The questions worth asking — answered honestly.

Your donor area — the hair at the back and sides — is finite. Every follicle taken from it is gone from there for good. It is the one resource a hair transplant cannot replace. This is why over-harvesting is the most serious mistake a clinic can make. Taking too many grafts in one procedure can leave the donor area visibly thin or patchy — a result that is very difficult to fix — and leaves nothing in reserve for the future, when hereditary loss may have progressed and you need it most. A careful clinic takes only what your plan genuinely needs and protects the rest. If a clinic is offering you the maximum number of grafts, that is a reason to ask more questions, not fewer.

Grafts are living tissue. From the moment a follicle is removed from the donor area to the moment it is placed, it is vulnerable — to time outside the body, to temperature, to drying out, to rough handling. Graft survival is the proportion of transplanted follicles that actually take root and grow. This matters because the number patients are usually sold — how many grafts are harvested — is not the number that determines the result. The number that matters is how many of those grafts survive and grow. A clinic can implant 3,000 grafts, but if its handling is careless and only a fraction survive, the result will be thin. We focus on survival — careful extraction, correct temperature and holding solution, minimal time outside the body, skilled placement — because that, not the headline graft count, is what you see in the mirror a year later. Every step of our protocol is built to protect each graft, so that as many as possible survive.

A fair question, and one worth asking any clinic. At GraftLab, the surgeon plans your procedure, designs your hairline, and makes every recipient-site incision — the decisions that determine how your result looks. The surgeon also performs the extraction, assisted by a trained clinical team. For implantation, when implanter pens (DHI) are used the surgeon implants the grafts; with forceps placement, the trained team places them under the surgeon's direct supervision. A doctor supervises every step, from the first incision to the last graft placed. What should concern you, at any clinic, is a procedure run start-to-finish by technicians with no surgeon involved in the parts that shape your appearance. That is worth asking about directly.

No — and this is one of the most common misunderstandings, often encouraged by clinics that sell by the graft. The right number of grafts is the number your case actually needs, balanced against what your donor area can sustainably give over your lifetime. More is not better if it over-harvests your donor area or is placed carelessly. Sometimes the right number is fewer than a patient expects. We plan around your result and your future, not a package.

The procedure itself is done under local anaesthesia, so the scalp is fully numb and you should feel little or nothing during it. The part most people find uncomfortable is the initial anaesthetic injections; after that, you are numb. Afterwards there is usually mild soreness, tightness, or swelling for a few days, managed easily with simple pain relief. Most people describe it as far more comfortable than they expected.

We perform the procedure with you seated comfortably and awake, under local anaesthesia, and we consider this the better approach. Sitting upright is more comfortable over a long day, avoids the need for sedation and its risks, and lets you rest, eat, talk, and take breaks. A calmer, more comfortable patient is also easier to work on carefully — so it serves the result, not just your comfort. It is a more dignified way to spend the day.

A hair transplant is a full day's work — typically several hours, depending on how many grafts your plan involves. It is unhurried by design: careful extraction and placement cannot be rushed without affecting graft survival. You will have breaks, and time to eat. We treat one patient a day, so the day is yours.

It depends on your case. Procedures can be done fully shaven or partly shaven. For many patients — and particularly women — we can shave only the donor strip underneath the existing hair, so that once the hair is down, nothing is visible. We will discuss what your plan requires before the day.

You can go home the same day. For the first few days there may be mild swelling and small scabs around each graft, which settle within about seven to ten days. Most people return to normal routine within a week, avoiding strenuous exercise and swimming for the first couple of weeks, and keeping the scalp out of direct sun. You will be given clear aftercare instructions and have our team available to you throughout.

No — this is normal and expected, and worth knowing about in advance so it does not alarm you. The transplanted hairs commonly shed within the first few weeks. The follicle stays in place; it is only the hair shaft that sheds. The follicle then rests before beginning to grow new hair. Some patients also experience temporary shedding of existing hair around the treated area — known as shock loss. In women this is more common, often around a month after the procedure. It too is temporary, and the hair grows back. We guide you through every stage so month one is reassuring rather than frightening.

New growth usually begins around three to four months after the procedure. It comes in gradually — first as fine hair that thickens over time. The fuller result is typically visible by about twelve months, and continues to mature beyond that. Hair restoration is a patient process. The reward is a result that looks natural and lasts — but it asks for patience through the first several months.

Most procedures at GraftLab fall between ₱120,000 and ₱250,000, depending on what your case needs. We price the work as a whole — the planning, the surgery, the care — rather than charging by the graft, so our pricing is never pulled toward harvesting more than you need. The most accurate figure comes from seeing your hair. Send us a few photos and our medical team will come back to you honestly, usually within a day.

Because pricing by the graft rewards taking more grafts — and taking more grafts is not always in your interest. We would rather our pricing align with your result and the long-term health of your donor area, not with a count we are encouraged to inflate. So we price the procedure as a whole, around what your case genuinely needs.

Yes. We are a partner of BDO, so you can settle by credit card or through a BDO instalment plan. It is something we are glad to walk through during your consultation. Terms and conditions apply.

No honest hair restoration surgeon can guarantee a biological outcome, and we would be wary of any clinic that does. What we offer instead is a protocol designed to give your grafts the best possible chance, a team accountable for every step, and an honest assessment — before anything begins — of what you can realistically expect. When the protocol is followed properly, graft survival in our hands is high.

The Manila clinic is the local home of a group that has worked in hair restoration across Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines for more than ten years, with thousands of procedures and more than ten million grafts placed by hand. Our protocol was designed by our founder, Dr. Inder — an ABHRS Diplomate and ISHRS Fellow — and the Manila team was trained directly in it. You are cared for by a local team, backed by a decade of group experience.

Yes. It is the only thing we do. We do not offer unrelated treatments or a menu of other procedures. A clinic that does one thing, all day, every day, tends to become very good at it — which is rather the point.

Then an assessment is exactly the right first step, and surgery may not be the answer. For earlier-stage thinning, non-surgical treatments or medical management are often more appropriate, and we will tell you so honestly. We would rather give you the right advice than the biggest procedure.