How Much Does 5000 Grafts Hair Transplant Cost and Cover?
A 5000 graft hair transplant costs £8,198 at My Hair UK, planned as two sessions a minimum of six months apart. Those 5000 grafts cover about 125cm2 at the hairline, or about 200cm2 on the crown, which in practice means the whole top of the scalp treated as one plan. At this number the question is less what it covers and more whether your donor area can supply it.
Last reviewed on 24 August 2026. We review our treatment guides every six months to keep them accurate.
The Cost of a 5000 Graft Hair Transplant
5000 grafts costs £8,198 at My Hair UK. That is the total for both sessions, agreed before the first one, and it does not move on the day.
The price is worked out from the total number of grafts, not from how the two sessions are split. 5000 grafts costs £8,198 whether it is planned as 3500 and 1500, 3000 and 2000, or 2500 and 2500. The split can therefore be decided on clinical grounds alone, by what your scalp and donor area allow, rather than by what makes the quote cheaper.
That works out at £1.64 per graft. Two surgical days cost more to run than one, which is why a staged plan does not reach the £1.40 per graft of a single 3500 session, but the fixed cost of each day is spread across more grafts than it is at 4000.
UK clinics widely quote £12,000 to £14,000 for 5000 grafts, and per-graft pricing is commonly quoted between £3 and £5.
The price covers both consultations, both procedures under local anaesthetic, all post-operative medication, your aftercare kit for each session, and in-person follow-up appointments throughout. There is no consultation fee, and nothing is added on the day.
The one exception is PRP, which is a separate treatment rather than part of a transplant, so it is not included and it is not standard. Some patients choose to add a session on the day or later on, and it is charged separately if they do.
If you are weighing this against going abroad, our UK vs Turkey price comparison sets out what the difference actually covers.
Every quote is a fixed price agreed before surgery, not an estimate. If you would like to know what your own number would be, send a few photographs and we will come back with a graft range and the price attached to it.
Will Your Donor Area Support 5000 Grafts?
This is the question that matters most at this number, and it is worth answering honestly before anything else.
A donor area holds a finite supply, usually somewhere between 6,000 and 7,000 grafts across a lifetime. That is the total that can ever be moved, not a per-procedure figure. Taking 5000 of them uses roughly three quarters of what most people have, and leaves 1,000 to 2,000 in reserve.
That reserve matters because hair loss carries on after surgery. Transplanted hair is permanent, but the hair around it is not, and someone who needs 5000 grafts today is usually still losing. A plan that spends everything now can leave nothing for a touch-up in ten years, when the untreated hair behind the transplanted area has thinned further.
Not everyone has 5000 grafts available. Donor density varies, and a donor area that is thin to begin with, or has been harvested before, will yield less. Taking too much leaves the back and sides visibly sparse, which is a harder problem to fix than the one being treated.
This is assessed at consultation by measuring your donor density rather than assuming it. If the answer is that your donor area supports 3500 or 4000 rather than 5000, we will say so, and plan the coverage around what is actually available.
Why 5000 Grafts Takes Two Sessions
3500 grafts is the largest volume that can safely be placed in a single day. The limit is the scalp rather than the surgeon's time: both the donor area being harvested and the recipient area being planted have to heal, and beyond that number the tissue is being asked to do too much at once. 5000 grafts is therefore planned as two procedures, split a minimum of six months apart so the scalp fully recovers between them. The gap also lets the surgeon see how the first session has grown in before deciding exactly where the second one goes, so density is added where the result actually needs it rather than where it was predicted to.
How Your Hair Type Changes the Maximum
3500 in one day is the maximum possible, not a number everyone reaches. What your scalp can safely give in a single session depends on your hair, and the biggest single factor is hair texture.
Very curly and afro-textured hair curves beneath the skin as well as above it. The follicle does not run straight down, so each graft takes longer to extract and carries a higher risk of being damaged on the way out. Working carefully rather than quickly is what protects the grafts, and that lowers the number that can be taken in a day. For patients with very curly or afro hair the realistic single-session maximum is often closer to 2000 to 2500 grafts.
That does not change the total you can have, and it does not change the price, which is set by the total number of grafts. It changes the shape of the plan: more sessions, spaced the same minimum six months apart. Your surgeon will tell you at consultation what your own per-session maximum is, because it is assessed from your donor area rather than assumed from a table.
How Much Does 5000 Grafts Cover?
5000 grafts covers about 125cm2 at the hairline, or about 200cm2 on the crown. The difference is density: a hairline needs around 40 grafts per square centimetre to look natural because it is seen straight on, while a crown can look full at 25 because the hair lies flatter and catches less light.
In practice 5000 grafts is not spent on one area. It is the number for loss that has taken the front, the mid scalp and the crown, which is Norwood stage 6 and above, and the plan treats the whole top of the scalp as a single design. A typical division puts the largest share into the hairline and mid scalp, where density is most visible, and restores the crown to a lower but natural-looking density.
Your own number is worked out per square centimetre from your hair thickness, the colour contrast against your scalp and the density you want, so treat these as a guide rather than a quote. We can usually estimate to within a few hundred grafts from photographs, and confirm it at a free consultation with the surgeon who would carry out your procedure.
