The overall amount of grafts patients can receive per hair transplant sessions depends on both the surgeon and the hair transplant technique they use. Many other factors govern the size of a hair transplant session, including the patient's amount of viable donor hair, the clinic's scheduling, and the patients' willingness to stay still for a long session.
Follicular Unit Transplants (FUT), or strip-style transplants, have a reputation for allowing large sessions. The truth, however, is that such procedures require less time and therefore allow the surgeons to implant a larger amount of grafts in a shorter amount of time. However, FUT also has a number of disadvantages. These include a large, orbital scar at the extraction site, a longer recovery time, and a much greater chance that the transplants will show with age.
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), the most recent type of transplant available, brings a number of greater benefits to the patient. These include a faster recovery time, far less scarring, and, in the hands of a skilled surgeon, far superior results. FUE, however, does typically require much more time to conduct.
A pioneer of FUE who has innovated his own techniques and surgical devices, Dr. Cole is exceptionally quick at conducting his namesake FUE variant, Cole Isolation Technique (CIT®). Most sessions reflect the speed of FUT, though it depends on the patient and type of CIT®.
Shaven CIT®: Patients' heads are shaven for the procedure and Dr. Cole can do up to 5,000 grafts per procedure, though this depends on scheduling and availability
Patch-shaven CIT®: Patients' donor patches are shaven, allowing patients to hide the donor area with at least mid-length hair, and Dr. Cole can do up to 3,000 grafts per procedure.
No-shave CIT®: Dr. Cole individually cuts each donor follicle's hair strand, extracts it, and then transplants it, and can do up to 2,500 grafts per day and typically requires two days per procedure.
