How Much Is a Beard Transplant?

Beard transplants can be an ideal solution for men who are struggling to grow the beard that they desire. Often, lack of facial hair is down to genetics. Other reasons, however, include low testosterone, age and medical conditions. Furthermore, some men want beard implants to cover facial scaring and others want to fill the gaps in their naturally patchy growth. Whatever the reason, a beard transplant is an effective way of growing new facial hair. Certainly, if you or a loved one are considering beard restoration, the cost of a beard transplant is likely a primary consideration. So, how much is a beard transplant?

Factors Affecting Beard Transplant Costs

For a beard transplant, a specialist removes hair from a different part of the body and implants it into the face. Surprisingly, the procedure is relatively fast and most men experience little, if any, pain. Various factors influence the cost of a beard transplant, including:

Type of Beard Transplant Surgery

There are two main types of beard transplant surgeries for beard restoration: Follicular Unit Excision (FUE) and Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT).

During FUE procedures, the surgeon makes small cuts in the areas for hair removal and hair implantation. They then remove individual hairs, complete with the follicle, and implant them directly one by one into tiny holes in the face. Consequently, FUE beard transplants are usually more suitable for smaller treatment areas.

For FUT beard transplants, on the other hand, the surgeon similarly creates small implantation holes on the face but then cuts a small strip of tissue from the doner site and stitches up the resultant wound. They then carefully dissect the hair-covered tissue into smaller pieces containing a few follicles and graft these smaller sections onto the relevant parts of the face.

Additionally, some surgeons use a combination of these two techniques to ensure the best results.

Obviously, using the FUE method takes longer for beard transplants than the FUT procedure. Therefore, beard restoration costs are typically lower when using the FUT technique.

Number of Hair Grafts

Understandably, the price of a beard transplant increases with the number of hair grafts.

As a result, partial beard transplants, which may need just a couple of hundred hair grafts, will often, therefore, cost significantly less than the creation of full beard growth. To illustrate, if you want relatively small sparser areas filling in, for example down your sideburn area or on your cheeks, you can expect to pay less for hair implants than somebody who needs thousands of hair grafts to create a full beard.

Furthermore, your preferred style of beard will also impact the number of hair grafts needed and therefore the overall cost of your facial implant procedure.

Additionally, some people, especially those who require denser beard growth, may need follow-up grafts after their initial treatment sessions. Clinics may charge extra for transplant touch-ups, thus increasing the overall costs.

Clinic Charging Structure

Some beard transplant clinics bill per session while others charge according to the number of hair grafts. However, prices often work out similar, as longer sessions typically correspond with more grafts, but it’s important to fully understand the pricing structure used by your chosen clinic.

Clinic Location

Clinics have different rates for procedures, including facial implants. As expected, clinics located in larger cities, where the overall cost of living is high, are generally pricier than those situated in quieter suburban areas.  

As beard transplants are generally not covered by medical insurance, it’s becoming more common for people to travel to obtain lower prices. Sometimes, this might mean traveling overseas. For example, destinations such as Turkey, Poland, Hungary, Thailand and India are significantly more affordable for beard restoration procedures than in the United States. If you’re considering going abroad for any procedure, it’s important to factor in the costs of flight tickets and in-country transportation, hotels for pre- and post-surgery and any costs for beard transplant aftercare. Of course, you should also thoroughly research matters related to safety, credentials and results.

Bottom Line: How Much Is a Beard Transplant?  

With so many variables, it’s impossible to give a precise figure for the cost of a beard transplant. Indeed, the general cost per individual hair graft in the U.S. can start from $2 and go up to $15-plus. Resultantly, as a guide, partial beard transplants typically start from around $3,000. By comparison, for a full beard transplant costs can be in excess of $15,000. Nonetheless, despite the fairly steep costs, many men are happy with the overall results of a beard transplant.