Beard-hair to scalp transplants??

[Dutchie]

What do you guys make of these body-hair to scalp transplants??

Supposedly they can use chest hair, beard hair....etc on the scalp now as well.

 

Trick is you have to mix it in with regular scalp FUE hairs, otherwise it looks to coarse.

 

Dr. Umar has done some excellent work:

 

I was thinking maybe I should get the maximum out of my 2 FUT's and transplant 7,000 graft scalp hairs. Then leave the crown till last and transplant a mixture of 1,000 FUE scalp grafts with 2,000 FUE beard grafts

[California]

Hi Dutchie,

 

Since you have asked about BHT, I am taking the liberty of copy/pasting below a post on this Forum from Dr. Bhatti.

 

BHT is presently my favourite field!

 

FUE rose in popularity due mostly to the fact that it has opened the horizons to a limitless supply of grafts by expanding the traditional donor availability. Thanks to FUE the patient base has markedly increased in size. Repair cases and cases with extensive balding which were shunned earlier, can again think of getting back a “head full of hair.”

 

I have a very different approach to a client with balding which I feel shall be progressive in the long term. I goad all patients with a long term plan for their progressive balding to allow me to harvest beard grafts (besides scalp grafts of course) for a better hairline definition and mid-scalp fill and keep their remaining scalp grafts as a rain check for future requirements especially in the crown.

For example, for a 25 year old with type 3 vertex pattern, I would plant scalp hair within the first 1.5 cm along the hairline, mix scalp grafts with beard grafts in a laid down optimal ratio till the highest point of the head. For the crown area I would encourage him to accept a low density preferably with chest grafts or chest grafts with a sprinkling of scalp grafts. I never use beard hair for the crown area. It is only to be used for the mid-scalp and just behind the hairline.

 

For me and my patients “only ABC is GOOD!” : I am not fond of using any hair other than beard, chest and axilla (in this order of preference) since leg, arm, belly hair, in my experience, take a long time to grow if at all.

(A- Axilla, B- Beard, C-Chest)

 

In darker racial group I do not venture outside the ‘shadow area’ of the beard which lies on and behind the jawline and above the Adam’s apple due to the possible risk of visible scarring).

 

Given the fact that in a second session, you can harvest usually half the number of grafts again after a gap of 6 months, realization shall dawn upon you that an average patient (except East Asian) has a large donor area just waiting to be harvested. This realization is fast becoming the game changer today in the field of surgical hair restoration. As you read my thoughts on BHT, more and more clinics the world over are busy honing their skills to harvest more and more body grafts with lesser and lesser transection rates. Time is also of the essence and therefore the growing demand for motorized systems, especially the Safe Scribe which is simple, safe and efficient.

 

Body hair, mostly alone, has been routinely used at my clinic for the following indications-

1. Extensive baldness with a poor donor area of the scalp and,

2. Camouflaging wide FUT scars.

 

You can see some of my cases later where almost exclusive BHT was done for want of healthy scalp grafts. This is slowly becoming my core competence area.

I am wedded to the Harris Safe Scribe System since 2010. It works very well for me even for BHT. With a surgical background I am more comfortable working with motorized systems than manual instrumentation. I use the manual punch only for areas like legs, arms etc.- areas I am not very fond of doing since this hair in my experience does not grow to the full satisfaction of my clients and myself. I use the following punches for BHT- 0.7 mm customized sharp punch for beard grafts harvest when there are mostly singles and if 2-3 I may use a 0.8 mm punch

If there be any questions you may have for me, I would be pleased to answer to the best of my ability.

 

We wish you all the best,

 

Best regards,

California

[hurst]

What do you guys make of these body-hair to scalp transplants??

Supposedly they can use chest hair, beard hair....etc on the scalp now as well.

 

Trick is you have to mix it in with regular scalp FUE hairs, otherwise it looks to coarse.

