Counting grafts

[Hairforever]

One thing that has played on my mind for a while now is how can you be sure that the number of grafts a surgeon says has been transplanted actually has been? I gather that some clinics give the patient a counting device to click on during the procedure but the accuracy of this surely depends on how conscious he is throughout the session. Does it all come down to trust?



Another concern I have which I think may have happened to me is that some surgeons may not have made enough incisions in the recipient areas for the extracted grafts and rather than make some additional incisions later in the day, simply throw away the 'excess' grafts ~'')

One final question is what happens if there are no more hairs for the remaining incisions? Do the holes just close up over time or is there permanent scarring? Does this restrict the amount of recipient area available for transplanted hairs in the future or is it possible for transplanted hair to grow on any such scarring?

 

[north country boy]

good questions hairforever, i think the counter is for the benifit of the surgeon, to keep count of the incisions! he could put 4000 incisions and only place 3500 grafts you wouldnt know any different its down to trust! as for remaining incisions im not sure

my top concern was getting charged for grafts which have been split! if you have 4 hair grafts and there get split into singles then it soon adds the price up! alot of top clinics dont give you the hair count i wonder WHY! always go to a clinic who you are 110% happy with

 

[janna]

Hi Hairforever,

It really does come down to trust in your doctor and his/her clinic as it would be very difficult to count the planted grafts...especially if the session sizes are over a thousand.

Here is a rundown of how things work at SMG to give you an idea of the surgery day in respect to your concerns with number of incisions, cutting and planting.

On the average, the strip harvested are 26cm long at our clinic. From the strip, we carefully cut the strip down to thin little slices called "slivers" - this technique is called slivering. Each sliver is then cut to individual follicular units of 1, 2, 3, and 4 hair grafts and is recorded on a cutting sheet by each tech. During the slivering and cutting, we get an initial estimate. We generally cut 7 slivers per centimeter so we'll estimate by multiplying 26 x 7 = 182 slivers. We'll then mulitiply 182 by the average number each tech gets from each sliver. We'll do this periodically while the cutting is taking place and the incisions are being made. Our docs usually make about 80% of incisions from the estimate. This way, they can tweak or fine tune the hairline with remaining 20% towards the end of the procedure. This works out well so there aren't empty incisions when all the grafts are planted. We record the totals of individual grafts in the patient's chart. You've probablly noticed I usually post this data when posting results of our patients.

If on a rare occassion there are empty incisions, they heal up very quickly like a small paper cut. It takes about 5-6 days to heal but there are no remnants of scarring whatsoever.

I hope this eases your concerns.

 

[Hairforever]

Thanks Janna for explaining the finer points of what happens on the day. I agree with north country boy and Bigmac in that there has to be trust in one's doctor and clinic technicians. Transparency goes a long way to securing such trust. That certainly seems to apply to SMG. It's reassuring to know 20 per cent of the incisions are made towards the end of the procedure. I'm pretty sure all of the incisions were made at the start of my procudures with my previous clinic which is why I have this lingering doubt that not all of the grafts were used. So looking forward to some slivering at SMG

 

[janna]

It would be highly doubtful to get the numbers matching to a tee. You can get an estimate by applying the averaging method but it seems impossible to guess just the right amount of both to not make adjustments during surgery. We strive to be as transparent as possible.

 

[JJ09]

This has got me thinking about the FUE procedure I had about 6 years ago.

I remember the Doctor counting out aloud whilst removing the grafts and it went like this; 1,2,3 €¦4,5 €¦6,7 €¦8,9,10 €¦11 €¦12 €¦13,14 €¦and so on. Each graft removal was counted in 1,2 or 3 €™s.

I believe the Doctor was counting hairs not grafts €¦no wonder my hair still looks thin lol!)(_::

 

[Nervousnelly]

Maybe he was counting money?

NN

 

[Leeson esq.]

and that's my Porsche payment for May.

 

[drmwamba]

All come to trust.

In our practice at WHTC,we count the number of incisions with a new device (THE CID);in the past one technician was using a counter for each incisions.

We also count the punch the doctor is making and the extracted grafts made by the technician. We also place 25 grafts per pad so we can chase our graft count.And this helps us to come as close as possible to the real number.

Should we bill only the extracted grafts?I don't think so .While working in the hair line ,you do not find in many donors area singles hairs.Otherwise that donor will be qualified as poor.We know that those grafts have to be processed under microscope to make singles ,two's and to keep others as full to come up with a natural and dense hair line.These steps takes time and required skills ;so it is worthy to be rewarded.Of course it is sad to recognize some doctors are splitting grafts just to bump numbers and charged the patients more.

Botom line ,choose ethical doctors that will work for your interest and will charge you fairly according to the work they will do.

 

[Sabine-Prohairclinic]

At our office the extracted grafts are handed over to a technician that is responsible for >
1. counting the grafts
2. sorting the grafts according to # of hairs per graft

Obviously only the intact grafts are counted. If the graft is transected and does not contain any bulb it is not counted.

The number of grafts that are counted are charged for.

IF we need to split grafts for the hairline they are NOT charged extra since they where already counted in the total haircount.

Hopefully this clears up how we count and charge.

 

[FRITS]

first incisions then donorhair = quickgrafting

the counting is easyer because you know how much grafts you need for the bald(ing) area;;D)(_::

QUICKGRAFTING ¬b`

Its also better for regrowth

GRTZ. :::C

 

[Bigmac]

Nervousnelly wrote:

Maybe he was counting money?

NN

Leeson wrote

and that's my Porsche payment for May.

Too true in many cases.;;::::/

 

[Spencer Kobren]

As Janna stated it all comes down to trust! One great aspect of this forum is that it helps to empower prospective patients who are searching for objective answers to their questions and concerns about the hair transplant process. Having the opportunity to see a clinic €™s before and after photos is great, but being able to learn from experts in the field, like Janna and from other €™s who have been through the experience is invaluable. What I €™ve noticed about his forum, in particular, is that it is not agenda driven. The flow of information seems organic and honest and everyone participating appears to want to help others. This is what these forums are supposed to be about and I think Bigmac has done a great job of €œkeeping it real €.

I believe that if you do enough research in the right places, such as this forum, you won €™t have to worry about counting your own grafts

-Spencer

 

[Bigmac]

Thanks Spencer for the Kudos.

It means a lot getting recognition from a pioneer like yourself as you have done so much for the hairloss industry and you are very well rspected by many.

bm.