Transplanting Hair from Armpit and Pubic Areas to Scalp?
Q:
I am 65 with 2 hair transplant surgery in the past. I ran out of donor hair and I was told I don’t have much more hair for my crown area. Is it possible to use armpit hair and pubic hair for hair transplant on to my crown? Is it going to be a high rate of transection for hair from those areas because of the curly hair there?
A:
The best option is always transplanting hair from scalp to scalp. Scalp hair is the most economical in terms of the number of hair that can stay and grow at any given time. Because of efficiency of hair on the back of the scalp (donor hair), we hardly ever use body hair transplant including armpit (axillary) or pubic hair, but hair from those areas could be used in some conditions such as violated donor areas from old technique surgeries leaving not much donor hair to work with, in presence of large balding area. Body hair transplant, as we discussed before is not a good substitute for scalp hair transplant, because of of the difference in hair growth cycle in those areas as long sleep phase (telogen) and short growth phase (anagen). There are some new studies indicating that body hair may change its trait in favor of recipient area (grow for a longer period of time thus become longer), but it cannot completely become scalp hair.
Body hair transplant with pubic and armpit hair in particular has its own problems. Body hairs have different characteristics from scalp hair. They are limited in numbers and should be reserved for the cases that no other alternatives are available. As we mentioned before, in cases of severely diminished donor hair, body hair could be an alternative to scalp hair. Body hair could be conveniently obtained with FUE techniques. Patient needs to be tested before the procedures with FOX test. If patient is FOX positive, it means that the hair could be harvested for the actual procedure with no trouble.