 

Dr. Umar has done some excellent work:

 

I was thinking maybe I should get the maximum out of my 2 FUT's and transplant 7,000 graft scalp hairs. Then leave the crown till last and transplant a mixture of 1,000 FUE scalp grafts with 2,000 FUE beard grafts

 

I would strongly advise you not to go to Umar.

[Dutchie]

I would strongly advise you not to go to Umar

And why is that??

[gillenator]

Some are of the opinion that he is way overly aggressive with BH since it is very unpredictable patient-to-patient. BHT is anything but an exact science and far more guys have had inconsistent and disappointing results from it.

 

Dutchie, listen closely my friend. Be careful about planning too far out in the future. Do you realize how much coverage can potentially be obtained with 7,000 grafts? A lot! What happens if you are happy with 5,000 for now? Why commit to something without knowing how things turn out in the first several procedures? If that is your profile photo, how do you figure you need 7,000 grafts?

 

Be patient. Give your FUHT procedures time to grow and fully mature before making any subsequent decisions. This is not something where all future decisions have to be made now.

 

And be careful about doing mega-sessions. The more incisions that are made to the scalp, the higher corresponding level of trauma. When the trauma level is raised, the yield goes down. You want to attain the highest yields possible.

 

If you think you will need 7,000 grafts to start with, a good idea would be to split it into 2 procedures of 3500 grafts one year apart.

 

My guess is that you won't need to do any BHT. Besides BH should only be a last resort and for repair cases such as filling in scars.

 

Try to separate your dreams from working within what is a reality in your own situation and resources from the scalp.

[Melvin- Admin]

Some are of the opinion that he is way overly aggressive with BH since it is very unpredictable patient-to-patient. BHT is anything but an exact science and far more guys have had inconsistent and disappointing results from it.

 

Dutchie, listen closely my friend. Be careful about planning too far out in the future. Do you realize how much coverage can potentially be obtained with 7,000 grafts? A lot! What happens if you are happy with 5,000 for now? Why commit to something without knowing how things turn out in the first several procedures? If that is your profile photo, how do you figure you need 7,000 grafts?

 

Be patient. Give your FUHT procedures time to grow and fully mature before making any subsequent decisions. This is not something where all future decisions have to be made now.

 

And be careful about doing mega-sessions. The more incisions that are made to the scalp, the higher corresponding level of trauma. When the trauma level is raised, the yield goes down. You want to attain the highest yields possible.

 

If you think you will need 7,000 grafts to start with, a good idea would be to split it into 2 procedures of 3500 grafts one year apart.

 

My guess is that you won't need to do any BHT. Besides BH should only be a last resort and for repair cases such as filling in scars.

 

Try to separate your dreams from working within what is a reality in your own situation and resources from the scalp.

 

I agree with gillenator, BHT should be used as last resort, and even so it's my belief that it should be used as filler hair, what I mean is that you should try and achieve maximum coverage with scalp hair and if you'd like additional density, I think BHT could be beneficial to use as filler hair, also 7,000 grafts could provide good coverage, I've had 4,000 and was a Norwood 6, an additional 3,000 grafts would completely restore me. Of course density may decrease as native hair is lost in time, I think that's when either tricopigmentation or BHT could provide useful. I also agree that splitting up procedures guarantees better growth, I'm glad I've split my procedures up.

[Dutchie]

You guys are right, I was first gonna see how my 4000 session goes and see how many grafts I would need to fill up my crown. I might not even need a 3rd BHT session.

 

One things for sure though since I'm a N6 I most likely will need a 2nd H&W session. Probably around 2000 to 3000 grafts. If that takes care of most my crown I will pass on a 3rd BHT

[gillenator]

You guys are right, I was first gonna see how my 4000 session goes and see how many grafts I would need to fill up my crown. I might not even need a 3rd BHT session.

 

One things for sure though since I'm a N6 I most likely will need a 2nd H&W session. Probably around 2000 to 3000 grafts. If that takes care of most my crown I will pass on a 3rd BHT

 

Good words of wisdom spoken!....