SEVERE HAIR LOSS
A few events can cause a person to endure hair loss so severe that he qualifies for body hair transplant. These are:
- Advanced androgenic alopecia
- Scalp hair depleted from previous hair restoration surgeries
- An accident or burn
Male Pattern Baldness
Male pattern baldness, or androgenic alopecia, is the greatest cause of men’s hair loss. Currently, it afflicts approximately 40 to 50 million American men alone. The condition is carried across generations via the paternal or maternal X chromosomes, creating weak androgen receptors that expose certain scalp hair to the destruction of DHT. The shrinking effects that DHT—a common hormone—has on every follicle may in turn lead to total baldness. While an obvious ancestral presence may foretell the baldness that awaits, nothing can get a person ready for the turmoil brought on by severe hair loss. Nowadays, body hair transplant photos demonstrate that these men still have hope for complete restoration.
Other Causes
BHT is also frequently employed for repair surgeries. The repair might conceal scars from a previous botched surgery, burn, or accident. In any case, these patients have experienced an exhaustion of most or all scalp donor supply. Standard surgeries that end up depleting scalp hair and causing excess disfigurement through scarring include:
- Temporoparietal-occipital flap surgery
- Scalp reduction
- Strip harvesting (FUT)
- Punch grafting
These surgeries frequently lead to unnatural hairline, slot formation, “doll’s hair,” linear scars, and punch scars. These failed procedures demand correction using body hair.
HAIR RESTORATION WITH BODY HAIR TRANSPLANT
The basis of hair restoration through body hair transplant is the individual graft excision technique, follicular unit extraction ( FUE ). FUE was largely developed throughout the 1990’s, and removes donor hair one at a time with a punching device of .8-1.2mm. Satisfactory body hair transplant photos demonstrate that this technique results in fast and effective healing because it does not use scalpels and requires no wound closures.
Because of the minimal invasiveness of BHT, almost every part of the body is able to serve as a donor source, including the arms, legs, stomach, chest, shoulders, and beard. And with varying areas yielding hair of different calibers, specific body hairs become supreme to achieve the ultimate aesthetic result. For example, the thick temperament of beard hair is perfect for adding density, while the fine caliber of leg hair builds soft, graduated hairlines.
Moreover, an experienced body hair transplant surgeon will remove the hairs in such a diffuse and scattered pattern that only nominal scarring and no bald patches are left in the donor area.
Body Hair Transplant Photos
Photos of other patients are a critical resource for any extremely bald person considering surgery. Being such a revolutionary procedure and still somewhat new, it is not yet globally available. Therefore, locating a practitioner advanced enough to execute a successful result may be challenging. Photos serve as evidence of a surgeon’s expertise, and will direct you toward the right one. Videos are also valuable evidence, perhaps more so.
The only doctors capable of performing a BHT procedure are FUE practitioners who are proficient with handheld tools. They must possess years of experience, the utmost level of training, incomparable medical skill, and unequaled artistic ability. You will find numerous surgeons who allege to have all of these traits, but they always need to substantiate their claims with photos and videos.
Body Hair Transplant Photos should show Before and after images depicting hairline creation with a natural appearance, detailed crown whorl design, globally spaced coverage, and adequate density. The before and after should display an incredible transformation. But be on the lookout for clinics that photo-shop their photos and/or rework their video footage to improve the results. Additionally, photos must always be done with a focused lens, in good lighting, and show multiple angles of the patient’s head.
FAQ
Who is a candidate?
Candidates must first have little or no scalp donor hair to speak of. Following this, they must have ample body hair to supply the surgery. General hair transplant requires candidates to have no anesthesia allergies, no blood clotting irregularities, and no scarring tendencies. They must be in good health overall, and be beyond the age of twenty-four. Those with tight curls or kinked hair are not ideal since curved follicles cause difficulties during excision.
Are there any negatives?
The negatives of employing body hair are:
- It will continue to behave innately, even after transplant; i.e., beard hair will act like beard hair in texture, color, growth rate, and length. This may not blend seamlessly with existing scalp hair.
- The long-term graft survival percentage of body hair is lower than donor hair from the head.
Here are additional photos of a real patient hair restoration case. Body hair was used to address severe, Norwood 7 baldness. To view the before and after images and learn more, click here.