Can Hair Transplant Be Done With Someone Else's Hair?

Hair transplant is a safe and permanent way to restore lost hair from the temples and crown using hair follicles borrowed from the sides and the back of the head. As per reporting by The Hair Society, 35 million men and 21 million women are suffering from alopecia worldwide. Over 650,000 of these people opt for hair transplants as the most effective treatment option annually. At this rate, it is estimated that every 13th man in the world will undergo a hair transplant at one point in his life.

Hair transplants are a very common technique used for permanent hair restoration. Advanced hair transplant methods such as follicular unit extraction, follicular unit micrografting, follicular unit transplantation have resulted in hair transplantation becoming almost undetectable and hence a viable option for individuals suffering from hair loss.

As of medical science’s current methods, hair transplants can be performed only by using hair that is dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-resistant hair. This involves transplanting hair from the back of the scalp to the balding areas.

Possible Hair Transplant Methods

Hair transplants can be performed by a few methods, these include clinically safe and internationally approved methods such as Follicular Unit Strip Surgery (FUSS), Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), and Scalp Reduction.

1. Follicolar Unit Strip Surgery
   This method involves taking out a strip of follicles from a donor area, typically the back of the head, and then transplanting the follicular strip to the recipient area. Follicular unit strip surgery is beneficial in cases of average and extreme balding as it allows a large number of hair follicles to be transplanted to the recipient area. Some of the side effects of this method include scarring, swelling, unnatural-looking, and this hair, and others. However, this method is by far the most effective for people suffering from advanced stages of baldness.
2. Follicular Unit Extraction
   Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) involves transplanting each follicle one after another from the donor to the recipient area. FUE is more common today as techniques have gotten better, and the recovery time is also less. Some of the benefits include less discomfort after and during surgery, no significant scarring can be applied to the hair from other parts of the body as well, and can be used for individuals with low hair density as well.
3. Scalp Reduction
   This is an older method and is rarely used nowadays. Here, the balding area is surgically removed, and the follicle-rich scalp area is stretched to cover the balding spot. This is an extremely costly procedure and comes with a variety of side effects and problems. Since the scalp is stretched to cover up the removed bald area, the scalp gets tightened, which could eventually lead to more hair fall due to the loosening of follicles.
4. Follicular Unit Micrografting
   In follicular unit grafting, skin grafts are magnified and trimmed. The accuracy of this technique is higher as skin grafts are done under magnification and a large number of follicles can be transplanted at a time. Up to 2000 follicles can be transplanted in one grafting session. The transplanted follicular unit grafts are no different from the natural hair in the surrounding areas. Some of the benefits of follicular unit skin grafting are completely natural-looking hair, faster recovery, and less number of sessions overall.

Is it Possible to Use Someone Else’s Hair for a Hair Transplant?

While hair transplants have become safer, faster, and require less of a recovery period than they did a decade ago, a regular question among people considering hair transplants is the possibility of using someone else’s hair to fill in the gaps. As theoretically logical as this may seem, it is not medically possible to use someone else’s hair to restore lost hair. The body’s immune system is programmed to only accept follicles belonging to the same body. Any other genetic material will be rejected by the immune system and may result in infection and loss of the transplanted follicles as well. In the following article, we will explore the other hurdles to this technique and look at some alternatives as well.

There are valid reasons for prospective hair transplant patients to believe that someone else’s hair can be used for the procedure; unfortunately,, our bodies are not designed to accept hair follicles from any other person. Just like complications with organ transplants, where the body may reject and attack the donor organ, the donor follicles may also be rejected by the immune system and result in the death of the transplanted follicles, and infections.

If someone else’s scalp tissue or hair or scalp tissue is transplanted, the body will by design develop an immune response and reject the unknown tissue and hair follicles. Apart from infections, other complications can arise, such as auto-immune disorders in extreme cases.

A typical organ transplant is an arduous process and requires months of preparation to suppress the body’s response to the foreign organ. These drugs are known as immunosuppressants. There are numerous side effects associated with these and have life-long risks attached to them. One may have to consume them for the rest of their life to prevent immune rejection. Hence, for a procedure like hair transplants, it is generally not recommended unless explicitly prescribed.

Despite all precautions and preparations, the procedure may still fail, and the recipient’s body can still reject the organ. The risks of immunosuppressive drugs far outweigh the benefits, especially in the case of hair transplants, making it medically inadvisable to use someone else’s donor hair for hair transplants.

However, it is possible to use DHT-resistant hair from other parts of your own body to replace lost hair. Medical scientists are exploring other probable sources of donor’s hair for hair transplant in regions such as the chest, auxiliary, leg, and even pubic hair. The cringe factor remains as these hair may not match your hair on the scalp.

Situations Where You Can Use Donor Hair for Hair Transplant

Even though for general individuals transplanting hair from another person’s head may be unviable. There are two special cases where hair can be transplanted between individuals. These include the case of identical twins whose genetic makeup is similar and in the case of a bone marrow transplant.

Identical Twins

It is possible to receive hair follicles from an identical twin. In this case, as the genetic material in both twins is identical, the body will not reject the transplanted follicles as foreign and can easily assimilate the twin’s follicles as its own.

After a Bone Marrow Transplant

If the bone marrow of a severely ill patient suffering from cancer gets damaged due to chemotherapy procedures, then a bone marrow replacement is required.
It involves replacing the blood and immune system of the patients. Research studies into dermatological surgeries found that an individual who has undergone a bone marrow transplant is eligible to receive hair follicles from the same person who donated bone marrow. Since the immune system does recognize the foreign genetic material due to the bone marrow transplant, it will accept the transplanted hair follicles as well.

These methods, however are novel and are only possible in rare cases where all of these extreme conditions are met.

Why Is It Risky to Transplant Hair From Another Person?

The transplant of hair follicles from one person to another is a risky procedure that can cause rejection of the donor follicles and cause adverse immune responses.

If you somehow end up using someone else’s donor hair for a hair transplant, your body will eventually develop an immune response to attack and reject the newly transplanted foreign tissue and hair. This is because the body considers anything with a different genetic makeup as to itself a threat and tries to neutralize it as soon as possible. This can result in infections and scars. Also, the scalp in the surrounding area will get damaged as the transplanted follicle dies off. Hence the procedure will become unsuccessful.

Finding The Right Hair Transplant Clinic

If you are looking to get a hair transplant procedure done and are located in any major metro city in India, it will be relatively easy to find an accredited and certified centre for your needs.

Let’s say you are looking for a hair transplant in Bangalore, then the first thing you can do is look up the authenticity of the clinic. Make sure the clinics you are checking for your hair transplant have the required licenses to run a hair transplant clinic in Bangalore. The clinic should have ample experience, at least over 10 years, and not be a new center that has no previous history. This research will help you gauge the experience of the doctors and other personnel employed by the clinic. You can also visit the websites of the hair transplant clinics in Bangalore to gather this data. A quick google search will also provide you with client reviews and other feedback.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a hair transplant in Bangalore, then a helpful suggestion to reduce your search would be to look at Advanced Hair Studio located at 50 Wellington Street, Opp. Koshy Bakery. Advanced Hair Studio is an international hair restoration and wellness studio serving over a million customers in over 20 countries.

To serve your hair transplant needs, Advanced Hair Studio offers the Strand-by-Strand Ultimate Follicular Unit Extraction procedure. This procedure can be performed within a few hours and you can go home the same day as well.

In addition to hair transplants, they also offer cosmetic hair restoration, hair extensions, laser hair therapy, and home hair fitness programs,,among other hair restorative treatments. Do visit Advanced Hair Studio for a thorough consultation and a plan of action to help you restore your hair.