Some people believe that donor hair for hair transplant surgery comes from third party donors . This is not so. Donor harvesting is always carried out by using donor hair extracted your own head and scalp. With hair transplant surgery you are your own donor.
The donor area requires careful management in order to get this right. Your hair surgeon needs to make sure that the donor site is not depleted by over harvesting so that the hair remains full and natural in this area too.
So where are the safe donor areas for harvesting?
The best donor areas for hair transplant surgery have the thickest hair growth and density. Typically these safe donor areas are situated at the back of the head and on the sides of the scalpe e.g the temporal areas. Below the jawline is also a good site for men looking to improve their hair with hair transplant surgery.
If the hair is sparse in these areas your surgeon may look to other areas of your body as your donor site. Body hair can also be used such as from the chest, arms, legs, back, stomach and even the pubic area. However this will depend upon the individual and although body hair can be suitable in some cases, it does not work for everyone.
Hair transplant surgery is mainly carried out using donor hair from the head or beard area.
What happens to the donor area after hair transplant?
Following surgery your donor area may look red and inflamed. You will be left with some pinpoint scarring from the follicle extraction. This will quickly fade within a few days.
Because the surgeon will be careful to spread out the extraction over the donor area, there will not be any resulting hair loss from your donor area. The hair will soon grow back with no noticeable difference following harvesting.
So let’s take a look at some facts about hair
The average head has around 100,000 hair follicles. The beard area has around 30,000 follicles with the greatest concentration on the upper lip and the chin. This means that you have plenty of hair follicles to use as your donor hair.
On average you need between 2500-3000 grafts for half a head of hair (hairline to midscalp). Approximately you need anything between 1000 – 2000 grafts for a receding hair line and about 1500-2000 grafts for the crown.
Managing the donor site
The donor site needs to be carefully managed as over harvesting could lead to visible thinning in the donor area. Howeveras your hair transplant surgery does not require a sizable proportion of your available hair, you are unlikely to notice much difference before and after.
Following surgery you do need to take care of the donor site. It needs to be kept clean and free from infection. However as complications are extremely rare most people do not experience any issues.
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