Transplanting Someone Else’s Hair to Your Head

If one can transplant the face of another person, why can’t we transplant the hair from another person? Please read US plans first face transplant on BBC News for details about the face transplant.

You are referring to the face transplants that have been recently approved by the FDA. The answer is that a face transplant is like a cadaver kidney transplant. Some genetic matching helps, but anti-rejection drugs are essential. The issue is best exemplified by the old adage “Does the punishment fit the crime?” One can easily transplant most people’s own hair (an autotransplant) so that rejection of the hair is never an issue. If you transplant someone else’s hair, then you would have to use anti-rejection drugs to stop the body from rejecting the hair organs from the other person. These drugs are dangerous and in themselves have great risks associated with them. In the very deformed people, the benefits outweigh the risk. As your own hair is easier to use, there is little need or demand for transplanting someone else’s hair to your head. The few that are very, very bald, or those who have run out of donor hair after receiving far too many old type hair transplant procedures, are left without a solution for today’s focused world.