Dr. Arika Bansal

7 September, 2022

Hair transplant nowadays is as common as vowels are in a long text. Everyone who develops baldness can now dream to gain back their hair. But, what if they are a little late in developing this dream? Well, they still can. A big thanks to revolutionizing the industry of hair transplants. Clinics have now started using body hair too in case of an advanced grade of baldness, where the patient has limited density of donor area. This article will tell you everything you need to know about body hair transplant on the scalp.

Why Body Hair Is Needed?

Any hair transplant is accomplished with the primary goal of natural looks, adequate density, complete coverage of the bald area, and longevity of the transplanted hair. But, hair is after all transplanted through your own scalp. Thus, in an advanced case of baldness when the requirement for grafts is more, the need for body hair arises. Generally speaking, a total of 7000-8000 grafts are required in such cases for giving decent coverage. In one pass, from a donor of grade 7 baldness, up to 3000 grafts can be extracted without altering the cosmesis of the donor area. After the first sitting, another 2000 grafts can be extracted. Evidently, the remaining required grafts are to be extracted from the body. The body hair has got genetically different characteristics than scalp hair in terms of growth rate, hair cycle, telogen phase, anagen phase, etc. But, despite these factors body hair transplant in India is possible.

Ranking Of Preference For Body Hair

Being anatomically closest to the scalp, beard hair must be the first choice of body hair transplant to head for surgeons. The preference is then for chest, then pubic, abdomen and finally leg hair. The sidelocks are the best which match the scalp, due to proximity.

Beard Hair

Being the best choice for body hair, it is very important to use beard hair judiciously. The beard hair has got different characteristics. This seems quite unbelievable but it is a fact that the patient who has grade 7 baldness has a good beard and other body hair. They tend to be wiry, hard, and thicker. Up to 200 grafts can easily be extracted from the beard of a grade 7 bald case without altering the cosmesis. If done in expert hands, another 1500-2000 grafts can be extracted and the guy can still sport a beard. The rule of 50% applies to the extraction and creating the illusion.

Beard hair behaves differently in different patients. In some cases, they grow very fast and in some very slow. On average they show a success rate of 80-85%. The frontal area should never get beard hair. They should never be planted in isolation, lest they would stand up. They should be mixed well with scalp hair. Also, they should never be placed on the crown in isolation. If the beard hair is straighter, then it would gel well with scalp hair. Beard hair contributes most to body hair transplant success rate.

Other Body Hair

The other body hair of the chest, abdomen, and thighs are less favourable in terms of texture, growth rate, anagen and telogen phase. The success rate of extraction and survival of grafts is less. In most cases, they don’t show up on the scalp.

Eventually result, in terms of good hair and long-term hair on the scalp is of utmost prominence. Only if a surgeon knows how to extract grafts from different body sites is not enough. He must never jump on to body hair enthusiastically. One should try to manage the baldness with the scalp hair, medicines and as late as possible to use beard hair and then the subsequent body hair. This will also give a minimum budget, consequently, you will not look for a body hair transplant cost.