5000 Grafts Coverage by Area
Area | Grafts per cm² | 5000 grafts covers | What that looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
Hairline and temples | 40 | 125 cm² | The front and mid scalp at full hairline density |
Hairline and mid-scalp | 30 | 167 cm² | The front two thirds restored as one area |
Crown only | 25 | 200 cm² | Never treated alone at this size |
What 5000 Grafts Restores
5000 grafts restores the front, the mid scalp and the crown as one continuous area rather than treating them as separate jobs. That is what distinguishes it from the smaller numbers, where the decision is which area to prioritise.
The density is deliberately graded rather than uniform. The hairline takes the highest density because it is seen straight on and frames the face, the mid scalp takes slightly less, and the crown takes least, because hair there lies flatter and reads as fuller at a lower count. Planted at a single density throughout, the result would look wrong at the front and wasteful at the back.
What 5000 grafts cannot do is give the whole scalp the density of a small procedure on one area. Coverage at this scale is about removing the contrast between bare scalp and hair across a large surface, not about matching the density you had at twenty. Our hairline and temples transplant page covers how the front edge is designed, and our crown hair transplant page covers how the whorl is rebuilt.
Our hairline and temples transplant page covers how the front edge is designed, and our crown hair transplant page covers how the whorl is rebuilt.
What 5000 Grafts Looks Like
5000 grafts is around 11,000 individual hairs, because a follicular unit graft carries one to four hairs and averages about 2.2. Across the whole top of the scalp, that reads as a restored head of hair rather than a treated area.
The final result is not visible straight away, and because the work is staged it arrives in two parts. The first session sheds and regrows on the normal timeline: transplanted hairs shed within the first few weeks, new growth begins around three months, and that session settles between nine and twelve months. The second session then starts its own clock.
In practice the full result of a 5000 graft plan is around eighteen months to two years from the first procedure. It is a long commitment, and it is worth knowing at the outset rather than discovering halfway through.
See more before and after results from our patients, or book a free consultation to talk through what your own case would need.
Not sure whether 5000 is your number? The area is measured at a free consultation with the surgeon who would carry out the procedure, so you get a figure based on your scalp rather than an average.
How the Two Sessions Are Scheduled
The two sessions are a minimum of six months apart. Six months is the minimum rather than the target, and many plans sit at nine to twelve months between sittings, particularly where the first session was close to the single-day maximum.
Both dates are not fixed at the outset. The first session is booked and carried out, then the second is planned once the surgeon has seen how the first has grown in, usually at a follow-up around the nine month mark. Booking both in advance would mean planning the second one blind.
The price is agreed for the whole plan before the first session, so the total does not change while you wait.
Other Graft Counts
500 grafts, £2,499 - minor temple points or a hairline touch-up
1000 grafts, £2,899 - temple recession or a small crown patch
1500 grafts, £3,299 - an early receding hairline and temples
2000 grafts, £3,699 - midsized hairline and temple restoration
2500 grafts, £4,099 - comprehensive hairline plus mid-scalp
3000 grafts, £4,499 - extensive frontal and mid-scalp
3500 grafts, £4,899 - our maximum in a single session
4000 grafts, £7,398 - extensive loss, planned across two sessions
For the full range and what affects the price, see our UK hair transplant cost guide.
See more before and after results from our patients, or book a free consultation to talk through what your own case would need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How much does a 5000 graft hair transplant cost?
A: £8,198 at My Hair UK for the whole plan, across two sessions. That is £1.64 per graft. UK clinics widely quote £12,000 to £14,000 for the same number.
Q: Can everyone have 5000 grafts?
A: No. A donor area holds roughly 6,000 to 7,000 grafts across a lifetime, so 5000 uses about three quarters of it. Donor density varies and a thin or previously harvested donor area will yield less. It is measured at consultation rather than assumed.
Q: Why does 5000 grafts need two sessions?
A: 3500 grafts is the most that can safely be placed in one day, because both the donor and recipient areas have to heal. Anything above that is split into two procedures a minimum of six months apart.
Q: Does the price change depending on how the sessions are split?
A: No. The price is set by the total number of grafts, so 5000 grafts costs £8,198 whether it is planned as 3500 and 1500, 3000 and 2000, or 2500 and 2500.
Q: Is the maximum in one session the same for everyone?
A: No. 3500 is the maximum possible, not a number everyone reaches. Very curly and afro-textured hair curves beneath the skin, so extraction is slower and more careful, and the realistic single-session maximum is often closer to 2000 to 2500 grafts.
Q: How much does 5000 grafts cover?
A: About 125cm2 at the hairline at 40 grafts per square centimetre, or about 200cm2 on the crown at 25. In practice it is planned across the front, mid scalp and crown together rather than one area.
Q: How many hairs is 5000 grafts?
A: Around 11,000. Each graft is a follicular unit carrying one to four hairs, averaging about 2.2.
Q: How long does the whole 5000 graft plan take?
A: Around eighteen months to two years from the first procedure. Each session takes a day, the sessions are a minimum of six months apart, and each one takes nine to twelve months to show its final result.