Greetings,

Today I wold like to discuss the term Hair Transplant Or Hair Transfer. This term has become synonymous with the process of moving hair follicles from the donor zone on the scalp to areas of thinning or balding. The term Hair Transplant has always bothered me, as the term transplant is typically used to describe the donation of an organ from one individual to another. The hair taken from one individual will not grow if placed on another person unless both individuals are identical twins. Therefore, in actuality the term hair transplant is a misnomer as we are never taking hair from one person to transplant onto another. What we are actually performing is a hair transfer. We move hair follicles from the permanent donor zone on the back and sides (this is the hair that is immune to the process of genetic balding) to the areas of thinning. I would like to encourage others to begin to use the term hair transfer when discussing the process we perform as I believe it will help more people to understand what is involved in the process we routinely call hair transplant procedures.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, MD

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