No Hair Transplant, No Problem!

[hairthere]

This client was lucky to consult with a few ethical hair transplant surgeons who told him he was not a good candidate for surgery due to signs of diffusion in his donor zone. He instead opted to restore his hairline and full density with three sessions of SMP. Thanks for looking!

 

[Curious25]

He looks good. Strong eyebrows and good facial hair really helps enhance the buzz cut look. 

[ciaus]

Agree, strong jawline and plenty of facial hair to frame the bottom of his head while the SMP frames the top.  

[bald-and-bearded]

Looks great.

He can actually get a diffuse transplant now and keep it cut very short to achieve some texture  

[Britanium]

Really nice work. Some guys just happen to be better suited to SMP 👍🏽

[Gatsby]

Great work @hairthere 👌

[hairthere]

19 hours ago, bald-and-bearded said:

Looks great.

He can actually get a diffuse transplant now and keep it cut very short to achieve some texture  

I've had quite a few people ask me about this very approach lately, but there are some  issues you should consider. Firstly, you will be PERMANENTLY scarring your scalp. And not just the donor zone. You will create scar tissue in the recipient area too, which can sometimes cause issues with the pigment (retention mostly). I know FUE is being aggressively marketed as "scar-free" or "scar-less" surgery--this is simply not true--as is evidenced here on this forum. The followup I get is, "Well you can then fix the scars." But why create a problem that needs fixing? SMP can definitely help conceal the scars, but it's not perfect. 

Secondly, while current transplant technology/methods (FUT and FUE) do produce ultra-refined grafts, they will NEVER be as natural as your native hair. And what I most commonly see is ridging along the hairline when the grafts are shaved down. Like everything else in life, you must weigh the risk versus the reward of this approach. In my opinion, if you're going for a shaved/buzzed look (zero guard), forgo the surgery and just do SMP. 

Edited December 15, 2021 by hairthere

[bald-and-bearded]

3 hours ago, hairthere said:

I've had quite a few people ask me about this very approach lately, but there are some  issues you should consider. Firstly, you will be PERMANENTLY scarring your scalp. And not just the donor zone. You will create scar tissue in the recipient area too, which can sometimes cause issues with the pigment (retention mostly). I know FUE is being aggressively marketed as "scar-free" or "scar-less" surgery--this is simply not true--as is evidenced here on this forum. The followup I get is, "Well you can then fix the scars." But why create a problem that needs fixing? SMP can definitely help conceal the scars, but's it's not perfect. 

Secondly, while current transplant technology/methods (FUT and FUE) do produce ultra-refined grafts, they will NEVER be as natural as your native hair. And what I most commonly see is ridging along the hairline when the grafts are shaved down. Like everything else in life, you must weigh the risk versus the reward of this approach. In my opinion, if you're going for a shaved/buzzed look (zero guard), forgo the surgery and just do SMP. 

Thanks for the insights!

I just feel the 2D look is a problem with SMP.

Scarring in the donor area is well known and I had taken it for granted that it could be fixed with SMP and most of the hair can be taken from the beard and body (since they don't have to grow long for a buzz cut anyway).

But I didn't know scarring in the recipient area could also be a problem. That can become problematic.

[bald-and-bearded]

Here is where I got this idea

 

[Gatsby]

11 hours ago, hairthere said:

I've had quite a few people ask me about this very approach lately, but there are some  issues you should consider. Firstly, you will be PERMANENTLY scarring your scalp. And not just the donor zone. You will create scar tissue in the recipient area too, which can sometimes cause issues with the pigment (retention mostly). I know FUE is being aggressively marketed as "scar-free" or "scar-less" surgery--this is simply not true--as is evidenced here on this forum. The followup I get is, "Well you can then fix the scars." But why create a problem that needs fixing? SMP can definitely help conceal the scars, but's it's not perfect. 

Secondly, while current transplant technology/methods (FUT and FUE) do produce ultra-refined grafts, they will NEVER be as natural as your native hair. And what I most commonly see is ridging along the hairline when the grafts are shaved down. Like everything else in life, you must weigh the risk versus the reward of this approach. In my opinion, if you're going for a shaved/buzzed look (zero guard), forgo the surgery and just do SMP. 

This ^

[Ganderson]

@hairthere have you ever seen scarring in the beard area when people use that as a donor source (I've seen some pics of little white dots there recently) and can SMP do anything for that ? (say, with a more skin colored ink - or does that not really work, because as people tan lets say, you would just end up with a similarly discolored neck).

