Beard is an important feature for men. It is a man’s make-up. And it is considered to be a symbol of masculinity in almost every culture. A lot of men take serious care of their beards, but sometimes, due to the genetic or external factors, a man’s beard can be uneven, or thin. And some men are unable to thicker beard or mustache. These are some of the reasons why a man wants to get a beard and mustache transplant. And getting beard and mustache transplant may boost one’s self confidence.
Beard and mustache transplants are done to thicken up the facial hair and performed on people who are experiencing facial hair loss. Doctors transplant the graft they take from the scalp and place them into the place where the beard is sparse and thin. It is a cosmetic surgery to change a man’s appearance. That kind of hair loss can be caused by different factors such as stress, trauma, burns and scars.
How Is Beard Transplantation Performed?
Doctor’s examination is the first thing to be done before the surgery. Doctors decide on which parts they will work on and they try to determine how many grafts will be used in surgery.
The doctors usually prefer Follicular Unit Extraction technique when performing beard and mustache transplant. First, hair roots are removed from the scalp, just like the FUE technique, and then doctors implant them into the facial area, but it can be rather hard, since face is a body part that is very muscular, it can cause bleeding. This implanting process is done with an implanter pen called CHOI which is used in DHI technique. This procedure is done by using local anesthesia.
The hair in patient’s scalp (back of the head) is very thick, that is why doctors perefer to take grafts from there, and its structure is also very similar to beard’s structure. The surgery lasts five to six hours. It takes about a couple of weeks for beard to grow and it takes nine months for it to fully grow. In first two weeks, the beard will fall out, but then it will start to grow again in third month. Fifth month after the surgery will be the month you are going to see the change, since everything that is done in surgery will become visible. And the eighth month following the surgery will show the final results.
Risks Of The Beard Hair Transplant
There are no serious risks or side effects, the surgery is almost pain-free, but there can be bleeding or infection or maybe a scar (but this is not common). Doctors should be very careful about the area they will work on, in order not to harm patient’s face and to get great results from the transplant surgery. And patients should look for hair centers and surgeons which they can trust and also trust their work, because face is a sensitive area, if anything bad happens to the face, the effects of it can be irreversible.
Who Is Eligible For A Beard And Mustache Transplant?
People who suffer from facial hair loss and who have uneven beard, or who experience regional facial hair loss (in mustache or goatee) or who wants to have a thick beard can get a beard transplant. But not everyone who wants to undergo is eligible for a beard and mustache transplant. Doctors decide who can have it and who cannot. Men who has healthy hair roots on their scalp that can be used as donor grafts in beard transplant surgery are suitable for this operation.
Recovery Period
After 2 days, patient needs to go to the doctor’s office and the doctor will clean the area. You will need to take a day off from work in this period. The healing process of the scalp takes ten to fifteen days, and the beard will start look like how it was before the surgery. Two weeks after the surgery, the hair that is transplanted will fall off, and then start to grow again. As well as other hair transplant types, patients need to avoid staying in the sun for at least a month or two. And also shaving is forbidden for a month. It is advised to wash the grafted area gently and with water not very cold or very hot. A patient should also avoid using perfumes and other stuff that can harm the area. One cannot drink alcoholic beverages and he can’t smoke for the 6 days following the surgery.
One should follow doctor’s instructions and use the creams and solutions doctor give to them. If patient does not follow the instructions, results can be bad and there may be scars left on patient’s face or the doctors may have to reoperate the patient which means the amount that will be paid by the patient is going to be doubled up. Nobody wants to pay for the same thing twice, so patients need to take good care of themselves.
How Much Does A Beard Transplant Cost?
The cost depends on how much root is going to be transplanted, but the average cost ranges from $3,000 to $7,000. Surgeon’s experience and skills also play a huge role on surgery’s cost. There is also an advantageous way to get a beard and mustache transplant, and it also applies to the other types of hair transplants.
There are a lot of hair centers that offers a hair transplant package at a reasonable cost. They welcome you at airport and book you a hotel to stay before, during and after the surgery. They also run every examination and do medical workups that you will need, like blood tests or tests that will determine whether you are a good candidate or not. They book hotels that are well known in that area and are centrally located. Hotels that they have an agreement with are usually five-star hotels, which shows that they care about your comfort.
Hair transplantation centers also covers the transfer expenses. Transportations and between hair transplantation center to the hotel or hair transplantation center to the airport all covered by these hair transplantation packages. The charges of medications, creams, solutions, and shampoos that will be used by the patient and the medications that will be used by doctors when operating the patient will also be covered by the hair transplantation center.
So, if you are a foreigner in that city or in that country and don’t know where to stay, or don’t know how to get to the hair transplantation center, this kind of package is just for you. And some of them even show you the city around and give you a tour and guidance service. They assign you a translator to make it easier for you to communicate with everyone in the hair transplantation center. When you are visiting the touristic places or shopping or talking with the doctor or nurses, you are going to need one.
Mustache Transplantation
The mustache is as important as beard for men. The lack of mustache makes a lot of men feel bad about themselves and their appearance, some of them lose their self-confidence. The hair loss in mustache area can result from burns or genetic factors, it has the same reasons as beard loss. Mustache transplant is the best and permanent solution for this.
Just like other types of hair transplantations, local anesthesia is used in this medical procedure. Follicular Unit Extraction technique is the best way to do mustache transplants.
A patient should protect the area from external factors. It is advised to shave the mustache after the first month following the surgery. Just like in beard transplant, try not to wash moustache with scented soap, shampoo, or creams, try to stay away from these kind of cosmetics for a month or two. It usually takes a year for mustache to finally grow and look very natural.
There are things that you have to be careful about. Before the surgery, do not eat anything that will hurt or disturb your stomach. Do not drink alcoholic and caffeinated beverages, because during the surgery, doctors will put you to sleep by giving local anesthesia to your veins. If you have a beard or a mustache, do not shave it, doctor will take care of it. Just like the other hair transplant types’ instructions, smoking is also forbidden a week before and after the surgery. If you have prescription medicines that you take on a regular basis, please consult to your doctor about it and if possible, give all the information about the medicines, like the names and the doses of the medicines. Because, again, if you don’t do that, doctors can give you the wrong type of anesthesia or an anesthesia that will interact with one of the medicines that you take, and it may have very consequences.
Recovery Process
Actually, there is no significant difference between beard transplant’s after-surgery instructions and this one since mustache transplant is a part of beard transplantation.
After the surgery, there may be a swelling around the area, but it is not a big deal, in this kind of operations, it is very normal. After 3 days, doctor clean the area and give patient some medications to take in order to heal fast. After two weeks, the swelling and the bleeding will be gone. After a month, mustache is going to fall off. Third month following the surgery will be the month that the mustache starts to grow again.
Cost Of Moustache Transplant
Its cost ranges from 3000$ to 7000$, but there are so many factors that will affect the fee setting. If you want to be operated by a well-known doctor who is very experienced in this kind of surgeries, the fee may be higher than expected. But there are packages that clinics offer to patients (like the ones mentioned in the sub title “How Much Does A Beard Transplant Cost?”) and these packages are more advantageous and reasonably priced.