Nobody wants to lose their hair, and so it’s a shock when people start to go bald. Some people just have to deal with hair that’s very thinned out, while other people lose their hair entirely, and the entire top of their scalp is bald. Over the course of many centuries, there have been all sorts of medicines and elixirs that popped up on the scene claiming to cure baldness. Unfortunately, they’ve all been snake oil. There is one procedure that is called the permanent cure for hair loss, however, and that’s a hair transplant procedure.
With hair transplantation (haartransplantatie in dutch), quality clinics like the Prime Hair Clinic are actually taking healthy hahair from one part of the scalp and transplanting it into the bald areas. This is a cure for baldness, but it’s an involved procedure. And, of course, it’s not free. So, how much does such a procedure cost? Let’s have a look.
The Average Cost of a Transplant Procedure
There are a lot of individual factors to consider when it comes to how much a transplant procedure costs, both with the individual seeking the procedure and with the clinic performing it. The best we can do is give you an average. The average cost typically varies between $4 and $7 per follicular unit (graft) transplanted. This can end up being a good deal, or it could cost a lot of money. It depends on all sorts of other factors.
Factors to Consider in Personal Pricing
1: How Much Grafting Needs to Occur
The first factor of consideration here is just how much hair needs to be transplanted. Some patients are just thinning out on top and simply want their fuller, thicker hair back. On the other end of the spectrum, however, some people are completely bald up top, and thus they would require quite a bit of transplant work to be done if they want to truly experience a decent amount of coverage on their scalp. As we mentioned with the averages, you will have to pay a lot more for extra coverage.
2: The Clinic/Doctor Performing the Procedure
Different doctors and clinics are going to charge different rates. While most of these rates will be in the same relative wheelhouse, due to the fact that market parity is a huge driver in the hair transplant market, you will still find that rates are going to fluctuate based on who’s performing the procedure. This is something that we cannot account for. It’s impossible for us to know what you would be personally charged. It’s something you’ll need to find out by visiting a doctor and speaking with them about your options.
3: FUT or FUE Options
FUT and FUE transplant procedures are a bit different and thus will carry different price tags. The difference between these procedures is from where the hair is taken. FUT, which stands for Follicular Unit Transplantation, is the better option of the two, and this is where larger areas of tissue are removed and transplanted, as opposed to FUE, where fewer hairs are extracted over a larger area. So, of course, you will be looking at different rates for different procedures.
4: How You Pay
Check with your local clinic first before accepting this as factual in every case because it will not hold up in every case. But some clinics will give you a discount if you’re paying for the entire procedure upfront, as opposed to making a down payment and then making monthly installments. You know that most purchases are like this; you save money by making the entire purchase up-front. Just check with the clinic to see if they operate like this.
While there might be quite a few different factors that will ultimately dictate what you will be charged for a transplant procedure, the thing that’s more important to focus on is the quality of the clinic you’re choosing. After all, what good is cheap hair transplantation if the grafts don’t take? So, your ultimate focus should be on finding the right clinic for your procedure.