I noticed on True and Dorin's website that it states they now offer body hair transplantation. Does anyone know how long they have been doing this and how many cases they have done?

As far as I know, they only just started offering it, but I could be wrong.

Falc

I was fortunate enough to see one of their FUE patients about a year ago when I visited their clinic when he came in for a post-op check up. His donor area was impeccable, as was the recipient site. He had his entire donor area buzzed to no more than a #1 grade and I had to look very, very hard to find the smallest hint of any extraction sites.

I have never been one to be either a "cheerleader" or a "naysayer" to FUE. I believe that both strip and FUE have their appropriate place, when done correctly, and both are potential nightmares in the wrong hands. True & Dorin have never failed to impress me, though.

-Robert

Robert,

I believe he is talking about BHTs specifically.

Falc

I am Dr. True and Dorin's assistant and wanted to shed some light on this exciting topic. Dr. True performed his first body hair transplant in April of 2002. Harvesting from the body (primarily from the chest) via extraction has become routine in his practice. Harvesting from secondary sources is an excellent way to continue restoration on patients, who for whatever reason have become depleted in the primary source. Dr. True will soon be posting a detailed case study involving extensive FUE from the chest and abdomen.

Hello T&D jr. Thanks for clearing that up. I'd love to see the posted study and pictures. If I have a lot of one thing, it's chest and stomach hair . It's good God has a sense of humor to give me all that hair where it's not important and less on my head. BUT, and this question is for anyone...as I am ignorant when it comes to BHTs, but I was told originally by a salesman at another HT clinic when I was researching around for my first HT, that Body Hair is more like fur, because it only grows to a certain length, and therefore, cannot grow long like the rest of your hair. Is there any truth to this? It's obvious that this is true while it's on my chest, but when transplanted to my head...do the rules change? OR...is this true and if I did this, would have to keep my transplanted hair relatively short because the BH would not grow as long as the rest?

Thanks!

A True and Dorin Patient,

Falc

Both Dr. Woods and Dr. Cole reported that body hair transplanted to the scalp changes and grows longer and smoother that originally. Dr. True's observations seem to confirm this change. Moreover, he has been amazed to observe that chest hairs frequently do not shed and just continue growing post transplant. I recently spoke to a patient who expressed his interest in sharing his experience on the forum. I am definitely in favor of all of you hearing about this from a patient's perspective. Hopefully we will see something from him soon.

After having 8 hair transplant sessions and 1 scalp reduction from 1991 to 1996, I was not able to keep pace with the progression of my hair loss. By 2002, I had developed into class 6 male pattern baldness, and was interested in improving my situation.
I approached Dr. True in March 2002 about proceeding with treatment and he told me it would not be advisable to continue taking hair from the donor area of my head. The sides still had a small amount, but Dr. True preferred to leave that alone for now. I asked him if it would be possible to take hair from my chest where I had an abundant supply. He replied that it would be possible because my chest hair was of good color, texture and length for transplantation to my head mainly in the crown area. I decided to do this procedure as soon as possible, and in April of 2002, I underwent a procedure whereby a strip was harvested from the central part of my chest. Close to 350 grafts were prepared microscopically and transplanted to the crown area, where I had developed a large balding area. After the usual growing period, I had hair growing where there was almost total baldness. I was very pleased with the result and was surprised how well my scalp hair blended with my chest hair. You really couldn’t tell it came from my chest.
In July 2005, I returned for an evaluation and Dr. True explained to me that he could utilize a new method to harvest the hair follicles from my chest, one at a time. I was very encouraged. He also suggested harvesting a strip from the two sides to do the hairline. He told me I could have this done some time in September.
In September 2005, I underwent my second procedure and hair follicles were taken from my chest. Roughly, 450 follicular units were extracted and two small strips were taken from the two sides of my head, where there were still some hair available, providing almost 700 more grafts. About 1100 to 1200 grafts were used to connect the sides with the top and rebuild the hairline.
I returned for 5 more sessions over the next month or so. Nearly 2000 more follicular units were extracted from my chest and abdomen. These hairs were transplanted in few places that I needed more hair. One area was the scars in the back of my head from my previous hair transplant procedures years ago. Another area was the scar on my chest from the procedure in 2002. The rest were used to add density to my crown areas. The total number of grafts was over 3000.
The most amazing thing about this experience was how virtually painless it was. I did not take any painkillers at all. In addition, there were no scaring and stitches for this procedure. The other thing is the fact that transplanted chest hairs keep on growing after they are placed into the scalp. If I hadn’t had laser hair removal on my back, a while ago I would have had even more hair to donate to an area. Previously I thought I was in a hopeless situation.

JRA,

Sounds like quite an experience. What I'd be most interested in, is did all the Body hair that was transplanted on your head grow? Do you have any before/after pictures that you can share with us? Of course, I'm interested in the lack of scarring in the donor area, but I'm much more interested in whether or not the recipient area grew as expected. Many people on other forums have posted BHT experiences, but it seems very controvertial and many people have claimed that the Body hair has not grown.

Falc

Falceros,

If you read my story again, you will see that I said my first BHT for 350 grafts occurred in 2002. Those all grew just fine, otherwise I would have not continued the procedure. The second set of almost 2000 BHT was grafted to my crown area in Nov 2005. Therefore, you have to wait a year before seeing before and after pictures.
Because chest hair is thicker, one covers as much as two if not three regular hair. If it is in the crown area, nobody not even I can tell the difference.

JRA

JRA,

Sorry about that...that's what I get for reading fast and not paying a lot of attention. Glad to hear the first BHT grew nicely.

Falc

My experience is that body hair results in less yield than head hair. Head hair averages someting like 2.5 follicles per graft. Body hair averages closer to 1 follicle per graft. This is what is referred to as "density" (true density the way doctors refer to it). The more follicles you average per "Follicular grouping" (a.k.a. the true FU graft as this website explains it), the higher your donor density. (Everyone's folliclar "units" are about the same distance apart in the donor area. Some people mistakenly think density is a factor of distance, in the donor area... it's really the number of follicles per "Follicular family"). Because body hair grafts have less follicles per graft than scalp donor grafts, they do not cover as well as scalp donor grafts.

Also, body hair does grow somewhat longer on the scalp... about double in length. But it does not grow as long as scalp hair. Longer hair covers better than short hair.

For those reasons, in my opinion patients should anticipate needing double the number of grafts with body hair, that they would ordinarily need with head hair, just to get a similar result. Because body hair grafts are usually more expensive than head hair grafts, this can be a devastating blow to the wallet (or even totally out of the question for some people).

It sounds like this True patient has coarse body hair... his experiences sound different than mine. Patients should judge their own situations individually, as far as that goes. Thick coarse hair does cover better, and my body hair is not coarse.

In my opinion body hair is your last resort in dire repair situations where your regular donor supply is tapped out, and not for the average patients.