Norwood Stage 5
Norwood Stage 5 is defined by that connecting bridge of hair narrowing further — frontal recession and crown balding are now separated by only a thin band, rather than the fuller strip still present at Stage 4. The overall bald area is noticeably larger than Stage 4, and the frontal-to-crown pattern is starting to read as one connected zone rather than two.
Why the range is 3,000-4,200 grafts
3,000-4,200 grafts reflects both the larger total area and a planning reality: once the bridge narrows this much, most surgeons treat the whole top of the scalp as a single connected canvas rather than three separately-planned zones, since a patchy result (dense frontal and crown with a visibly thinner strip between them) looks worse than a slightly lower uniform density across the whole area. That full-canvas approach is part of why the graft count jumps meaningfully from Stage 4.
What to expect
Many patients at this stage need two sessions to reach their desired density without over-harvesting the donor area in one sitting — donor supply (typically 6,000-8,000 grafts over a lifetime, varying by density and scalp area) genuinely starts to be the limiting factor rather than surgical time or cost.
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