Body Hair Transplants (BHT), do they work?

I saw video clip about a hair transplant from chest to the head. The idea looks great since you don’t need to use donor hair from the head. How successful is this method?

Many people with very extensive hair loss and very limited donor have gotten excited about an experimental procedure in which hair follicles are extracted from various parts of the body, such as the chest, back and legs, and then transplanted to the balding areas of the head. This experimental procedure is typically refered to by its promoters as a Body Hair Transplant or BHT.

The hope has been that when these body hair follicles are transplanted to the scalp that they will take on the same characteristics (texture, width, color etc) of hair normally growing on the scalp.

Unfortunately this experimental hair transplant procedure is proving to be disappointing. Most patients have found that even more than a year after surgery the transplanted body hair is not growing successfully. Yet the few hair restoration physicians who charged patients large amounts of money for these unproven procedures continue to offer and promote them online.

Yet for many hair loss sufferers who have very limited donor hair available on their head, the desire to believe that BHT works is strong. The desire to believe in this procedure can work has often led people to ignore the disappointing evidence to date.

Personally I find it reprehensible and unethical that hair restoration physicians have taken large amounts of money from patients to perform such an unproven procedure. Essentially these hair transplant patients have been acting as paid guinea pigs, with the patient doing the paying.

Beware of the BHT hype, especially when it is coming from physicians or their online agents who want to sell it to you.

Pat, Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Hair Loss Learning Center

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