Hair Transplantation from Chest Hair

Hair transplantation from body hair is one of the methods we use in the FUE method in case of insufficient donor area. This method called Body Hair Transplant means the transfer of sufficient body hair to the hairless area. (The term BHT hair transplantation is also used.) The problem of hairlessness creates quite a psychological trauma especially for men. The importance of chest hair has increased considerably in androgenic hair loss types with insufficient nape hair. In FUE hair transplantation, exceeding the donor capacity leads to the deterioration of the integrity of the nape area. In this case, if the definition is right, we may encounter a situation like taking out an eye while trying to make eyebrows. Therefore, it would not be right to overload the nape hair. Those who have hair transplantation from body hair resort to this procedure due to the donor capacity problem. Then, as a solution, chest, beard and other body hair come to the fore. Hair transplantation from chest hair is done as the third alternative method after hair and beard.

The development of the FUE method in recent years has brought hair transplantation from chest hair to the forefront. The hardness of the chest cage creates an advantage in the FUE method of removing chest hair compared to other body hair. So how is hair transplantation from body hair done? We can say that we are one of the rare hair transplant clinics that can successfully perform this procedure. In general, an average of 3-5% of hair transplantation applications are performed with chest hair.

Hair Transplantation from Chest Hair (Advantages and Disadvantages)

First of all, we should state that not every body hair is suitable for hair transplantation. It is never considered as the first choice.

• For hair transplantation from chest hair, the most important criterion is that the chest hair must be thick and hard. Otherwise, the loss rate will increase during the removal of chest hair. In addition, the chance of survival in the area where the lifeless, weak hair is transplanted is low.
• Chest hair generally consists of single grafts. We can say that it is more advantageous in the densification process in hair transplantation.
• The anagen phase of body hair is shorter than that of head hair (except beard hair). Therefore, it is thinner and shorter than head hair. Chest hair does not grow more than 5-6 cm on average.
• In addition, since chest hair is curly during the growth period, it is considered more suitable for transplantation to the middle and back areas rather than the front area.
• Another advantage of body hair transplantation is that those who have this procedure get rid of unwanted excess body hair in this way. For men who have hair loss problems and are considering hair transplantation, we recommend that they think carefully about laser hair removal to get rid of excess chest hair in terms of reserve reserve. Especially in people with Norwood 5-6 7 type hair loss, chest hair is worth its weight in gold in terms of reserve reserve.
• In addition, these scars can be easily covered by transplanting chest or beard hair onto the FUT scar or wound scar.
• It is an alternative option when hair grafts are not enough to correct a failed hair transplant. Thinner body hair is a good option to soften the appearance of a failed hair transplant.
• Body hair such as chest, abdomen, leg, and back hair grows at a more oblique angle than scalp hair. Therefore, the doctor who will remove these hairs must be quite experienced in this regard.

Which body hairs can we use in hair transplantation?

When we say body hair, it is natural to think of all body hair. So which of these is suitable?

• a) Beard Hair (Hair Transplantation from Beard) We apply hair transplantation from body hair as the first choice. We have discussed this in detail in our article beard hair transplantation. We use beard hair from approximately one in five people.
• b) Hair Transplantation from Chest Hair:(This is the subject of our article). We can also add abdominal hair and leg hair transplantation to this.
• c) Other Body Hair: Pubic and armpit hair, (genital area), back shoulder and leg hair: We do not perform hair transplantation from these body hairs in practice. Soft tissue hair is difficult to obtain and has a high loss rate. Genital shadow hairs can be used as donors for eyebrow transplantation. In hair transplantation from chest and other body hairs, Dr. Umar has achieved very successful results in leg hair transplantation in America.

How is Hair Transplantation Performed from Chest Hair?

In practice, there is not much difference between removing hair from the nape of the neck and chest hair. Local anesthesia is applied. Although very rare in the world, body hair removal has been performed under general anesthesia. We have not performed this clinically. We only perform body hair removal under local anesthesia. But there is a disadvantage here too.

Since the scalp has certain anatomical nerve points, the anesthesia process can be completed with much lower doses of local anesthesia. However, these anatomical points are not in the superficial areas in the chest area. Therefore, it is necessary to anesthetize each area to be harvested. Therefore, it is obvious that high doses of anesthesia will be needed to anesthetize a certain area to be selected as cm2. Therefore, the number of breast grafts that can be harvested per day will not be very high.

In body parts such as the chest and legs, the tension we call turgor is less than in the head area. For this reason, when taking from body parts such as the chest, legs and abdomen, the subcutaneous tissue is inflated with physiological serum. Otherwise, the grafts will be very difficult to remove and the possibility of damage to the roots increases. In addition, body hair is at most 3-4 mm deep. A person who is used to taking grafts from the scalp may have difficulty when taking from body hair and the loss rate in body roots may be high. In the cases where an experienced doctor takes grafts, the loss rate is much lower.

In our practices, we perform an average of 500-1500 grafts of chest hair a day. We do not find it appropriate to exceed 1500 breast grafts a day. If more chest hair is planned to be removed, it would be more appropriate to divide it into more than one day in terms of operation comfort and patient health. In addition, instead of numbing the entire chest area at once, it would be more logical to numb it by dividing it into squares.

If the aim is to harvest hair from the chest or other body parts, it is recommended to use Minoxidil for a certain period of time before the operation. The aim of this solution, which is applied topically, is to increase the anagen period of the hair in the target area.

After the anesthesia procedure, there is no difference between body hair extraction and hair graft extraction. Extraction can be done with micromotor or manual method (FUE hair transplantation). Here, it is important to pay attention to the angles of the chest hair while extracting. Otherwise, the loss rate may be high. Chest hair is shorter than hair. Care should be taken not to go too deep while extracting. In addition, physiological serum can be applied under the skin to facilitate the extraction process. We get very good results with the Dhi hair transplantation technique in body hair transplantation. In addition, the shaving-free FUE method can be applied successfully when transplanting hair from body hair.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources Used

1- Body Hair Transplant by Follicular Unit Extraction: My Experience With 122 Patients Sanusi Umar, MD.Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Volume 36, Issue 10, November/December 2016, Pages 1101–1110, https://doi.org/10.1093/asj/sjw089 https://academic.oup.com/asj/article/36/10/1101/2664510