Steps of beard and mustache implantation
Hair transplantation consists of five stages of planning, anesthesia, harvesting, preparation and implantation
1) Planning
We must first see that we need a few grafts to achieve the desired density. To do this, draw some hypothetical triangles or rectangles on your face and count the number of hairs in them. This way we can calculate how many grafts we need to reach the density you want.
In the next step, we have to check the hair bank The hair that is selected for beard and mustache implantation must have two characteristics:
- Be as thick as possible because beard and mustache hairs are usually thicker than scalp hair
- The follicular units on the head have between one and four hairs, but the follicular units of the beard and mustache have one or two hairs. So we have to try to choose the ones that have one or two hairs when harvesting the grafts.
With these two features in mind, we need to determine the best place to remove grafts in the hair bank.
2) Local anesthesia
General anesthesia is not required for the extraction and implantation of follicles, and both procedures can be performed under local anesthesia. The local anesthetic is injected into the hair bank and then into the recipient area (beard and mustache).
3) Removal of follicles from the hair bank
How to do the harvest depends on the method of implanting the beard and mustache If the FUT method is used, an incision is made in the back of the head and the skin and its follicles are removed in the form of a strip.
If the FIT method or other minimally invasive methods, the follicles are extracted individually or in granules. In these methods, using a tool called a punch, we make a hole in the skin and separate the follicle from the adjacent tissues The created hole is up to one millimeter thick. That is why you will not bleed and there is no need to sew.
4) Preparation of grafts
The stage of preparing grafts in beard and mustache implants requires great care and delicacy . The medical staff at this stage should prepare the follicular units containing one or two hairs using a microscope . Most of the time, when we remove a follicular unit from the hair bank, there is a little extra skin tissue around it. In facial hair transplantation, this extra tissue should be removed more obsessively than hair transplantation.
5) Implantation of grafts in beard and mustache areas
The top line of the beard should be applied in a way that resembles a natural beard That is, use single hair grafts and place the grafts scattered on the skin. For other places we try to create maximum density. It is important to place the follicles in the skin . For example, the beard hair should not sleep upwards.
Implantation of grafts in FUT method and other methods of beard and mustache implantation are not technically different. That is, in all methods, we make holes in the skin with the help of a punch and insert the grafts into them.
In newer methods such as micro FIT, we can use punches of different sizes. For example, we use 0.5 to 0.7 mm punches for single hair grafts and 0.7 to 0.8 mm punches for double hair grafts. When we are open in choosing the thickness of the punch, the results of beard and mustache implants will be more natural.