Beard Transplant

The commonest reasons are patchiness on the cheeks, gaps that stop the beard connecting to the moustache, a thin or absent jawline edge, and areas where a scar has interrupted growth. We also treat beard loss from alopecia areata once it has been stable for a period.

It suits men who have waited, tried growing it out, and accepted that the density is not going to arrive on its own. If your beard is still filling in, and you are in your early twenties, we may suggest waiting rather than operating.

Mostly genetics and androgen sensitivity in the facial follicles, which is why beard density often runs in families and varies so much between men of the same age. It is not a deficiency and not something you have done wrong.

Other causes worth ruling out first include alopecia areata, which produces distinct round bald patches rather than diffuse thinness, scarring from injury or surgery, and occasionally thyroid or nutritional issues. We check for these at assessment, because a patch caused by active alopecia is not one to transplant into.

Follicular units are taken from the back of the scalp, where the hair is closest in character to beard hair, and placed individually into the beard area under local anaesthetic. Most cases need roughly 1,000 to 2,500 grafts depending on the area being filled.

We use DHI, the no-shave technique, as standard for beard work. Grafts are implanted directly through the existing beard without shaving it, which keeps the procedure discreet and lets us place each graft precisely between the hairs already there.

Angle is everything on the face. Beard hair emerges at a much sharper downward angle than scalp hair, and getting that wrong is what makes a transplanted beard look bristly or misdirected instead of natural.

A smaller session, up to 1,500 grafts, is £3,500 with Sapphire FUE or £4,200 with the no-shave DHI technique. Larger sessions are £4,450 and £5,150. Prices are fixed by package rather than counted per graft, so the figure agreed at consultation is what you pay.

A moustache-only transplant is priced separately at £1,500. Many patients combine the two, and we will tell you at assessment whether that is sensible for your donor supply.

Yes to both. Once grown in, transplanted beard hair is genuinely indistinguishable from the rest, because it is the same hair placed at the same angle. You can shave it, trim it, grow it long or shape it as you like.

Because the follicles come from the permanent zone of the scalp, they do not thin the way beard hair sometimes does, so the result holds long term.

Small crusts form around each graft and clear within about seven to ten days. Redness settles over a week or two. Most people return to desk work within three to five days, though the beard area is more visible than the scalp, so some plan a week off.

Do not shave the transplanted area until we clear you, usually around ten days to two weeks. The transplanted hairs shed in the first weeks, regrowth starts around three to four months, and the full beard is there by roughly nine to twelve months.