Hair Restoration Blog

Using hair from other parts of the body for transplantation into scalp has been used for many years.  Unfortunately though, the change in the life cycle of body hair from different areas of the body has caused the body hair to stay as the last option for scalp hair restoration.  Body hair has long resting phase and short growth phase which means that most of the transplanted hair will stay in resting phase without having visible hair growth.

Comparison of scalp (left) vs. facial (right) hair: Note the difference in density of hair per surface area and the average number of hair in each follicular unit. Scalp hair is denser with more hair per grafts (over 2hair/graft) while beard hair is less dense with fewer hair per grafts (1-2 hair/graft)

Facial hair such as beard and mustache hair on the other hand has a longer growth phase and shorter resting phase.  That is why men can grow their facial hair to become really long.  Facial hair is also thicker than scalp hair in most people.  Thicker hair could be translated as more bulk of hair after hair transplantation.  Both longer growth phase and thicker hair shafts make beard hair a better option for scalp hair restoration in comparison to body hair transplant from other areas.

There are two problems with with beard hair restoration.  One is that they are very sparse and removing hair only needs to be done through a strip procedure.  The other problem with using facial hair for scalp transplant is that the facial follicular units are having fewer number of hair per unit that means less hair per grafts removed with FUE techniques.

Beard transplants are gaining popularity recently with newer techniques for extraction of hair (FUE) and it can be a great alternative to scalp hair for transplanting to the balding area in people who do not have good quality scalp hair.

Q:

I am a 27 yr old male and have very low growth facial hair in the mustache area. Please advise, are hair transplants for mustaches possible? How many grafts are needed? What is the going cost of a hair transplant like this?  What about time taken for growth?

A:

People may have facial hair loss due to: scaring and other scar conditions, or they may just not have the ability to grow their mustache or beard genetically.  In most cases, facial hair can be successfully restored with a hair transplant using scalp hair through follicular unit transplantation.  Beard hair can also be used for transplantation into the mustache area if there is a mismatch between the thickness of scalp and beard hair shafts. In this process, we use either strip follicular unit transplants or FUE (Follicular Unit Extractions) to harvest hair for mustache hair restoration. If we have to remove hair from the beard area, FUE is usually preferred to avoid scarring on the hair growing area of the face. The number of needed grafts is determined by the width of the upper lip as well as the shape that looks appropriate and proportional with the other facial features.  The cost of facial hair transplantation for mustaches and beards generally follows the same per graft cost as scalp hair transplantation.  As for the final outcome, results of a mustache hair transplant can be seen as early as 4-6 months following the hair transplant and may continue improving during the first year after that.