Many men have struggled with facial hair, or the lack of it for quite a long time. Trying to grow a beard and achieve an attractive style such as a circle beard, a goatee, full beard or sideburns, is not a simple process. It can be made even harder if you’re genetically predisposed to premature hair thinning.
Fortunately, you can now get a simple facial hair transplant to the areas that are left patchy and acquire the perfect beard you dream of.
Understanding Facial Hair Loss & Stunted Growth
There are a number of factors that can lead to stunted growth of facial hair. Some of the common causes of reduction in facial hair volumes include genetics, laser hair removal, burns and other types of injuries, and surgery.
The procedure can have a variety of goals ranging from a minor filling to cover a limited area to a restoration which will cover the entire beard region. Generally, the transplant will focus on places where the beard is thin or sparse and more volume is needed.
Grafts Needed
Each procedure will need a different number of grafts. If you are looking forward to replacing a mustache, you will need about 350 to 500 grafts. If you want a full-goatee, you may need between 500 and 900 grafts. Generally, cheek beards need 900 grafts each, and if you are looking to replace both sideburns, you will need about 600 grafts.
If you are interested in more than moderate hair density, you should think about getting a second and smaller procedure to make it possible.
What Influences Hair Selection For The Transplant?
When performing an implant, there is one thing that the surgeon will be looking for; the hair that is the closest match to your beard hair. Each patient varies from the next, and so do the transplant experiences. For some people, the best hair match could be from the back of the scalp while for others hair from the sides of the scalp seems to work best.
The actual site where the hair will be transplanted to also matters. For instance, hair from the sides of the scalp matches really well with the sideburns and lateral cheeks.
What Should You Expect Before, During & After The Surgery?
It is important to set your expectations for before, during and after the transplant surgery because this will determine how well you track your progress. First, here are the common side effects of the surgery:
- Tenderness, redness and minor swelling of the implant area for a few days after the surgery.
- Hair shedding-this is one side effect which causes panic among patients because it seems a little strange to lose hair while trying to gain more of it. However, even if the hair is shedding off, the follicles are still alive and will produce new hair strands with time.
- The regular effects of using anesthesia should also be expected.
As you can see, this is a minor procedure that does not cause any severe forms of danger or health challenges. Besides, the surgeon will recommend the care procedures that you should apply when recovering from the surgery so that you can achieve success in the entire process.
What Techniques Are Used In Beard Transplants?
There are two main procedures that are followed when carrying out a hair follicle transplant. The first is the follicular unit extraction, a principle by which donor follicles will be removed from your head using a circular incision and transferring the hair to the affected region.
The second part of the process is the follicular unit transplantation whereby hair follicles are harvested and worked on under a microscope, creating natural looking grafts which are then transferred to the area they are needed as single or double hair grafts. The second procedure is new and cutting-edge.
Does The Process Result In Scars?
The best part about these two procedures is that scarring is minimal in both cases. The surgeons also make sure that hair can grow through the small and almost undetectable scars so that the normal appearance can resume.
For the transplanted area, the hairs are transplanted as single grafts, and in some cases as two hair grafts. Care is taken to ensure that natural growth occurs after the transplant because the procedure is permanent.
How Easy Is It To Style Hair After The Transplant?
Another concern that most people have to go into a beard transplant is whether they will be in a position to cut and style their beard after.
The recovery period and time allowed for the hair to completely grow back after a beard transplant is a minimum of three months. After this recovery period, you are able to style and shape your beard as you would like to. This recovery period is also recommended before trying to style the hair to avoid ruining the newly placed follicles.
Where Will The Hair Come From?
Unfortunately, you cannot get a donation of beard hair from another person. You have to be your own donor, and as mentioned, the place where the surgeon looks for the hair mostly is the back and the sides of the scalp because it grows the kind of hair that mostly resembles your beard hair.
The benefits of getting a beard transplant are countless, starting from the fact that it will boost your confidence and give you that facial look you envy and really which you could possess.
The most important thing is to consult a competent doctor such as Jeffrey Epstein, MD, FACS, for the procedure. Jeffrey Epstein is a board certified plastic surgeon who specialises in minimally invasive aesthetics and operates in New York City. He has over 24 years of experience in this field, and he even teaches other plastic surgeons from around the world on how to conduct minimally invasive hair transplant procedures. Jeffrey is an expert in FUE techniques, most importantly, the no shave technique as well as beard transplants in Miami and New York.