FUE graft yield: extracted vs implanted numbers
The number extracted, the number implanted and the number that eventually grows are three different figures.
The number extracted, the number implanted and the number that eventually grows are three different figures. Clinics usually quote the first, patients care about the third, and the gap between them is where transection and handling losses hide.
What are the three different graft numbers in an FUE quote?
An FUE quote involves three different numbers: extracted, how many follicular units the punch removed and the quoted, billed figure; implanted, how many were viable and actually placed after transected or damaged grafts are discarded; and surviving, how many produce growing hair a year later, the only number that matters to the patient.
- Extracted: how many follicular units the punch removed. This is the quoted and billed figure.
- Implanted: how many were viable and actually placed. Transected or damaged grafts are discarded.
- Surviving: how many produce growing hair a year later. This is the only number that matters to the patient.
A quote of 3 000 grafts is a promise about the first number.
Where do graft losses occur between extraction and growth in FUE?
Graft losses occur through transection during extraction; handling trauma during sorting and placement, with bulge-region damage more harmful than bulb damage; dehydration within minutes of air exposure; longer time outside the body, as survival declines with the hours; and poor recipient sites, at the wrong depth or with inadequate blood supply.
- Transection during extraction, where the punch cuts the follicle
- Handling trauma during sorting and placement, with bulge-region damage more harmful than bulb damage
- Dehydration, which acts within minutes of exposure to air
- Time outside the body, with survival declining as hours pass
- Poor recipient sites, wrong depth or inadequate blood supply
Why should you count hairs, not just grafts, in an FUE quote?
A follicular unit contains one to four hairs, so two patients receiving 2 000 grafts can end up with different hair counts if one averages two hairs per unit and the other three. Ask for the expected hair count alongside the graft count, and how one to four-hair units will be distributed across the design.
What questions should you ask a clinic about graft yield?
Ask a clinic whether the quoted number is extracted or implanted, how grafts are counted and whether you can see the count, what its transection rate is and how that is measured, what average hairs per graft it expects from your donor, and what happens if fewer viable grafts are obtained than quoted.
- Is the quoted number extracted or implanted?
- How are grafts counted, and can I see the count?
- What is your transection rate and how is it measured?
- What average hairs per graft do you expect from my donor?
- What happens if fewer viable grafts are obtained than quoted?
Yield determines how far a donor reserve stretches, which we cover under donor supply.
Sources
- Parsley WM, Perez-Meza D. Review of factors affecting the growth and survival of follicular grafts. Journal of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Surgery, 2010;3(2). jcasonline.com
This article summarises published research and standard clinical practice. It is general educational information, not medical advice, and it does not replace the instructions your own surgical team gives you. Where their guidance differs from anything here, follow theirs.
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