The Rise of the Beard Transplant

Some guys are graced with wicked beards. Other gents may not be totally happy with what the facial hair gods have bestowed upon them. When I grew my first beard in college, a friend of mine was chatting with me at a party and remarked how he envied my beard and wished he could grow one like mine, but claimed his was too patchy and thin. Well buddy, if you happen to be reading this, I know it’s been a few years and I missed your wedding because I was busy not wanting to go, but consider this a belated gift – there’s good news for you and any other lad in your position, because the global healthcare and medical networking organization Medigo is here to tell you that you may have an opportunity to change the landscape of your face.

I’m talking about beard transplants. That’s right. Beard transplants. It’s a thing, and it’s becoming a popular one at that. According to Medigo’s website, between 2004 and 2014, the number of worldwide beard transplant procedures has risen by 600%.

Judging by Medigo’s info graphic, there are plenty of reasons that a guy might consider something like a beard transplant if their face jacket isn’t quite coming in the way they’d prefer.

Their research shows that two thirds of women prefer a bearded look to a completely shaven one, and a staggering 82% of women agree that bearded men look more masculine. Medigo goes on to point out that on average, a completely shaven faced man will spend 139 days of his life shaving to keep his bare face smooth. That’s approximately one third of a year, or four months, or twice as long as my last relationship lasted.

The info graphic also points out that facial hair grows more during the summer, and when a man hasn’t had sex in a while. Well that explains why my beard has been growing so much lately. The summer, guys, I meant because of the summer. Ok, and the other thing. Which seems counter intuitive if two thirds of women are attracted to me because of my beard and 82% of them think I look masculine. Come on Medigo, what am I supposed to feel about this information?

Infographic courtesy of Medigo. To view the full graphic go here.

The transplant procedure ranges in price from $3,000 to $7,000 depending on how large of an area doctors need to fill in and work on, and with such a steadily growing number of men seeking out the procedure, it’s clear that beards are not just a fleeting fad or flavor of the week fashion trend. But what exactly is involved with a beard transplant? Medigo’s Online Marketing Manager Stefan Kingham sheds some light on the process.

“The doctor extracts hair follicles from the donor site and implants them elsewhere,” he says.

“Concerning beard transplants in particular, it’s very common for the donor site to be located at the side or back of the head, and there are two ways in which these hairs can be extracted: Through FUE (follicular hair extraction) or FUT (follicular unit transplant).”

Kingham goes on to explain the difference between these procedures.

“In an FUT, a strip of the scalp with hairs on it is taken from the back of the head. In an FUE on the other hand, individual follicular units are directly extracted from the scalp,” he says.

“An FUE is usually less visible than an FUT, as punch needles are used to extract the hair without damaging the rest of the donor area. As you can imagine though, the FUE method is more intensive and time-consuming for the doctor, but certainly preferable for the patient. And if the patient is bold, these follicular units can actually be taken from his chest.”