a friend and we came up with a figure of around the 700 mark which i felt was roughly accurate providing that hairs can't be transplanted into skin without showing a noticeable mark. I'm sure many hair transplant surgeons have probably went the other way and used more than the desired amount but as you say reputation seems to be everything in this industry .. I just hope I haven't been victim of the company I used trying to cut costs by using less technicians than they needed. Perhaps I'm paranoid and I know I should have done more research before using the company I chose. Fatal mistake perhaps !