How Much Does a Hair Transplant Cost in Edmonton?
For the typical patient, we charge between $2.50-$8 per graft depending on the type of transplant (FUE vs. FUT) and the number of grafts. The price of a transplant in Edmonton can range from $2000 to over $12000. The average cost of hair restoration surgery ranges from $6000-9500 for FUT.
FUE hair transplant costs are higher than FUT hair transplant costs because of the increased time and effort required to perform the procedures. Consequently, the price for FUE is typically around $7-8 per graft whereas the price for FUT is less and ranges from $2.50-$7.00 per graft. As an example, the average graft price for a 2500 graft FUT procedure would be a little over $4 per graft and the cost of a 2000 graft FUT procedure would be $9500. These prices are fairly typical for the best known clinics in Vancouver, Toronto, and throughout Canada in 2022.
Can you Charge By Area?
Of course we can. We can easily charge by area if that is your preference. If you would prefer this approach, let us know and Dr. Nakatsui will decide your hair transplant cost based upon desired area to be transplanted, desired density, type of transplant (FUE vs. FUT), and coarseness and quality of your hair. We will also let you know approximately how many grafts will be implanted so that you can compare our plan with other consultations you may get.
Let’s face it: a great hair transplant surgeon should definitely be able to tell you approximately how many grafts will be needed for your surgery. If your doctor will not or cannot, we would suggest you look elsewhere, so we highly recommend that you ask. We also recommend you use our list of questions when considering a transplant.
How Much do Hair Plugs Cost in Edmonton?
Fortunately, we can’t tell you how much hair plugs cost as we do not think anyone actually implants true hair plugs anymore in Edmonton let alone Canada as most surgeons use that term to refer to the large multi-follicular unit grafts they used to use in the 1980s for hair loss. The current state of the art is follicular unit hair grafts or implants.
Why Charge by the Number of Grafts?
Dr. Nakatsui truly believes the fairest way to determine hair restoration cost is by the number of grafts because the patient has a better idea of what they are getting but will charge by area if desired.
Most of the best hair restoration clinics in North America charge by number of grafts. One of the reasons for charging by the graft can be illustrated by the following example.
Let us suppose that Patients A and B both receive a hair transplant for their androgenic alopecia (male pattern baldness). Patient A receives 500 grafts in a given area; Patient B receives dense packing and gets 1000 grafts in the exact same area to achieve a higher density. Does it make sense the cost is the same even though Patient A only had half as many grafts implanted? In fact, Patient A was likely less than half as much work because it is usually much easier to implant grafts at lower density than it is to implant grafts at higher density. If Patient A was charged by area, he would have overpaid by 100% compared to Patient B.
In retrospect, we are fairly certain Patient A would have liked to have known approximately how many grafts he was getting BEFORE his transplant. With this number in mind, (1) he would have paid half as much, (2) he would have had a better idea of what sort of result to expect from the transplant and (3) he would have been able to make comparisons with other great hair transplant clinics. Otherwise, he would not know if he was comparing apples to oranges.
The moral of this story is ALWAYS find out the approximate number of grafts you are going to receive, even if you are being priced by area.
Hair Grafts vs Hair Follicles: What’s the Difference? And Does it Matter?
Is there a difference? Definitely. Is it significant? Absolutely.
Although we believe charging by number of grafts is more fair to the patient, there is nothing wrong with charging by area. However, if you decide to proceed with a transplant that is being charged by area, you should ensure the surgeon tells you (1) approximately how many grafts you will actually be receiving AND (2) how many hairs or hair follicles you will be receiving. The answers to those two questions do not mean the same thing. The difference is subtle yet substantial.
For example, we had a patient who came to us from another clinic recently stating he was told he was to receive approximately 5000 grafts for his androgenic alopecia but when he looked at his newly transplanted area, it looked like he had received far less than this. He was also surprised that the transplant was finished so quickly as he thought he was receiving such a large number of grafts. He was very unhappy as this did not look like what he had expected. It turns out that although he did receive some follicular unit grafts, he received many multifollicular unit grafts consisting of approximately 6-10 follicles per graft. As a result, he really only received 600-700 hair grafts adding up to a total of 5000 hair follicles. Please remember to distinguish between number of grafts and number of hairs or follicles.
What makes the story even more interesting is that he had previously had a transplant done by us many years ago and had a fantastic result. For a number of reasons, he thought Dr. Nakatsui was no longer doing hair transplants in Edmonton, and found another Edmonton clinic. Because he knew what the post-operative appearance should look like, he knew right away that something wasn’t right and he also knew the surgery took way less time than it should have.
If there were no difference in results, all hair transplant surgeons would simply use larger grafts and charge by area. It would be faster and easier, but there is a difference in naturalness between the two techniques.
Whether you are in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, or anywhere in Canada or the world for that matter, it is important to be able to distinguish between numbers of grafts and numbers of follicles.
Contact Us For A Free Hair Loss Evaluation
Serving Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, and Calgary
Edmonton Hair Transplant Clinic
Questions about hair transplant costs? Contact us at:
780-482-1414
Hair Transplant Price versus Hair Transplant Value
There will always be clinics offering hair implants at lower cost and there will always be clinics offering specials claiming they have the cheapest price per graft or the cheapest hair implants. Some of these are in other countries, such as India and Turkey. However, some are right here in Canada.
There are also patients who gravitate to the best price they can get. When buying a TV, this is a great strategy. We all love a good product for a cheap price but it is important to remember that hair restoration surgery is surgery and for the most part, irreversible. As a result, it is also very important to consider quality. We would argue that quality is more important than price.
As one of the premier hair replacement clinics in Canada, we often see patients who have gone to and regretted going to some of the lower cost clinics. We see patients every week who have gone elsewhere for their hair transplant procedure and now need corrective surgery to repair what has been done. In most cases, it can be done, but not always. Our best advice is to do research before proceeding with the procedure.
Hair transplant cost across Canada varies clinic to clinic. Some of these use robotic and automated techniques that cut costs by speeding up the process. Two of these automated techniques include NeoGraft and Artas. Although they do allow for cost-cutting, Dr. Nakatsui does not use these computer-guided techniques as he feels that there is an art to removal and placement of grafts that a computer cannot replicate.
Wherever you decide to have your procedure, it would be best to ask a lot of questions. After all, hair restoration is not cheap. Ask how many procedures they have done. Ask to see results of their own patients. Your surgeon should have many before and after photos to look at. Ask to see clear closeups of hairlines to see how these look as this is the true test of quality. The best transplants have beautiful hairlines that are undetectable with good density.
Questions to Ask Your Hair Transplant Surgeon
- How many procedures have you done?
- Are you experienced with both FUE and FUT? Or just one of the two? How many procedures have you done with each of those techniques?
- Can I see photos of your patient results? Hopefully, this is more than just a few and not the company’s stock photos.
- Can I see close up photos of their hairlines?
- Can you show me precisely what area you are going to fill in?
- How many grafts are you planning to implant?
- How many hairs or hair follicles will this be approximately?
Financing a Hair Transplant
At Nakatsui DermaSurgery (formerly Groot DermaSurgery Centre), we do not offer any in-house financing. However, we have affiliated ourselves with other financial companies. Consequently, if you need assistance in spreading out the cost of a hair transplant procedure, you can contact paybright or Medicard. They will be able to assist you. You can contact them via their websites.