The science of hair transplantation has advanced tremendously in the last few years. Doctors now understand how to remove hair one at a time known as Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) from virtually any part of the body. This has created an interest in helping people who may not have enough of their own scalp hair for a full hair transplant. In these cases, hair can be used from the chest and transplanted to the top of the head. Chest hair has slightly different characteristics than head hair so, this technology is best used a thickening strategy. The best candidates for such a procedure are patients who may have had previous hair transplants and just want to thicken the transplant by putting chest hair in between healthy growing head hair.

The doctor and his staff take the hair from the chest (donor area) by removing each hair follicle, properly called a follicular unit, one at a time. Each follicular unit is taken out with a small punch. The advantage to this method is that the doctor does not actually have to make a cut in the donor area. The healing is faster and there is no need for stitches. This has led some doctors to say that there is no scar since there is no linear cut.