When doing a FUE transplant, does the donor site hair grow back?

Question

I'm just interested in a full beard transplant and I am a little worried about the donor site not being able to grow back. Thanks in advance.

Jae Pak, MD · Answer

Donor hairs do not grow back.  This is true for any hair transplant surgery.  You are transferring hairs from one location (donor area) to another area (face/ beard area).

Jon E. Mendelsohn, MD, FACS · Answer

When hair is selected from the donor site, we are removing the actual follicular unit, which can have 1 to 4 hairs in the unit. Therefore a new hair will not manufacture itself once it is gone. However, with our Advanced SmartGraft System, we remove the follicular unit with suction, and remove from a large area as evenly as possible, so the patient will never miss the hair we borrow, if that makes since. For example if we just removed everything we need over a small area, that small area would be noticeably missing hair etc... 
So in summary, it really isn't an issue with our patients that the hair does not grow back from the donor site.
Hope this answer helped out.
Best of luck!

Shim Ching, MD · Answer

Dear HNLisland,With a properly done FUE procedure, especially if done with the ARTAS robot, there will be no signs that hair was taken from the donor site.Hair is harvested carefully with adequate spacing between harvest sites.  If this is done, there will be no sign that hair was taken from the donor site.  As the grafts have been taken out individually, there will be no scar.Aloha,Shim Ching, MD

Amir Yazdan, MD · Answer

Generally speaking, the extracted hair follicles do not grow back.  However, if you have good density in the donor region you definitely should not notice any type of thinning provided the FUE procedure is performed properly.

Epameinondas Bonaros, MD · Answer

Once removed, hair from the donor site will not grow back, regardless of the technique used.The donor area is finite and that is why carefully planning your hair transplant under the guidance of a qualified hair transplant physician is essential.

Dilan Fernando, MBBS · Answer

The hairs removed from your donor site to implant into your recipient site will not regrow in your donor site. The follicles have been removed specifically for the purpose of regrowth in your transplanted recipient zone. A well planned FUE surgery will aim to ensure you have good coverage and density of hair in your donor zone to conceal hairs that have been removed for your transplant.

Jeff Donovan, MD, PhD · Answer

No, the donor site hair does not grow back. Whatever is removed is gone forever.We have between 0 and 11,000 permanent donor hairs to remove from the back of the scalp. Your surgeon can guide you with a rough estimate of where in this spectrum you might be.

Jared Mallalieu, DO · Answer

The hair which is removed from the donor site will not grow back. Those follicles have been harvested and shifted to the new location (in your case the beard). Harvesting should be limited to 10-15% from the donor site depending on your donor site density (ie the amount of hair you have on the back of your head). It the harvest percent is kept between 10-15% it would be nearly impossible to tell anything was removed. Good luck and be well, Dr. M

Brian Goertz, MD (retired) · Answer

Once follicles have been removed by Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) they are gone from that area and do not regrow.

William Rassman, MD (retired) · Answer

Any hair that is transplanted from a donor area is moved elsewhere so it never grows back. That is the concept of hair transplantation in general, moving hair from a permanent area to an area that is not permanent (the balding area).

When doing a FUE transplant, does the donor site hair grow back?

Answers (12)

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