[hairthere]

11 hours ago, Ganderson said:

@hairthere have you ever seen scarring in the beard area when people use that as a donor source (I've seen some pics of little white dots there recently) and can SMP do anything for that ? (say, with a more skin colored ink - or does that not really work, because as people tan lets say, you would just end up with a similarly discolored neck).

They usually take the beard grafts from under the chin so while apparent if you search for them, they’re not readily visible. No I haven’t treated any beard hair FUE. 

Edited December 20, 2021 by hairthere

[Ganderson]

3 hours ago, hairthere said:

They usually take the bears grafts from under the chin so while apparent if you search for them, they’re not readily visible. No I haven’t treated any beard hair FUE. 

Thanks for the response! 
 

I guess it begs the question of - why not just use the few thousand grafts from your beard, and some body hairs, to the top ? I think you mentioned potential recipient area scarring as being the primary reason not to? I know grafts aren’t the same as native hair, but it could create a 3D texture and avoid scarring on the scalp. Would only be enough to keep thinks shaved every other day or so and still look appropriate, but it may be something 

[hairthere]

On 12/20/2021 at 12:22 PM, Ganderson said:

Thanks for the response! 
 

I guess it begs the question of - why not just use the few thousand grafts from your beard, and some body hairs, to the top ? I think you mentioned potential recipient area scarring as being the primary reason not to? I know grafts aren’t the same as native hair, but it could create a 3D texture and avoid scarring on the scalp. Would only be enough to keep thinks shaved every other day or so and still look appropriate, but it may be something 

Yes it would create scarring in the recipient area which could complicate matters with pigment retention. Also I've seen tons of beard and body hair grafts up close....I would only use these for filling in areas when the donor is depleted, repairs, and maybe strip scar. 

[Ganderson]

32 minutes ago, hairthere said:

Yes it would create scarring in the recipient area which could complicate matters with pigment retention. Also I've seen tons of beard and body hair grafts up close....I would only use these for filling in areas when the donor is depleted, repairs, and maybe strip scar. 

Do you have any pics or videos of beard hairs shaved down looking poorly? I keep hearing that the thickness is off, etc. but whenever I see results online (Post SMP of course) the combination is always very appealing. Often times with better results than SMP alone. I’m sure they exist but when picturing it in my head and looking at what’s floating out there, it would seem that the texture generated from even average transplant procedures (once combined with SMP) produce really amazing results. Scarring aside.

[hairthere]

13 minutes ago, Ganderson said:

Do you have any pics or videos of beard hairs shaved down looking poorly? I keep hearing that the thickness is off, etc. but whenever I see results online (Post SMP of course) the combination is always very appealing. Often times with better results than SMP alone. I’m sure they exist but when picturing it in my head and looking at what’s floating out there, it would seem that the texture generated from even average transplant procedures (once combined with SMP) produce really amazing results. Scarring aside.

Sorry I only have clients who have mixed beard hair in with scalp. Everyone I’ve seen has used beard only when the scalp is depleted. These are typically extreme repair cases. (I have a client that even used pubic hair!).
 

You should keep in mind too that everyone has differing hair types so some beard hair will be less coarse than others. In other words, your mileage may vary…

Edited December 23, 2021 by hairthere

[Ganderson]

14 minutes ago, hairthere said:

Sorry I only have clients who have mixed beard hair in with scalp. Everyone I’ve seen has used beard only when the scalp is depleted. These are typically extreme repair cases. (I have a client that even used pubic hair!).
 

You should keep in mind too that everyone has differing hair types so some beard hair will be less coarse than others. In other words, your mileage may vary…

Maybe it was the same guy! This particular person had a lot of BHT since he was a nw7 to begin with. Grown out it just didn’t work - he had some pubic and armpit hair implanted on top as well (in addition to beard, chest, and leg hair). He shaved the top of his head with a 0 guard every 2 -3 days and wet shaved the sides and back - I was blown away by how good he looked (again, of course post SMP. Without it, buzzed down he basically still was a Norwood 7 with a strange graft pattern). 
 

would you be able to share pictures of any BHT heavy patients? I think the forum would definitely appreciate seeing it!

[hairthere]

Sure although I feel like I’ve shared this particular client in this forum. I’ll have to dig for his pictures as it was a few years ago. He went to Dr. Umar I believe for the repair work.