Body hair transplantation is a procedure designed to restore hair most commonly to the chest and abdomen area, but can also be applied to the pubic hair, axilla, and any other area hair is desired, to both thicken the existing hair or to provide hair growth where there is none. The absence of hair could be due to genetics, prior electrolysis, laser hair removal, or even surgery scar repair, burns or other types of accidents. Some patients seek to have restored only a thin amount of coverage or filling-in of a limited area (i.e. central chest or pubic triangle), while others desire a thick chest and central abdomen area. For some of these cases where maximum density is desired, a second procedure may be necessary.

Another type of body hair transplant is actually when thesebody hairs are used as donor hairs to help fill in thinning or balding areas of the scalp. This FUE procedure is described in further detail below.

These are both procedures in which Dr. Epstein has been a leader, performing an average of three to four procedures weekly per week. Because of his reputation and unique experience, most patients travel in for a procedure.

A procedure typically involves the placement of 200 to as many as 3,400 or more one and two hair grafts, depending upon the desired density and the size of the areas to be covered. Performed under a mild oral sedative, the three- to eight-hour procedure is essentially painless, as is the recovery period. The only exception is when filling large areas of the chest, the anesthetizing process can be somewhat uncomfortable, therefore some patients choose to have it performed under intravenous sedation under the supervision of an anesthetist in one of our accredited procedure rooms. For the first five days after the procedure, tiny crusts are around each transplanted hair. By the second day, patients are able to travel home and resume normal activities without any sign of having had a procedure. Sutures that are placed in the donor area are dissolvable so there is no need to return to the office for removal. The transplanted hairs fall out at around two weeks, then start to regrow at three months, where they will continue to grow for a lifetime.

There are few risks with the procedure, and most are those associated with standard hair transplants. The donor site incision typically heals as a two mm or narrower incision, easily concealable with hair that is cut with anything longer than a razor with a #2 or #3 guard. Some patients choose to avoid a linear donor site incision altogether, preferring to have the grafts obtained by he follicular unit extraction technique.