A good doctor knows how important the hair transplant is to you. He will listen to your questions about hair transplant and provide intelligent answers. He will also try to find out what your goals are to see if they are realistic. 6. Keep it realistic. If the doctor says the hair transplant will cost an exorbitant amount of time or money, be wary. The most likely situation is that you will have enough hair to make this possible. However, if you have lost too much hair, a hair transplant may not be possible. You can benefit greatly from hair transplant surgery if it is right for you. Do not give up on it until you talk to a surgeon. If your surgeon says that you are not a good candidate for hair transplant surgery, you may want to get a second opinion. You should figure that the average number of hair transplant grafts needed to cover a balding area is 25% of the original hair that was there. You can move up or down from this figure according to your other factors such as thickness, curliness, or color. Then, you can use this number to figure up the grafts needed. Men with this pattern of balding will have donor hair that survives the hair transplant process and flourishes long afterward. That is because a naturally-occurring enzyme in the body combines with testosterone to create a chemical called DHT. This chemical is responsible for the hair loss on the tops of men's heads when they have male pattern baldness. This requires a very honest surgeon, since the patient may decide the procedure is not worth the scarring it will cause. The next step with such a patient would be to discuss ways the keloid could be covered. It could be camouflaged by wearing the hair just a little longer. Other patients have rubbery skin that stretches too much and so causes wide donor scars. It is the needle going in with medication to numb the tooth that is the real agony. Of course, to follow the dental analogy, after the numbing wears off there is plenty of pain where the tooth was before. With hair transplant surgery, there is pain after the surgery as well. Swelling is normal after hair transplant surgery and can even keep you away from work.