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i was wondering if a person like myself with DUPA had a strong beard would if be possible to transplant it to the scalp and if so how much coverage would i get?

Such a transplant (beard to scalp) would technically work, but to what master design is the question! The character of beard hair is different than scalp hair.

You’d need to come in for a consultation and let me look at the many variables. With your goals clearly defined, we can discuss not only using beard hair, but perhaps even leg, chest, arm, and pubic hair as well. I generally do not recommend body hair transplants, but in a case of DUPA (diffuse unpatterned alopecia), things are different. Generally though, the hair of DUPA patients is so thin that you may not get what you need from other body parts.

Dr. Rassman,

You mentioned a couple of weeks ago that with Follicular Unit Extraction Enhanced (FUE2) that you should be able to successfully transplant body hair. When do you expect to experiment with this type of body hair procedure?

Thanks

When a patient comes in and requests it, I will test biopsy him with the FUE² first. No such patient has come forth yet.

Hi Dr.Rassman,
I see one of your recent post talks about transplanting leg hair to the chest. You mentioned also that you could transplant leghair to the scalp. Say you did a Fue2 procedure, coudln’t you reasonably get a LARGE amount of graphs using both legs if needed and the back of your head to fill in basically your entire head and then you could just have a shaved buzz cut for the rest of your life? I would not mind having to shave my head for the rest of my life for a fact as long as I know stubble would be up there!

I have discussed body hair transplants before (see posts about BHT). I would want to know why you felt that body hair was better than scalp hair. The growth success reflects the growth cycle and the sleep cycle of body and leg hairs such that far less than 90% growth occurs at any one time. Plus, the character of the two hairs (scalp and body) are quite different. And then, you’re saying you could make decisions about hair styling for the rest of your life. These are things you really need to consider.

Make an appointment with a competent and knowledgeable doctor if you are serious.

Hi,

I’m 42 y/o male.I have heard about harvesting body hair for the scalp, but what about harvesting body hair for the body? It seems to make sense as it is the same type of hair (I.e,. leg or back hair for the chest) but many websites say that bodyhair transplants come from the scalp and that the hair must be trimmed a few times a months. Is there a reason that they do not use body hair. I looked and could not find anything about this on your bog. Thanks

You can move your own hair from one place to another on your body. Yes, from your leg to your chest should work as well as from your leg to the scalp or the scalp to your leg. The leg hair is shorter and there is a 50% telogen phase for all hair follicles, which in the leg ranges from 3-6 months. If the anagen phase is comparable, it would mean that you get to show only about 50% of what you got at any one time, but I am skeptical of any numbers I see, so just remember that hairs on the leg are short and short lived (growth, that is).

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am almost 30 years old and have NEVER NEVER EVER grown a thick patch of hair under my underarms. I am really insecure about this and would love to know more information about my options for any type of procedure. This is very serious because me over anyalzing it everyday is affecting me. I am married and my wife does not care, but I do. I do not grow facial hair that much either but I am ok with that. I just would love to have a full patch of hair under both my underarms. It would be a dream of mine. Thanks again for reading.

Although not a procedure we would usually do, hair can absolutely be transplanted to your underarm (armpit) area. If we would use scalp hair for this type of procedure, it will have the characteristics of scalp hair. The good news is that the glands that come with it should not put out much perspiration so lack of deodorant shouldn’t be an issue. Pubic hair would work, but again it is different than scalp hair. I would want to assess your hair characteristics if we meet (as you indicated you are local to my Los Angeles office, this would be good use of your time).

The underarms normally have apocrine glands (producing the odor that drives women crazy). From Wikipedia — “These glands produce sweat that contain organic molecules (lipids and proteins) and pheromones. Mainly present on the face, in the armpits, and around the genital area, their activity is the main cause of sweat odor, due to the bacteria that break down the organic compounds in the sweat.”

You can call 800-NEW-HAIR or fill out our form to be contacted and we’ll setup a free consultation with myself or Dr Pak so the issue you’re having can be examined and a plan for getting your underarms hairier can be made.

