Body Hair Transplantation or BHT

BHT is the process of using the WAW system to excise the hair grafts from different parts of the body.

You may have heard some men joking about wishing they could have their abundant chest hair transplanted to their heads, or women talk about transplanting their leg hair to their thinning scalp hair. This has become a reality today!

When people have a traditional hair transplant performed, donor’s hair is usually transplanted from the back of the head to the front, mid-scalp or crown. That’s because thick hair at the back and sides of the head have not been affected by the genetic and hormonal hair loss process. This hair is harvested using either FUE or FUT strip surgery. However, what if a person doesn’t have donor hair on the back of their head for the physician to use?

Today there is another option – body hair transplantation. While FUT strip surgery won’t work for this technique, the manual or WAW FUE method or any motorized handheld device can be used to remove single follicular units with a motorized machine and extraction forceps. At Hair 4 Life, Dr. Kelemen is using the WAW system to excise the hair grafts from different parts of the body. The donor areas, in this case, can be beard, chest, back, armpits, arms, and legs, whichever is the best option for the patient.

Harvesting hair grafts from other parts of the body besides the back of the scalp is a much longer process due to these others areas being more sensitive and delicate. However, this method can be used when the back of the head is exhausted and the patient still needs more grafts for increased density, filling in a larger scar from a previous procedure, or covering the crown area. Because it is coarser, this hair isn’t usually transplanted to the frontal hairline. It is used to add thickness a little way behind the hairline or at the crown.

Body to scalp hair transplantation has gained huge recognition in the plastic surgery hair transplantation world. Although originally implemented in the 1990s, skilled physicians worldwide have only recently begun to regularly perform this procedure.

Although body to scalp hair transplantation is still not able to achieve as successful or predictable results as traditional scalp hair transplants, this is a good and sometimes the only option for patients with lower or thinner scalp hair supplies. For many years, patients with severe baldness were turned away from hair transplantation clinics but now there is finally a way to help restore hair growth even for those with severe baldness.

Thanks to WAW FUE technology, donor hair for the scalp can now be harvested from all over the body, including the chest, shoulders, beard, stomach, arms, and legs. Robotic hair transplants cannot be performed from the body at this time, but they may change in the near future.

This harvested body hair is usually utilized as “filler hair” along with scalp hair but in severe cases, it can be used independently. Although less predictable than traditional procedures, body-to scalp hair transplants have proven to be great options, which yield successful results for many patients suffering from less viable scalp hair.

• A great option for patients with severe baldness, including patients who are bald as a result of other procedures or an accident
• The FUE procedure is minimally invasive with minimal or no visible scars
• The transplant does not use scalpels, knives, staples, stitches, or other sutures
• There is a quick recovery time, and the donor site usually heals within a few days
• A great option for eyebrow, beard, mustache transplants
• A body hair transplant, or BHT, is a safe and effective solution for addressing hair loss almost anywhere in the body. The procedure consists of grafting (harvesting) hair from regions like the beard, chest, back, or legs and transplanting them into specific areas to achieve more coverage and fuller hair densities.  BHT also more commonly refers to using body hairs- most commonly from the beard, but also possible in some cases from the chest and or back- to restore density to the scalp.  Once transplanted, these hairs will continue to grow similar to scalp hairs.
• The BHT hair transplant is an excellent usually adjuvant procedure to the traditional hair transplant procedure, where grafts are taken from the back of the head and transplanted onto another part of the body (typically, but not limited to the scalp). Unfortunately, a common issue with the traditional technique is that not all people have enough viable back-of-the-head hair to perform a successful transplant.
• When performed by a skilled physician, like Dr. Kelemen and her team at the Hair 4 Life, a body hair transplant can help you regain your self-confidence by creating a youthful, natural appearance you can feel proud of, be it a hairier chest, a fuller beard, scar camouflage, or a denser scalp.

Due to the vast differences in patient needs and donor hair availability, it is important that when considering a body-to scalp hair transplant procedure, you see the physician personally for an evaluation.  Contact Dr. Kelemen and her staff at Hair 4 Life to see if you are a candidate for this procedure.  Dr. Kelemen will be able to evaluate what the best option would be and would be able to give you the best idea of what you can expect from the procedure as far as results and expectations for the procedure.

Contact Us or call Hair 4 Life at (480) 525-4547 to schedule an appointment and get your free consultation.