For a lot of guys, growing a beard isn’t as simple as avoiding a razor and letting nature take its course. Stubble doesn’t always grow uniformly on the face, resulting in patchy facial hair instead of a stylish beard.
Or, you may have inherited genes that make any type of beard growth practically impossible.
But just as you can transplant your own hair to the top of your head to tackle a receding hairline, you can also try a beard implant if your facial hair follicles aren’t cooperating.
A doctor will first need to evaluate your skin and hair to make sure you’re a good candidate, and then you’ll have to decide if it’s worth the expense.
Like any medical procedure, there’s not a 100 percent guarantee you’ll be happy with the results. Beard transplant scars are always a risk.
But if you can find a qualified provider, it may be worth at least investigating whether a few hours in a doctor’s office can provide a beard to last a lifetime.
What is a beard implant?
A beard transplant is just that: Hair is taken from one part of the body and transplanted to your jawline and wherever you want your beard to grow.
That sounds simple enough, but it’s a rather involved process. There are two main approaches a surgeon can take:
- Follicular unit extraction (FUE). This approach is done by harvesting complete follicular units one at a time from the donor area. FUE is less painful, which may explain why it’s the more commonly performed procedure
- Follicular unit transplantation (FUT). For this approach, a surgeon cuts a small strip of tissue from the back of the head and removes the hair follicles from that tissue.
A follicular unit is a small grouping of several hair follicles that may emerge through the skin through the same exit point.
Both procedures take anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 hair follicle grafts or more from the back of the head, usually level with your ears, or a little lower, and implant them on the face.
A graft is a hair follicle that’s transplanted.
What’s the procedure like?
Here’s an overview of the steps involved in the procedure:
Harvesting
Whether you’ve chosen to have a FUE or a FUT, your surgeon’s first step will be to shave the area on your head that’s being harvested.
This gives them a clearer view of the hair follicles. Before the harvesting begins, you’ll be given a local anesthetic, so you won’t feel the harvesting or the implantation.
Implantation
Once the follicles have been harvested from your head, the surgeon will inject a local anesthetic into the area of your face where the implants will be placed. Then, the surgeon will implant each follicle into your facial skin, shaping your new beard the way you and the doctor agreed on prior to surgery.
Recovery
You’ll need a day to recover from the beard implant surgery. Tiny crusts may form around each newly implanted hair follicle, but these should flake off within a few days.
After about a week to 10 days, you should be able to start shaving normally and trimming your new beard.
A word of warning, however: Your new beard hairs may fall out after 2 or 3 weeks. This is normal, and new hair should grow in to take their place.
Who’s a good candidate for this procedure?
Because hair follicles are harvested from the back of your head, it’s important that you have healthy hair follicles in this area.
This location tends to be among the last areas to go bald, so even if you’re starting to lose some hair on top, you probably still have healthy growth on the back of your head.
Your transplant surgeon will examine your scalp and determine if there are enough follicular units to transplant.
If there doesn’t appear to be enough hair follicles to harvest, your doctor may recommend alternative treatments.
How do you know that a beard implant is successful?
Regardless of the type of procedure performed, within 3 or 4 months, the transplanted hair follicles should be settled into place and growing.
You’ll know the beard implant was successful if, at 8 or 9 months, you have a full, healthy beard that you can treat as though it had been there all along.
While both FUE and FUT can produce natural-looking beards, FUT beards tend to be fuller.
This is because more follicles are usually harvested when a strip of skin is removed. So if your goal is a thicker-looking beard, consider FUT.
Beard transplant failure is rare and is usually the result of improper harvesting from the donor area. This is why it’s important and worth paying more to choose an experienced hair restoration surgeon.
Are there any precautions or side effects to be aware of?
After surgery, the harvested area on your head and the implanted area on your face will need special care. Both sites should be kept clean.
Home care instructions
Your doctor will give you home care instructions. These may include the use of antibiotic ointment for your scalp and face.
Some activities to avoid for at least the first several days include:
- swimming
- exposure to direct sunlight
- smoking
- using a sauna or hot tub
- strenuous physical activity, especially anything that’ll cause a sweat
- touching, rubbing, or scratching the harvested or implant areas
You may be advised to not wash your face for a few days or at least avoid scrubbing. Your skin will be sensitive and itchy, but to avoid irritation and infection, try to leave it alone.
Potential side effects
Your face and scalp may also experience the following side effects:
- swelling
- redness
- tightness
- numbness
- temporary scabs or crustiness
Scarring in the donor area is common, but often your natural hair growth will cover it up. FUE leaves many small, often-unnoticeable scars. FUT, however, leaves a long singular scar on the back of the head.
The implant areas on your face shouldn’t experience any scarring, but there will be some temporary scabs. If crustiness, redness, swelling, or irritation continues after a couple of weeks, be sure to tell your doctor.
