Facial Hair Transplant: Treatment, Procedure, Cost and Side Effects

Facial hair transplant is defined as the procedure of hair restoration in the region on face where hair growth s either thin or completely missing. It is done to restore the mustache or goatee, as well as cheek beard, the sideburns and any place on the face where the hair is desired, even if there has been no hair growth in that particular area before. Facial hair transplantation is also done for the purpose of hiding either acne scars or any other type of scars.

Loss of facial hair arises due to multiple reasons. It can be the result of injury, surgery, burns, electrolysis, laser hair removal or genetics. This procedure also benefits the transgender female to male patients (FTM). This procedure aims towards a minor filling in or a thin coverage of a limited region. It also aims at the full restoration of a full, thick, beard or goatee. This procedure can either be performed on the areas where there is no facial hair or on areas where the growth of hair is thin or minimal and more fullness is desired by the person. There are varying numbers of grafts required. This includes 300 to 900 grafts for the cheek bone, 200 to 300 grafts for the side burn, 600 to 900 grafts for a full goatee and 350 to 500 grafts for the mustache are the requirements.

Similar to the process of hair transplant to the head, is the procedure of facial hair transplant of deriving the donor hairs from either the back or sides of the scalp. This is carried out in most of the cased by a technique called FUE. The site used is typically dependent on the area most suitable or the closest match to the facial hair, as decided by the doctor. In some cases, it’s the side of the scalp, while in other cases it’s the back of the scalp. Oftentimes, it has been seen that the hairs at the backside of the scalp is the most suitable match for a mustache or goatee, and the central and anterior cheek region. On the other hand, donor hair strands from the side of the scalp will be the perfect match for sideburns and the lateral and posterior cheek area. As soon as the transplantation is done, the hairs are permanently intact and grow typically, just like the normal facial hair growth with exact texture and similar characteristics. Moreover, the transplanted hair can be shaved just as you would shave your other normal facial hair. In order to obtain density and naturalness, a combination procedure is carried out. This involves the transplantation of a single and two-hair graft’s combination.

Facial hair transplant has the possibility to work on those with male pattern hair loss (MPH) and these people are thus eligible for the treatment.

Patients who are undergoing alopecia universalis and have no hair on their entire body will have no effect of this treatment, and are thus ineligible for receiving the treatment of facial hair transplant.

The side effects associated with facial hair transplantation are ingrown hairs, scarring, infection, pain or sensitivity to the recipient sites or the donor, redness, swelling and bruising. These are the certain risks to be kept in mind before considering this transplantation.

Depending on the number of grafts obtained by a patient, the sides of the head and the back will require shaving for larger procedures to take place. The doctor will strictly instruct you to keep the transplanted area dry for a period of 5 days. Avoid activities which put strain on you for the implants to be intact before its natural falling off period after two weeks of treatment.

It is a painless procedure that takes around three to eight hours. As far as the recovery period is concerned, make sure to keep the transplanted region completely dry for 5 days. The tiny crusts around each grafted hair will fall out typically after 4 to 6 days. The transplanted hairs will then fall off after a period of a week or two. Meanwhile it will take no more than 3 days for the donor area to completely heal up.

The price of the treatment depends upon the requirement of grafts on the face. On an average the cost is Rs. 40 to Rs. 60 per graft of facial hair implant.

The transplanted hairs will tend to fall off after a couple of weeks then start growing at three month. This process will continue as a normal hair growth thereafter for the entire lifetime. Hence this treatment is considered permanent.

The alternative treatment methods for the stimulation of facial hair growth include the application of coconut oil, amla oil, eucalyptus oil and the intake of balanced vitamin, saturated fat and protein, lemon and cinnamon, and keeping the skin clean and moisturized.