Body Hair Transplant Melbourne

Body Hair Transplant Surgery or “BHT” is a procedure where hair follicles are individually removed by a fine punch tool from different parts of the patient’s body instead of the back of the scalp.  For example, from the chest, back, arms, shoulders or legs, says Dr Rhett Bosnich (ABHRS qualified Hair Transplant Surgeon, Melbourne and Sydney).

It sounds unbelievable to those who have never heard of a hair transplant before, but according to Dr Bosnich, Owner and Principal Medical Director of Newin Institute Hair Restoration and Cosmetic Medicine, hair can be successfully moved from hairier areas of one’s body and implanted onto the head to thicken hair loss or conceal scars.

“I’ve had good success in using body hair to increase hair density on the scalp,” Dr Bosnich says. “It’s not for everyone. The key is in selecting the right patient and knowing when to say “NO”. The patient must have exhausted all other avenues for donor hair and trialled medication first. Body Hair Transplant is always the last resort. But, having said that, it certainly works in the right patients and they are quite happy with the results.”

Here’s what you need to be a good candidate for Body Hair Transplant Surgery:

1. Good numbers of hairs over your body

I bet you never thought you’d regret having laser hair removal to get those smooth legs, arms and torso! “In a nut shell – you need to be hairy,” Dr Bosnich jokes.“No, seriously. Having been a Laser Surgeon for many years I certainly appreciate and understand the desire to remove all traces of hair from your body in the name of beauty. Who, though, would have thought that those excess hairs could come in handy one day? Well they can for hair loss.”

Body Hair Transplant Surgery is labor-intensive work and is performed by a surgical harvesting method called “Follicular Unit Extraction” or “FUE”. Fine round punches are used to remove individual follicles from the body and implanted into the area of hair loss concern. “You don’t need to be asleep during this type of surgery, but you do need to be patient. You can be in the surgical theater for some hours during a single session, often in the same position, so it can be a little uncomfortable in that respect. While you can get up and walk around it does slow the process down if there are too many breaks,” he says, “However, we do give you sufficient pain medication and local anesthetic to make the procedure as comfortable as possible.”

2. A realistic attitude

A realistic expectation of results is a must, Dr Bosnich says. “Body hair transplant surgery is a proven successful hair loss treatment. However, you need to understand a number of things prior to having this procedure.”

Body hairs do not grow as long as scalp and have different characteristics to scalp hair. “We prefer not to rebuild a frontal hairline with body hair follicles because the textural characteristics of body hair can be vastly different to hair on the scalp. If placed in the hairline where everyone can see it, it may look somewhat unnatural and obvious that you’ve had a hair transplant procedure.”

“Body hair can be curlier and sometimes thinner in diameter. Many times it’s a different colour, too. That said, one can always dye their hair, but typically we use body hair to cover the scalp and lift the existing scalp hairs from underneath. This creates the illusion of volume,” says Dr Bosnich. “We can also successfully use body hair conceal wide scars from trauma or previous strip surgery.”

For more information about Body Hair Transplant in Melbourne or Sydney, call us for a personal consultation on 1300 360 764.