Body Hair Transplant By Bernard Arocha, MD on March 17, 2015

[caption id="attachment_516" align="aligncenter" width="477"] BHT tools: Harris skin scribe and dental syringe.[/caption]

Body Hair Transplant (BHT) is the harvesting of hair from a location where it is not wanted and subsequently transplanted to the scalp. The donor area in BHT is often the chest or back. The harvest of the donor is through the use of the Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) procedure. The characteristics of hair in these locations are different than scalp hair. The hair in the back and chest tends to be curlier and thicker than scalp hair. The growth phase or anagen phase last less than that of scalp hair, usually about 18 months. The hair characteristics of this back and chest hair render the hair suitable only as filler hair in the middle of the scalp. BHT is not suitable for hairline or crown because of the hair characteristics and shorter growth phase. BHT should only be used when donor is in limited supply, because hair from the permanent donor zone is best for hair restoration.

New research by Hwang and ET Al is indicating that over time, the donor dominance may be diminished and the transplanted hair may assume the characteristics of the receptive site.

[caption id="attachment_518" align="aligncenter" width="577"] First step of the three-step process, the follicle is scored using the 1mm milted punch.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_520" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Second step the scored follicle is blunt dissected using the Harris skin scribe.[/caption]