Hair, Beard and Eyebrow Transplants 

Hair Transplant

The procedure done in the doctor's clinic. First, the surgeon cleans your scalp and injects medicine to numb the back of your head. Your doctor will choose one of three methods for the transplant: follicular unit strip surgery (FUSS) or follicular unit extraction (FUE) and direct hair implantation (DHI).

With FUSS, the surgeon removes a 6- to 10-inch strip of skin from the back of your head (donor area). Then the incision on donor area is closed with stitches. This area is hidden by the surrounding hair.

The surgeon’s team then divides the strip of removed scalp into 1,500 to 4,000 tiny grafts, each with an individual hair or just a few hairs. The number and type of graft you get depends on your hair type, quality, color, and the size of the area where the donor hair will be transplanted.

If the FUE procedure is carried out, the surgeon’s team will shave the back of your scalp. Then, the doctor will remove hair follicles one by one from this area. The area heals with small dots, which your existing hair will conceal.

After that point, both procedures are the same. After the grafts are prepared, the surgeon cleans and numbs the area where the hair will be transplanted, creates holes or slits with a scalpel or needle, and delicately places each graft in one of the holes. The surgeon will probably be assisted by other team members to plant the grafts.

Depending on the size of the transplant, the process will take about 4 to 8 hours. You may need another procedure later if you continue to lose hair or decide you want thicker hair.

The choice between FUE or DHI procedure depends on several reasons such as the patient’s hair loss classification, the size of the thinning area and quantity of available donor hair. Since hair transplant is a very personal treatment, it is believed that the technique that meets a patient’s expectation the most is the one that gives best results.

Both FUE and DHI are different types of hair transplant techniques that can help you in achieving your desired look. However, there are certain differences between FUE technique and DHI technique. This is why it is important for an individual to know which of these hair transplant techniques would be the best solution for a satisfied look. Some of these differences can be listed as follows:

The FUE method is ideal for covering large areas, whereas the DHI method provides a better possibility for achieving higher density. if the patient has severe hair loss and bald patches are too wide to be covered, even if the patient wants to undergo a one session hair transplant procedure using the DHI method, he/she will be a better candidate for the FUE technique. The reason for this is that the FUE technique enables to harvest higher amounts of grafts in a single session.

The major distinctive feature of the DHI method compared to other hair transplant methods is that the DHI technique employs a pen-like medical instrument called “Choi implanter” that creates the recipient sites and simultaneously transplants the grafts.

The FUE method requires patients to have their heads completely shaved prior to the procedure, whereas the DHI method only requires the donor area to be shaved. This provides a significant advantage for female patients.

The DHI method requires more skill and experience than other hair transplant methods. This in turn, requires the physicians and medical teams to be exposed to a long-term training period so as to specialize in utilizing this technique.

The DHI method has a faster recovery period and can be performed with less bleeding compared to the FUE method.

The FUE method is ideal for covering large areas, whereas the DHI method provides a better possibility for achieving higher density

DHI vs. FUE hair transplant procedures explained, the most important difference between DHI and FUE is the way the grafts are implanted in the recipient area, for example, during FUE hair transplantation, the channels must be opened before implantation so that the surgeon can manually implant the extracted grafts. However, DHI uses a special tool known as the Choi Implanter Pen, so it is performed immediately after extraction, without the need to create channels for the grafts first, during the implantation phase. In addition, Follicular unit extraction is a graft collection method, in this process, micro-motor tools were used to open the holes where the hair was placed in the canal, and the name of the transplantation technique was defined as FUE.

Beard Transplant

A beard transplant is just that: Hair is taken from one part of the body and transplanted to your jawline or wherever you want your beard to grow.

Although this sounds simple enough, it is a rather complicated process. There are two main treatments a surgeon decide on:

• Follicular unit extraction (FUE). This approach is done by harvesting complete follicular units one at a time from the donor area. FUE is less painful, which may explain why it’s the more commonly performed procedure
• Follicular unit transplantation (FUT). For this approach, a surgeon cuts a small strip of tissue from the back of the head (donor area) and removes the hair follicles from that tissue.

A follicular unit is a small grouping of several hair follicles that may emerge from the skin through the same exit point.

Both procedures take anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 hair follicle grafts or more from the back of the head, usually at ear level or a little lower, which are then implanted on the face.

Eyebrow Transplant

Eyebrow transplants are a procedure where a cosmetic surgeon takes a graft of hair (plug). The surgeon takes the graft with both the hair and its roots (follicle) and moves it to the eyebrow area. The hair graft is usually removed from the nape of your neck or the area around your ear.

Once the hair grafts are removed, they’re placed in a storage container with a chilled saline solution for up to an hour before they are implanted in your eyebrows by the surgeon.

Eyebrow transplants are usually done under local anesthesia, so you won’t feel anything during the procedure.‌

After the procedure is done, the area is left open, and a crust starts to form around the newly transplanted follicles. These crusts are a normal part of the healing process and should fall off after a few days.

Harvesting

Whether you’ve chosen to have a FUE or a FUT, your surgeon’s first step will be to shave the area on your head that’s being harvested.

This gives them a clearer view of the hair follicles. Before the harvesting begins, you’ll be given a local anesthetic, so you won’t feel the harvesting or implantation.

Implantation

Once the follicles have been harvested from the donor area, the surgeon will inject a local anesthetic into the area of your head/face where the implants will be placed. Then, the surgeon will implant each follicle into your head/facial skin, shaping your new hair/beard in the way decided by you and the doctor before surgery.

Expectations and Recovery

After the surgery, your scalp can be very tender. You may need to take pain medications for several days. Your surgeon will tell you to wear bandages over your scalp for at least a day or two. They may also prescribe an antibiotic or an anti-inflammatory drug for you to take for several days. Most people can return to work 2 to 5 days after the procedure.

Within 2 to 3 weeks after surgery, the transplanted hair will fall out, but you should start to notice new growth within a few months. Most people will see 60% of new hair/beard growth after 6 to 9 months. Some surgeons prescribe the hair-growing drug minoxidil (Rogaine) to improve hair growth after the transplant, but it is unclear how effective this is.