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HAIR TACTICS

This Hair Transplant Took 11 Hours and 3,000 Grafts—and Looks So Natural

The surgeon who performed the transformation reveals his secrets.

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

PublishedApr 9, 2026, 1:30 PM EDT

UpdatedApr 9, 2026, 1:44 PM EDT

Updated Apr 9, 2026, 1:44 PM EDTPublished Apr 9, 2026, 1:30 PM EDT

The man first noticed his hair thinning as he approached his fifties.

For the next several years, David (which is not his real name) sought to regain the thick hair of his youth—a pursuit that eventually led him to the surgeon who would change his life by restoring it.

First, in 2020, he underwent scalp micropigmentation to mask the thinning on the top and back of his head.

The process involved a practitioner adding small dots of cosmetic ink to mimic the appearance of hair follicles on the scalp, thereby disguising thinning hair.

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However, as his hair continued to thin, the tattoos became increasingly visible, highlighting what David was trying to conceal.

In 2025, he decided to make an appointment with board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Gary Linkov at Linkov Hair Surgery in New York City.

David, now 55, finally felt ready to undergo a hair transplant.

Dr. Linkov told The Looker that he first prescribed hair medication through his brand, Feel Confident, to support the patient’s hair growth and help the surgery results last as long as possible. Then, it was time for the operation.

“We were trying to cover up the scalp micropigmentation,” Dr. Linkov explained. “Because—especially when you look at the top-down view—you can see how kind of artificial it looked… those little dots were not exactly doing it for him."

The surgery took 11 hours in total, though the day included several breaks, during which Dr. Linkov planted 3,015 grafts on David’s head using the Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) technique.

Dr. Linkov collected individual hair follicles from the back and sides of his head and then transplanted them to the top.

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“We mainly address the frontal scalp and the mid-scalp,” Dr. Linkov explained, adding that most of the benefits on the client’s crown were achieved with the medication.

11 months later, when David returned to Dr. Linkov’s clinic, his overall appearance had transformed.

His hair was noticeably fuller and his hairline lower, yet the results were so natural that it was almost impossible to tell he had undergone surgery.

Most importantly, he was thrilled with the $24,000 transformation.

“The results are better than I could have ever expected,” David said in a testimonial. “It feels like I rewound the clock a little bit.”

To achieve such a natural outcome, Dr. Linkov used his signature “root design” technique.

He examined the hair closely, considering factors such as how light reflects off it and its growth patterns, to determine the natural placement for each graft.

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There is an art to making the hair look natural. “You have to kind of look in one place and learn how that hair lives and how it’s behaving,” Dr. Linkov said. To make the work undetectable, the results have to mimic nature.

To give someone a full head of hair is relatively straightforward. Making that head of hair look completely natural, however, is a far more difficult achievement and one that requires experience, intuition, and artistry.

“If you want it to look like someone had a hair transplant—it’s not that hard to execute that type of thing,” Dr. Linkov explained.

“There has to be enough order and disorder. You have to have some symmetry, but some asymmetry,” he said. “If it looks too perfect, then it looks fake.”

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Roosa Rahkonen

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

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