For Those Wondering About the Efficacy of Beard Hair Transplants

[wylie]

Just a note to say that if it was not for beard hair, I would still be wearing a hat everywhere, like I was forced to for 15 years. What got me thinking about this is I was looking for a hat to cover my bald spot the other day outside and realized I have a very large collection of hats collected over the years. I later combed my hair after a shower and thought "I almost never wear any of those hats anymore" and it is all because of Dr. Umar and his restorative surgery to repair a butcher job (multiple passes) from the 1990's. In 2012 my repair process took off when Dr. Umar did the first of 4 surgeries, using beard, nape and a small amount of existing scalp hair (taken from above the ears) to first build an incredible hairline, and then add significant density around numerous 90's era "mini-grafts" (mini-plugs) and give me enough coverage to hide these.

 

While it is by no means comparable to the density of a scalp only transplant from a HTN recommended surgeon it by all measures passable, and without this beard hair I'm still wearing a hat everytime I step outside my front door. That is what beard hair has done for me.

 

For the record I have had around 5-6K beard grafts transplanted. And I also cannot stress enough how well this has worked in the strip scars. I have about 9 strip scars. The butcher who gave them to me did an excellent job of suturing, he ran an assembly line clinic and was very skilled in suturing, so they healed up extremely well and are nice and flat, nothing raised or ugly looking. But they were always exposed by my thin hair and I had to grow my hair long in back to hide them. The back of my head was a disaster because they were all visible with a closely cropped haircut, which I always wanted. Not anymore. I've had over 1000 grafts added to my scars and it too has worked amazingly well. (I've also had temporary SMP done and shave the back of my hair to a close #1 guard)

 

All said, in the right hands of an experienced surgeon, beard hair works. I know this because I look in the mirror and there is not a day goes by that I'm not completely grateful it does. I cut my hair very short on top, about an inch to 1 1/2" in length. It was awful to never be able to take your hat off, thanks to forums like these you can all avoid this happening to you. And if you ever wonder if beard hair works, all I can tell you is it did for me.

[mikeyhwk]

I'm a while away from needing beard grafts but they've always had me curious as a potential fall back option. In terms of extraction how was the process compared to scalp hair extraction. Was it painful, how was the recovery, any visible signs of scarring if you go clean shaven? I'm not sure if you posted pics anywhere but would you be willing to?

[Mikey1970]

I had beard hair used for a strip scar repair. I am clean shaven everyday with no visible scarring. As always is the case - surgeon selection is paramount.

[mosd]

any pics?

[wylie]

I'm a while away from needing beard grafts but they've always had me curious as a potential fall back option. In terms of extraction how was the process compared to scalp hair extraction. Was it painful, how was the recovery, any visible signs of scarring if you go clean shaven? I'm not sure if you posted pics anywhere but would you be willing to?

 

 

I have pics, if you search my posting history you will find a thread I started and posted numerous pictures in, it was from around three years ago but I don't post much so it won't take much searching. The extraction process and recovery time is fairly incredible, as Dr. Umar uses some kind of extraction tool that removes the grafts in a very rapid fashion. I'm not advocating this extraction method, and really don't know if it is superior to a manual extraction, but it certainly is faster. When you consider the amount of time and effort a manual extraction requires you'd realize why a doctor would use something like this to extract the grafts. If someone extracts them manually and is inexperienced I think the graft survival rate would be far less than an experienced doctor with an extraction tool.

 

The recovery time is amazing, that is what really surprised me. Within a day you are only dealing with some redness that looks like razor burn or a rash, and within three days there is no sign that anything was even done. Almost all of my beard hair below the jaw is gone, so I'm glad this worked for me because I'm not keen on using beard hair from the face, and everything else is gone. Not sure exactly how many came from there but around 4K is my best estimate.

 

And the only pain is the numbing injections. You can have this done on a Friday and on Monday show no signs that anything was even done.

[wylie]

I had beard hair used for a strip scar repair. I am clean shaven everyday with no visible scarring. As always is the case - surgeon selection is paramount.

 

Hopefully you had good growth. Beard hair grows very well in the strip scars and I'm surprised more people don't fix their strip scars. I like shaving the back of my head very close and cannot believe I'm able to do it. Not worrying about my hair is a tremendous relief. You are definitely correct about doctor selection, it is definitely paramount. Doctors using body hair in 2017 are like doctors learning FUE a decade ago. There will be much trial and error as this becomes a more popular option.

[TakingThePlunge]

Wylie,

 

Thanks for this post! I'm sure it will help a lot of guys wondering about BHT. It's something I would definitely consider if I ever plan another procedure.

 

I looked trough your posting history and found this thread with pics.

 

My Repair Is Almost Complete (w/pics.)

[voxman]

If you don't have recent picture, I guess even a rough sketch would work.

[Al - Moderator]

Wylie, I'm moving along the same general path as you are. I had many pluggy strip surgeries done in the late 80s and early 90s which left me with multiple strip scars and very little hair left in the donor area, yet still not much hair growing on top. I've had 3 repair sessions so far with True and Dorin in NY using chest and beard hair. I believe the graft count is at 2238 grafts with approximately 1400+ chest hairs and 800+ beard hairs. It's slow going, but improvement is there. I'm planning to have a fourth session with them probably in October.

 

Tha last session I did was 456 beard hairs and 415 chest hairs. I had the surgery on a Thursday and was back to work the next Friday with nobody able to tell, so basically a week later. But even just a few days after the surgery the beard area was healed enough to look like just a bad shave job and was passable without anyone really suspecting anything.

 

I'm also finding that chest and beard hair slowly begins to conform to head hair characteristics after a while. Much of it eventually loses the kinkiness and it grows as long as you want it to. There are a few hairs that don't want to let go of their chest/beard kinkiness, but it's not enough to bother me.

[Rawkerboi]

Kindly post some pics