Having a scanty beard is assumed as an advantage to look younger, but can sometimes reduce self-esteem and masculinity.
- Patient´s age,
- Possible future hair loss, and
- The shape of the face.
Beard Structure. Source: https://www.ishrs-htforum.org/
What is the source of the grafts used in a beard transplant surgery?
In most of the cases, the donor area for a beard transplant is the occipital and parietal areas (nape and sides) of the head. However, in some cases, if the areas to implant are small in surface, a beard to beard transplantation is possible as long as the patient has enough available follicles in the area under the chin.
Planning
The design process of a beard transplant is crucial to match the shape of the patient’s face. This will also be the time where thanks to the usage of a trichoscope, Dr Turan will identify the natural angles of growth of the hair. Even in patients with no beard at all, vellus hairs are present and will show the natural orientation of the hair which shall be followed when implanting the follicular units extracted from the donor area.
FUE Extraction
As mentioned above, the donor area for a beard transplant is, in most of the cases, the same one we use for a regular hair transplant. Hence, it is very important to assess the future possible hair loss of the patient to identify the number of grafts that can be used for the beard transplant.
A full beard transplant (including the mustache) will require around 3000-3500 follicular units. But, not all those grafts need to be extracted. The biggest challenge of a beard transplant is to achieve a natural outlook, and for that only 1 and 2 hairs grafts can be implanted.
Hence, once the FUE extraction has taken place, our technicians will sort the follicular units and triples and quadruple follicular units will be dissected into singles and doubles. This allows to reduce the overall number of follicular units that have to be extracted from the donor area
Implantation
Once the follicular units have been sorted and dissected, the next stage in a beard transplant is the implantation process.
For this, Dr Turan uses the implanter pen in all his beard transplant surgeries. Besides the right selection of follicular units, the second most important factor is to implant those follicular units with the right angle following the natural growth of the beard.
Angles in a beard transplant are very complex, each area of the beard transplant has different directions and angles. It is best to implant the grafts according to the directions and angles of existing hair growth. Beard hair grows in the cheekbone, cheeks, and throat area at a 15-20 degree angle. In the chin area at an angle of 25-30 degrees. Dr Turan prefers using the implanter pen for his beard transplants as in his opinion they help to get the right direction and angles.
After the Beard Transplant
The post op and recovery process of a beard transplant does not differ much from a regular hair transplant surgery. If any difference shall be noted, it would be that in most of the cases the recovery of a beard transplant is quicker .
Sleeping in the right position and avoiding strenuous activities to give the best chances of survival to the newly implanted hair follicles.
Washing process: we will do a wash in the clinic the day after the surgery. And after a dry day where you will only apply saline solution, you will wash the implanted and donor area daily until the scabs fall off.
Redness: after the transplant takes place, it is very likely that you will experience redness in the implanted area. The time in which the redness will be noticeable varies from patient to patient, but normally after 10-15 days, the redness tends to disappear. The usage of aloe vera or rosehip oil may also help to reduce the redness.
Shaving After the beard Transplant: the longer you wait the better. And ideally, rather than shaving in the first 30-45 days, it is recommendable to trim the area with clippers to reduce the risk of ingrown hairs and avoid irritating the skin
Shedding after the beard transplant: like in a regular hair transplant, the implanted hairs are likely to shed between the week 2 and 8. This is very normal and once the hairs have shed, it will take 6-12 weeks for them to grow back.
Find below some examples of beard transplants.
