Body hair for transplant? Which type is best?*

[sausage]

yes, kind of looks silly, and does look like body hair as it is a completely different colour and less settled......

maybe it would help if he died his hair.

[vinnytr]

By far beard hair is the best for growth and looks great. Using a .9mm punch or a 1.0mm leave acceptable scars under the chin. We have been able to get an extra 1,000 grafts from a fairly dense beard. I use beard hair as filler, never on the hairline or temples. Beard hair growth is very predictable.

Dr Yates , how close to the hairline would you use the beard hair as a filler ?

[topcat]

I think that 5000 graft beard hair looks very good. Not sure on the yield would need to see a before picture but looks good overall.

Sausage judging by some of your comments and you being a NW6 I would definitely say that you are not a ht candidate. You would never be pleased with the result so it would be pointless.

[wylie]

yes, kind of looks silly, and does look like body hair as it is a completely different colour and less settled......

maybe it would help if he died his hair.

"Died" his hair? I really hope English is not your first language.

[didi]

Looks good, you cant tell diff between beard hair and native head hair. I cant tell much about yield. hairline looks natural, not too high, not too low.

your beard must be very similar to your hair

[max4rmuk]

Leg hair

Hi guys, just wanted to know since this thread is about body hair. I have been told that the leg hair is not really suitable for the scalp as it's growth cycle is very long about 2 years. Is this correct?

[John P. Cole, MD]

Leg hair summary.

1. Grows slower than head hair. Grows shorter than head hair.
2. May grow for a few years on your scalp and then disappear.
3. Yields vary from 0% to 90%, but average is probably 40%.
4. You will never know how you will respond to leg hair until you try it.
5. Because the yield is so low, because it's duration of survival is unknown and variable, because it will not grow as long or as fast as a head hair you should use leg hair only as a procedure of last resort.
6. If you elect to try it, do a small test of 50 to 100 grafts, evaluate the result, and then proceed based on this response.

Leg hair may be useful for things like building temple points, eyebrows, or softening hairlines, but leg hair can also be a complete failure. One place i would not use it is in strip scars. Though i've seen thigh hair work well here and last for years in a few instances, it often is a complete failure.

Use head hair first. Head hair is king.

[max4rmuk]

Thank you very much for the information Dr Cole.

So does thigh hair differ from hair from the lower leg? In terms of it's growth period etc or is it exactly the same principle?

And how about stomach hair Dr Cole, what are your suggestions for using that for the scalp is that also pretty much in the same boat as leg hair?

Thank you once again for your reply.

[John P. Cole, MD]

One advantage to leg hair is that it will heal with no perceptible evidence. The extraction sites can take 3 to 6 months to loose their pink color, but they heal almost without flaw.

Stomach hair and chest hair both tend to heal with white dots about 50% of the time. I'd say that chest hair can grow longer than leg hair. A good rule of thumb is that body hair will grow about twice it's length on the scalp.

The upper leg to thigh can behave differently than the lower leg, but that is not to suggest that they always behave differently. Thigh hair like lower leg hair extraction sites all heal beautifully.

Back hair heals well most of the time, but i've seen white dots there. they are usually not as noticeable as on the chest and abdomen, however.

There are no absolute rules of thumb with body hair. Those with the best body hair often get the worst results. I wish we understood how to make it grow more consistently. If you move body hair, make sure you wet shave 3 days before your procedure because anagen hairs grow better than resting hairs.

The most predictable source of body hair is the beard, but some don't like the curly nature.

[max4rmuk]

Thank you Dr Cole for clarifying things for me much appreciated.

Hopefully when and if Dr Wesley's Pilofocus comes out we won't have much to worry about with regards to scarring.

[UK_]

So leg hair is not viable but hair from the thigh may work...

Joking aside... but maybe the holy grail REALLY IS pubic hair... I mean, its the only thing that hasnt been tried... right?

[didi]

Dr Cole

Do you still charge full price for bht as you said yield is unpredictable and sometimes theres no growth.
I know you do test but its possible that 50 graft test yield 80% and then you go for big session of 2000 grafts and yield drops to 30% or less.


Does BHT grows well in crown, ive seen BHT case where patient had chest hair implanted into crown but there was no growth,

[John P. Cole, MD]

Leg and thigh hair can work. It's just that you cannot predict the growth of either. What i'm saying is that i've seen leg hair that stopped growing years after a successful transplant.

Since all forms of BHT other than beard are highly variable in terms of yield, I don't encourage them. They are worth trying if you have no other option, but make sure you try them in limited quantities.

Generally, when a small session works, a large session will work. However, nothing would surprise me with body hair. It truly is the most unpredictable source of transplant hair available.

Also, low densities work better than high densities. I've also seen better yields when Acell is injected, but again, I would not bank on any result with body hair. I'd try Acell injections if you do BHT, but keep us posted on how you grow.

Body hair can also grow in thinner or finer in diameter than the source hair was on the body. I don't know why.

Pubic hair has been used. It can grow, but it is very hard to remove because it is firmly planted in very "rubbery" skin. It's the same with underarm hair. I've given up trying to get them out for now. Also both pubic and underarm and variable in terms of yield.

Yes, we are all looking for new options that offer additional hope since the scalp donor supply is limited.

[ukcali]

Thanks again envy body and especially Dr Cole for your continued input into this thread! I have another question if you wouldn't mind. What do you think of this scenario? Is it a possibility?

Could you FUE the sides and back of the head until you have taken as much is aesthetically possible or maybe just a bit less than that. Then do a "strip style" procedure whereby removing a line of grafts exactly as you would with FUT however you would be using FUE. Now you could then transplant some body hair grafts, into the "strip scar". This would give the benefit of having more "donor head hair" to transplant up top. As well as*
hopefully giving a more natural appearance because although you could use a decent amount of body hair it would hopefully blend well into the back.

I suggested using a "strip style scar" instead of just implanting body hairs into little FUE "dot" scars purely because I thought it wild be wiser not only to do but also to track the growth of the body hairs.*

I have started another threads with this question but thought it would be worthwhile posting it here to.

Thanks again!

[gallovolador]

Body hair dense packing endangers body hair graft survival. It poisons the scalp and growth might be zero.
It makes me really worry because I just had 1000 beard hair + 300 scalp fue transplanted over a surface of 38 sq cm on my scalp. Which is around this limit of 36 body hair grafts per sq cm that has been stated here by Dr Cole.
I wonder how he got this conclusion of maximum 36 body hair grafts per sq cm. I guess it is coming from his observation and experience.

Anyhow I really trust my Dr, a well known specialist in FUE who dominates all techniques including BHT, specially beard. I have seen several of his cases with Beard and all seemed well satisfactory. Regarding scarring I can confirm that my face after wet shaving three weeks after procedure is absolutely clean of any sign of anything. No scars at all!. Nobody could imagine what was harvested from there. I am extremely pleased and happy in this point.

I would also like to ask about waiting time to see this new transplanted beard hair breaking the skin. Is it similar to scalp hair ( around 3-4 months), shorter or longer?. I read one case where the patient was writing that most of his beard hairs did not fall out and started to grow straight after surgery. In my case most of them fell down around 1 month post like scalp hair do.

I really want to thank Dr Cole for sharing his honest opinion and huge experience with us in such an opened attitude. This gives only good for science and affected people.

Once again, thanks a million Dr Cole for all your dedication, well known great work and honesty.