Barbe

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 anaesthetic, 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 anaesthetic 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.

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 beard 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.

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.