Donor Hair
Currently, the most common hair used for a hair transplant is the hair located at the back of the head in the area between both ears. This hair is resistant to the hormone called dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, that is responsible for hair loss on the top of the scalp. This form of hair loss is commonly known as pattern baldness or androgenic alopecia.
Some hair transplant surgeons have gone to other areas of the body to harvest donor hair. Areas like the chest, back, or neck have been common areas for some surgeons. We have never and probably will never use the hairs from any of these areas because we just feel that it does not look natural at all and will not compliment the design. We believe that using the hairs from other areas of the body will take away from the great final result of using only the hairs that are available from the traditional donor site: the head.
Can Donor Hair Be Taken From Someone Else?
Hair that is transplanted from one person to another would be rejected by the recipient’s body and would lead to many complications. Even if the patient were to take anti-rejection medication for the rest of their life, it would still have a fair share of complications. It might be possible to take the donor hair and use it for a transplant if it were transplanted between identical twins who have the exact same genetic makeup, but even that is just a theory and has never actually been tested. The risk of side effects from the medications that would be necessary to counteract the numerous risks of transplanted hair from another person far outweighs the benefits of trying it. Scientists, however, are currently researching possible ways for the donor hair of one person to be used as transplanted hairs in a different person without the hairs being rejected. These researchers are also working on a way to be able to take a single follicle and multiply it in a petri dish. Personally, I will wait for a while before practising this method to make sure that all of the results of the tests are good and everything is safe.
What Happens After The Donor Hair Has Been Extracted?
After the hairs have been harvested from the donor site, they are carefully counted and inspected to make sure that they are healthy grafts and will have a high take rate (meaning that they won’t be rejected). Once all of the grafts are inspected and counted, they are placed one at a time into the areas of baldness that are being restored.
What Makes Donor Hair The Best For Use In A Hair Transplant?
A person who has thick, coarse, curly hair that is at a high density in the donor area is the best patient for a hair transplant. That is because this type of hair takes up the most “real estate” on the scalp, and therefore it is not as necessary to harvest and use as much hair. If the patient also has a high density of hair available, it is even more likely that there will be no sign at all to the naked eye that any hair was even taken from the donor area.
