Beard appearance after use as a donor area

[SXP92]

Hi all. Considering the merits of possibly undergoing a beard to scalp FUE procedure in the future (scalp donor area has reached it's limit). My biggest reason for being hesitant about pursuing this is what the beard donor area may look like afterward. I have heard the beard generally heals really fast, but I do want to maintain the option of being able to clean shave my beard (without it being obvious something has been done). I am also of mediterranean descent and have tan skin at baseline (although didnt' feel like there was any hypopigmentation in my scalp donor areas from prior FUEs).

Has anybody undergone beard to scalp FUE and have pictures of their unshaved and/or shaved beard area that they could share?

[Al - Moderator]

It hasn't been an issue for me. I shave daily. The pictures below are after about 3000 grafts were taken from under the chin area.

 

 

 

[Al - Moderator]

If I wanted to grow it out, I can still grow a beard. Here is what it looks like after a few days of growth. I had to let it grow to see if I had enough left for another session.

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by BeHappy
Ooops. Showed an older pic rather than the latest one. Reuploaded.

[SXP92]

31 minutes ago, BeHappy said:

If I wanted to grow it out, I can still grow a beard. Here is what it looks like after a few days of growth. I had to let it grow to see if I had enough left for another session.

 

WOW that looks great for 3000 grafts! When you grow it out, does the area they harvested from look noticeably thinner than the rest of the beard when you grow it out?

[SXP92]

39 minutes ago, BeHappy said:

If I wanted to grow it out, I can still grow a beard. Here is what it looks like after a few days of growth. I had to let it grow to see if I had enough left for another session.

 

Also, would you mind sharing which surgeon did your procedure?

[HairFunk]

3000 grafts from under your chin? Are you sure? That is a massive amount of grafts to take from this location. The area looks fine anyway. Plus is in a location where people really don't notice  

[Al - Moderator]

1 hour ago, HairFunk said:

3000 grafts from under your chin? Are you sure? That is a massive amount of grafts to take from this location. The area looks fine anyway. Plus is in a location where people really don't notice  

 

I say under my chin, but I don't really know how to explain it. The area extends out a bit. I had several sessions done. The first one was in a small area under the chin, but we extended out much further in later sessions to get more and since I was satisfied that there was no major scarring.

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by BeHappy

[Chiku]

On 3/19/2023 at 10:02 AM, SXP92 said:

Hi all. Considering the merits of possibly undergoing a beard to scalp FUE procedure in the future (scalp donor area has reached it's limit). My biggest reason for being hesitant about pursuing this is what the beard donor area may look like afterward. I have heard the beard generally heals really fast, but I do want to maintain the option of being able to clean shave my beard (without it being obvious something has been done). I am also of mediterranean descent and have tan skin at baseline (although didnt' feel like there was any hypopigmentation in my scalp donor areas from prior FUEs).

Has anybody undergone beard to scalp FUE and have pictures of their unshaved and/or shaved beard area that they could share?

1000 beard hairs taken from under the chin, no signs whatsoever shaved or unshaved. Southeast Asian descent.

[HairFunk]

On 3/19/2023 at 10:23 PM, BeHappy said:

 

I say under my chin, but I don't really know how to explain it. The area extends out a bit. I had several sessions done. The first one was in a small area under the chin, but we extended out much further in later sessions to get more and since I was satisfied that there was no major scarring.

 

 

 

This is very impressive. What punch did they use? You have healed incredibly well! 

Edited March 21, 2023 by HairFunk

[Gatsby]

On 3/20/2023 at 1:02 AM, SXP92 said:

Considering the merits of possibly undergoing a beard to scalp FUE procedure in the future (scalp donor area has reached it's limit).

Personally if you have no scalp hair to mix with it then I wouldn't use beard hair alone. It won't look natural. Perhaps if they are being implanted in areas that have scalp hair already transplanted it could work to give greater density. Is this your goal or are you wanting to transplant purely beard hair alone on a bald/balding area? I've had over 7k beard grafts strategically transplanted with over 6k scalp grafts at the same time. This was carried out in two procedures 12 months apart. Even now two months post op I can still grow a beard. However at 56 my beard is practically white now so I always shave and let someone else be Santa from now on! 

[Melvin- Admin]

On 3/19/2023 at 3:23 PM, BeHappy said:

 

I say under my chin, but I don't really know how to explain it. The area extends out a bit. I had several sessions done. The first one was in a small area under the chin, but we extended out much further in later sessions to get more and since I was satisfied that there was no major scarring.

 

 

 

Incredible healing.

[SXP92]

16 hours ago, Gatsby said:

Personally if you have no scalp hair to mix with it then I wouldn't use beard hair alone. It won't look natural. Perhaps if they are being implanted in areas that have scalp hair already transplanted it could work to give greater density. Is this your goal or are you wanting to transplant purely beard hair alone on a bald/balding area? I've had over 7k beard grafts strategically transplanted with over 6k scalp grafts at the same time. This was carried out in two procedures 12 months apart. Even now two months post op I can still grow a beard. However at 56 my beard is practically white now so I always shave and let someone else be Santa from now on! 

That's a good question. My situation is unusual because I don't have male pattern baldness (very favorable family genetics in that regard). But I do have persistent chemotherapy induced alopecia from cancer treatment I had 9 years ago. This led to more of a diffuse thinning type appearance across the top of my scalp without any truly bald areas. So yes, the beard grafts would be placed in between native scalp hairs (and not in any truly bald area)

 

My standard donor area has only been able to support ~2600 grafts (done over two procedures). Since I don't have any personal or family history of male pattern baldness, a couple surgeons are willing to harvest around ~500 grafts in the temporal region (which is an area of relatively normal density still for me). The idea would be to use those to help bolster the density up front toward the hairline further and then use beard grafts to help fill in behind it. I was also offered the option of a beard transplant "test" to see how things heal

[SXP92]

On 3/19/2023 at 5:23 PM, BeHappy said:

 

I say under my chin, but I don't really know how to explain it. The area extends out a bit. I had several sessions done. The first one was in a small area under the chin, but we extended out much further in later sessions to get more and since I was satisfied that there was no major scarring.

 

 

Would you mind sharing which surgeon did your beard harvest?

On 3/19/2023 at 5:23 PM, BeHappy said:

 

 

[Al - Moderator]

19 minutes ago, SXP92 said:

Would you mind sharing which surgeon did your beard harvest?

 

Dr Robert Dorin. It took several surgeries to get to 3000+ removed from my beard.