Megasession Evolution:
The One-Pass Result
Traditional hair transplant techniques involved mini-micro grafting the grafts and their recipient sites were both large, (generally > 2.5 mm). Grafts had to be spaced out considerably thereby requiring multiple sessions to establish a decent level of density and realism.
The advent of microscopic dissection allowed donor hair to be harvested in its natural grouping or follicular units. These follicular units were much smaller than the mini-grafts that they replaced. This allowed for correspondingly smaller recipient sites that produced much less vascular damage in the scalp.
The closer spacing of recipient sites allowed for more dense graft packing. Densities that previously took two to six sessions to achieve could not be reached in a single session. This became known as the one pass result. There have been numerous advantages acknowledged with this megasession hair transplantation.
Initially, these surgical procedures averaged around 2500 to 3000 follicular unit grafts in size. The limitation here was the size of the donor strip taken which was approximately 30cm long and 1.2 cm wide. These early sessions were termed megasessions. After years of experience and hundreds of megasessions, Drs Hasson & Wong have performed megasessions of up to 6000 follicular unit grafts with excellent results.
Our experience has shown us that there is no fixed upper limit in terms of how many follicular unit grafts can be placed in a single surgery given the right conditions. The limiting factors are scalp laxity, donor density and size of the recipient area.