Is It Safe To Do Hair Transplants Over Jaw Angle Implants?

Q: Dr. Eppley, It has been 6 weeks since my custom jaw angle implant and paranasal augmentation with you. Recovery has been smooth and have not experienced any problems. The pre-existing jaw muscle dehiscense from my prior jaw angle implants like we discussed is about the same prior to the wrap around jawline implant placement and has not gotten worse. 

Since I have more mandible length and height now my facial hair looks patchy. I am considering in the near future of getting a hair transplant done where the back of my head would be the donor site to fill in bald spots of hair in the inferior and posterior portion of the mandible angle. 

I looked up how hair transplants work and really thought about how they would make pin hole incisions on the recipient site to accommodate the donor hair. My only concern is that since that skin area where I have the dehiscence is thin (not having the masseter muscle there), I feel like during the poking process that the needle they would use would come in contact with the implant and would start some process of infection? How likely would that happen? Would the scar tissue encapsulating the implant make it unlikely? Is this something you have dealt with in the past? Thank you in advance. 

A: While I have not seen or been reported to about beard hair thinning after jaw angle implant augmentation, I do not personally have experience with hair transplantation in this area. But even without muscle coverage over the jaw angle implant, there is subcutaneous fat and a scar capsule that covers the implant, so I would not have concerns about the small slit that is made in the skin for the FUE insertion…which is actually made with a small blade as opposed to a needle.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana