Cheap Hair Transplants An In-Depth Guide

Does this ring a bell? A lot of people base their initial decision on having a hair transplant on price and getting it as cheap as possible. This makes sense as it is human nature after all. We tend to feel hard done by if we pay a higher price for something that someone else got, or is offering cheaper. Well, the devil is in the detail as they say. Lets take a quick deep dive into the true costs of a hair transplant and why it’s more expensive at some clinics (including ours – see our hair transplant prices here) vs others and that there is a reason behind the higher pricing vs the lower pricing.

Overview

The prices vary because of 3 factors:

Surgical Staff Costs for a Doctor Lead Surgery

During a hair transplant surgery you will typically see 1 doctor and 2-3 technicians depending on the case size. If it’s a small to medium case (typically up to 2,000 grafts) there will be 2 technicians. If it is a larger case (typically from 2,200 grafts to 3,000 grafts) there will typically be 3 technicians.

Hair Transplant Equipment, Medication and Consumables

There are a lot of consumables that are used during a hair transplant including:

• Gauze
• Micropore tape
• Galipots
• Drapes
• Inco sheets (Incontinence sheets to cover up the bed)
• Gloves
• Face Masks

as well as more.

There are various meds that are used (or what we class as meds) such as:

• Saline solution
• Lidocaine
• Adrenaline
• Hibiscrub
• Antibiocs

and some others.

There are various pieces of equipment used such as:

• Forceps (different kinds for extracting, counting and implanting) when performing FUE hair transplants.
• “Punch” machine
• “Punches” (these are used to extract hair follicles from the back and sides of the head)
• Blades for incisions
• Blade holders

as well as some others.

Clinic Costs

Surgical Staff Costs for a Technician Lead Surgery

Without going into too much detail, as if you see the surgical staff costs for a doctor lead surgery above, in essence the doctor can perform multiple surgeries as the technicians will perform most parts of the surgery which frees up the doctor to see more patients on the day. Couple that with a lower amount paid to the doctor because they aren’t performing all the necessary parts of surgery and will make a similar amount to a doctor lead surgery purely from the number of patients per day that they see, means a much lower cost per surgery.

The way that this works is that the doctor will see the patient in the morning to do the consultation and hairline design (sometimes the anaesthetic injections also but not always) and will then leave the patient to the technicians which will proceed in beginning the punching and extraction of the hair transplant. This frees up the doctor to see another patient for the consultation and hairline design and before you know it, there are 2-3 patients that the doctor has seen for the initial part.

After this, the doctor will then follow up with the first patient and perform the incisions and will then again leave the patient to the technicians as the doctor will need to see the 2nd patient to perform the incisions and then the 3rd.

As you can see, the costs of the doctor are straight away split between 2-3 patients bringing the costs down a lot. This is known as the volume approach (or “conveyor belt” system also known as a “hair mill”).

Hair Transplant Brokers

Keep in mind there are various hair transplant brokers on the market that are in essence sales agents that will pass you to one of these technician lead clinics because they also want to make a margin on top as well as commission from the clinic. There is nothing wrong with this approach if the broker offers you something extra on top of added value in order to pay the higher price. Again, it all comes down to what you, as a patient, value the most.

Summary

We advocate for a doctor lead approach because in our experience it yields the best results. We have broken down the 3 available ways currently to have a hair transplant:

1. A doctor lead approach
2. A technician lead approach
3. A broker lead approach that typically send you to a technician lead clinic

You are of course free to choose the route that suits you the best.