Super Dense Packing-92 grafts per sq.cm.

Surgery Date: December 7, 2006


Patient designs preferred eyebrow shape.



The length of the eyebrow is about 5 cm.


The widest part is 0.6 cm.


The narrowest part is about 0.2 to 0.3 cm.
The eyebrow area is 5 cm x 0.6 cm=3 cm2 on each side.


The eyebrow outline is about 11 cm (5cm +5cm+0.6cm +0.3cm).
We made 125 slits on the outline, the distance between each graft is about 0.8 mm.


We made 277 slits on an area of 3 cm2.
(The slit number depends on graft number available.)




This photo shows same direction of transplanted hair and original eyebrow hair.
(Coarser hair is the transplanted hair and the fine hair is original eyebrow hair.)




We transplanted 277 grafts on one side of eyebrow (area=3cm2).
This is about 92 grafts in one centimeter square.



June 20, 2007
Six months after surgery- Our patient was very happy with the results. We have achieved his goal in one surgery.



Comments:
The average density on this eyebrow is 92 grafts per cm2. Should I be proud of it? No. Not at all. Every hair transplant facility should have no problem to achieve this super dense packing. As long as you make the slits very small and trim all the tissues around the hair.

Our clinic can achieve 92 % density easily, but why we do not perform super dense packing on all hair transplant procedures?

I have checked the growth rate of the eyebrow hair six months after the surgery; the total re-growth is 455 hairs. The growth rate is 82%. Our average growth rate for hair transplants on the scalp is about 96%. In other words, with the super dense packing technique, we have sacrificed 14% of hair.

The super dense packing method is not suit for all potential hair transplant patients. Factors such as skin color, contrast, hair quality, degree of baldness and the texture of someone's hair can require a different size of graft to achieve the best result. We will work with cases individually to best fit the wants and needs of the patient.

For comparison reasons, please see the following three photos:

Our regular hair transplant grafts



Grafts used for super dense packing



Grafts used in live surgery meeting


Which one do you think will have the best growth rate?

Hair Transplant Progress-with ten months photos

Here you can see one of my patients' post-surgery progress.

Surgery Date: 08/26/2006

Coverage area: 68 sq. cm.
Donor area: 29 sq. cm.
Donor Density Increased: 40%

The photos are taken before surgery.




Immediately after the surgery-
For the first twenty-four hours, there will be a strip of bandage around the head. After that, you will be able to remove the bandage and shampoo your hair.
Some graft may appear whiter initially and will have same color as rest of grafts couple hours later.
The hairline design is irregular.
We implanted 200 single follicular units on hairline and 1200 modified follicular units.

9/8/2006
Two weeks after the surgery, scabs already fall out.




9/19/2006
The implanted area looks pink, the color should return to normal 4 to 8 weeks after surgery.

10/13/2006

Transplanted hair starts to fall out. Skin color returns to normal.

10/31/2006

Two months after surgery-

Pre-existing hair around or adjacent to the transplanted grafts may shed, giving a thinner look, but will begin to grow back within a few months.

11/29/2006

Three months after surgery-

One or more cysts may occur in the recipient area. They usually disappear by themselves after a few weeks.

12/12/2006

12/27/2006

Four months after surgery-

Transplanted hair should grow back 4 to 6 months after surgery.

1/22/2007

Five months after surgery-

More hair come out

2/7/2007

Hair look denser...

2/20/2007

And denser..

3/5/2007

Also coarser..

3/20/2007

4/5/2007

Seven months after surgery-

Ninety percent of the patients will be satisfied by 50% to 60% of donor site density. He received 40% density, which looks pretty good when seeing from the front.

6/22/2007

Ten months after surgery. :-)

Hair Transplant Progress Result

After the surgery is complete, the results should appear within the next couple months.

24 Hours After-
Bandages can come off. Soreness may be felt at the donor area.

One Week After-
Tiny scabs on graft area will start to disappear.

One Month After-
Transplanted hair will fall out.

4-6 Months After-
New hair starts to grow.

6-8 Months After-
Transplanted hair continues to grow and thicken.

One Year and After-
Final appearance of procedure is usually present.






Please see video of the Hair Transplant Progress!

Punch Graft Correction

The 4 mm size grafts were transplanted more than 20 years ago. Everyone blames the big grafts for causing the pluggy look. I think the big graft is only the indirect reason for the pluggy look. The graft is too big to place close enough to each other.

The direct reason is too big of the spaces among the grafts. If we are able to fill in all the spaces then the pluggy look will disappear. It is unnecessary to remove the big grafts. By not removing the large graft, they will help to increase the density and make the final result easier to achieve.

Please study the photos, to observe two facts.
1. Please notice the huge spaces among the grafts.

2. The large graft has the original density. Within the 4 mm graft, the distance among the hairs is kept in their original density. The hairs are appropriately spaced. The size of the graft is not the problem; the hairs are in their original form and not squeezed into a smaller space. The problem lies in the fact that the grafts (also known as plugs) are spaced too far apart from each other and the space in-between the grafts accentuate the pluggy look.

Immediately after we made the slits

The goal is to fill in all the spaces between the punch grafts.

Please see Surgical Correction of ‘Plugginess’ in Hair Transplants
Published on Hair Transplant Forum International
January/February 2006 Volume 16, Number 1