Having just the right amount of blood flow to the hair transplant sites will make a big difference in how fast they heal. For example, you need to make sure you get enough blood flow during the night. You can do this by sleeping on pillows to elevate your head. Your usual pillows can be used, or you can buy wedge-shaped pillows made for this purpose. 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. It is often hard to spot such tricks, but knowing that some surgeons do them will help you to watch out for them. You will get some good advice if you go to certain associations for assistance. The International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons will give you information on surgeons that are affiliated with them. You do not need a person whose only agenda is to sell you on getting hair transplant procedures done. 3. You should start to get concerned if your doctor has no specific good stories to tell about hair transplant surgery they have done. You need to see before and after photos. You need a way to contact former patients. It certainly does not seem like a relaxing experience. Yet some feel that there is that degree of pain involved. The injections of the local anesthetic into the scalp before hair transplant procedures are definitely painful to some degree. Anyone who has had a tooth pulled knows that, if the tooth is deadened properly, it is not the tooth-pulling that hurts. Will having hair transplant surgery change anything? You have to look long and hard at your life to answer this question. You have to determine whether the baldness is really the problem or not. The issues may be too deep for a cosmetic procedure to fix. In this case, you will have to decide if the hair transplant surgery will be worth it.