I understand that a orchiectomy is an effective, though drastic, way of preventing baldness. I am thinking of having it done. Will the reduction of testosterone result in the loss of facial hair, i.e.- a beard?

Someone asked me a similar question a little over a year ago — here. It is an obviously extreme method of hair loss prevention, but I don’t think that you will find an ethical surgeon to remove your testicles just so you can manage your hair loss and lose your beard. Don’t take what I say here as gospel word for word.

(female) I am 70 years young and I would really like to grow my pubic hair which has almost disappeared. how can it be done

A hair transplant works nicely for pubic hair and age should not be a problem provided that the donor area is healthy. It will be taken from the scalp and you can make it as dense as you like. Pubic hair transplants are very common in Asia.

I saw a patient this week who had a flap surgery some years ago, leading him to develop a deep hatred for his surgeon. He explained that the surgeon’s lobby had two doors and two waiting areas — one for new patients and one for the established patients, to keep them separated in his office. When he went in for his first consultation, each time he wanted to ask a question, the doctor interrupted him and said, “No questions please.” He was told what he was going to have done and based upon some belief that this doctor had special skills, he accepted the doctor’s advice. On the day of the surgery the doctor’s patient segregation failed, and a previous patient of that doctor was able to warn him to not go through the procedure, adding, “You will regret it for life.” Although it scared him, he went through the process nevertheless and ended up a mess and by not heeding the warning, he now regrets it every day he looks in the mirror.

His flaps were disabling and he told me it made him feel like Eddie Munster (the character from the 60s TV series). When he complained to that doctor about the loss of hair along the sides and the huge scars in the back of the head and neck, his doctor seemed annoyed, but nevertheless suggested some balloon expanders for his head to create another flap in the front. When the balloon came out and the new flap was created for transfer, he saw the surgeon toss a huge amount of leftover hair into the garbage. He asked, “Why are you throwing out those hairs“, and the surgeon responded that the hair, “would not grow anyway, so no point in keeping it“.

He has since learned much about what he should expect from a doctor and now lives with a freaky set of problems that I will try to partly repair. I was amazed to hear his story about his surgeon and by only calling the surgeon arrogant, I am being courteous. Folks, please, if your doctor is unwilling to listen to you or answer your questions, consider choosing another doctor. Open dialog and a good doctor/patient relationship are very important. And as I’ve often said, ask the doctor to meet with past patients, not only to see their results live and in person, but also to get their take on the experience. Hopefully you can avoid this from ever happening to you.

I am a class 3A Norwood. (I saw Dr Pak, he’s great by the way.) About 3 months after a fairly invasive surgery, my hair started to fall out and did not stop until recently. I have just been told I need to have my tonsils surgically removed, but it is not an emergency. I am currently taking Propecia and have done so for a year. Should I expect more of the same 3 months after the tonsil surgery? Would there be any benefit to waiting on the surgery or having it sooner? Thank you.

Usually shock hair loss only occurs once, but while it is unlikely, a repeat bout of hair loss is possible. Take care of your medical problem and do not focus on your hair. If you need to have this other surgery, then do it.

This is for Dr.Rassman. You have done a great job having this blog for awareness and information but I was hoping if you could help me out or advise me regarding hair transplantation. I have already mentioned this a while ago to you that I didn’t see the 100% growth on my crown area because the Doctor i had done it from was just making money out of me. He didn’t inform me that my donor area is not sufficient to provide good follicles. Anyhow, i have seen your replies on BHT. As an east Asian (Pakistan) I have the genes of being hairy, my back,chest,abdominal areas are just hairy. And they are pretty dense. I guess this is my last chance because cloning is not even near. I am going to be married next year but i have told every one that my hairs are back because i didn’t want to be embarrassed. My only question to you is How much is BHT and please Dr. is there any way I can be your object,trial,experiment? i am student and facing the worst time of my life. Thought you may have something for me.

In my opinion, results of body hair transplants are not well documented. I appreciate your desperate cry for some solution, but sometimes the best advice a doctor can give is just by making the patient aware of limitations in medicine. Moreover, I don’t like to experiment on patients when I know the the technology and the results may well be very poor.