The answer is yes. Hair transplants are so successful because they replace balding areas with hair that comes from a healthy donor location. Sometimes, there may not be enough areas in the scalp to source donor follicles, so other sources may be used. The Hair Loss Recovery Program has put together a guide about all you need to know regarding donor hair from the beard.
Why Use Beard Hair?
For donor’s hair, the area of the sourced follicles should be healthy and free of the balding gene. The beard is an excellent location because of its density and because the procedure will only result in a very thin scar. It is also an alternative for men who have depleted other donor area from past transplants.
Materials & Methods
Beard hair is harvested in four sessions. During these sessions, a small amount of hair from the scalp will be harvested. Beard donor areas are a rounded v shape with a tapered end. The hair is taken from the area under the edge of the jar margin to minimize scar visibility. The donor specimens will be made up of one hair each and will be 10 cm long and 1.7 cm wide. The hair from the beard will also be coarser than scalp hair.
Prior to the procedure, the patient should go without shaving for at least three days. This allows the hair’s exit angle to be clearly observed. A local anesthetic will be used prior to the donor tissue being excised. The donor hairs will be bathed in an epinephrine solution, and the wound will be closed with a running 4-0 Prolene and inverted 3-0 Vicryl sutures.
Donor Hair Sources
Scalp hair is the preferred choice for treatment in androgenetic alopecia transplantation. If there is not enough scalp hair, then beard hair is the next option. Mustache restoration transplants use beard hair as the preferred source for uniformity. There are many advantages of choosing beard hair as a donor source when scalp hair is not an option.
Beard hair is generally dense under the chin, and it has the ability to grow in longer lengths. Skilled surgeons are able to make the scar in the donor area almost invisible with the proper skill. Beard hair also is not attached to apocrine glands such as the hair in the groin. As a result, you won’t have to worry about undesirable secretions on the scalp.
There are some drawbacks to using beard hair for transplants. The hair is much coarser, so the donor hair can only be transplanted to central areas on the scalp. Though the scar will be small, it is only masked completely when a full beard is grown out. The actual treatment time will increase by two hours since the harvesting and transplant are completed in the same session with beard donor hair.
How The Hair Loss Recovery Program Can Help
Using beard hair as a source for a hair transplant may be beneficial for some men. When the scalp does not have enough hair, but the hair on the jawline is abundant, it is a viable alternative. If you are thinking about a hair transplant and are not sure what option is best for you, give us a call at (647) 919-4247 for assistance. We can schedule a consultation together to go over your hair restoration options.