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Procedure guide · Hair
Sideburn TransplantA sideburn transplant rebuilds or creates the strip of hair in front of the ear, joining the scalp hairline to the beard. It is used for naturally absent sideburns, for loss after facelift surgery which displaces them, for scarring in the temple area, and in facial feminisation or masculinisation. Hair here is fine and lies almost flat against the skin, so single-hair grafts placed at acute angles are essential to a natural result.
A sideburn transplant rebuilds or creates the strip of hair in front of the ear that joins the scalp hairline to the beard. The graft numbers are small, typically 200 to 500 per side, but the effect on facial framing is out of proportion to the size of the procedure.
Four situations account for most cases. Naturally absent or sparse sideburns, which is simply how some faces are. Loss after a facelift, which pulls the skin backward and displaces or removes the sideburn. Scarring from injury or previous surgery in the temple area. And facial feminisation or masculinisation, where sideburn shape is part of the overall design.
The technical demands come from the location rather than the size. Sideburn hair is fine and lies almost flat, pointing downward and slightly back, so grafts must be placed nearly parallel to the skin. Upright grafts are conspicuous on a strip this defined, and there is nowhere for an error to hide.
Texture matters as much as angle and is more often neglected. Sideburn hair is naturally fine, so grafts need to be selected from a finer part of the donor rather than taken from wherever is convenient. Coarse hair transplanted into a sideburn looks wrong and is one of the commoner errors here.
Symmetry is the third demand. The two sides sit either side of a face and are compared directly in a way no scalp area is, so small differences in shape, height or density are noticed. Faces are naturally slightly asymmetric, so a surgeon may deliberately match your existing asymmetry rather than imposing symmetry, and that is worth discussing.
Post-facelift cases deserve separate consideration. A facelift moves the hairline backward, and the tissue involved has been operated on, so its blood supply is reduced and grafts grow less reliably than in unoperated skin. Most surgeons wait at least a year after the facelift for the tissue to settle and plan for a second session.
For feminisation the design tends toward a shorter, finer, more rounded sideburn and is usually planned alongside hairline work, since the two together do most of the facial framing. For masculinisation the goal is the opposite: longer, squarer, joining a fuller beard. The intent has to be explicit, because a sideburn shaped without reference to it simply looks like the wrong style.
The recovery is brief but the location creates a specific nuisance. The area in front of the ear is exactly where the arms of glasses sit and where a phone is held, and both must be avoided for the first week or so. Contact lenses and speakerphone are the usual workarounds, and it is more disruptive than it sounds for anyone who wears glasses daily.
Otherwise the pattern is familiar: crusts clear over about 10 days, redness lingers a little longer, the transplanted hairs shed at 2 to 4 weeks, regrowth begins at 3 to 4 months, and the result is judged at around a year.
The sideburn does more work in framing a face than its size suggests, which is why a procedure using a few hundred grafts can change how someone looks noticeably. It connects the scalp hairline to the beard, and an absent or displaced sideburn leaves a visible gap in that line.
Facelift displacement is the commonest reason patients seek it, and it is worth understanding why it happens. A facelift pulls skin backward, and if the sideburn sits within the skin being moved, it travels backward with it, ending up behind the ear or disappearing into the hairline.
Grafting into that area is harder than grafting virgin skin, because the tissue has been undermined and its blood supply reduced. Most surgeons wait at least a year for it to settle and plan on lower yield, with a second session as a realistic part of the plan rather than a contingency.
Texture selection is the detail most often neglected. Sideburn hair is naturally fine, and grafts taken from the coarser occipital scalp look wrong there however well they are angled. A surgeon should be selecting from a finer part of the donor, usually above and behind the ear, and should say so when asked.
Symmetry demands more attention here than almost anywhere else, because the two sides sit either side of a face and are compared directly. Faces are naturally asymmetric, so the goal is frequently to match your existing asymmetry rather than to impose symmetry, and that is worth agreeing explicitly beforehand.
For feminisation and masculinisation the sideburn is part of a larger design rather than an isolated feature. Feminising work tends toward a shorter, finer, rounder sideburn planned alongside hairline lowering or grafting; masculinising work toward a longer, squarer one joining a fuller beard. The intent has to be stated, because the same procedure produces opposite results.
Surgeons look for these points at the consultation.
A sideburn transplant suits adults with absent or sparse sideburns, sideburns displaced or lost after a facelift, scarring in the temple area, or those seeking facial feminisation or masculinisation, with adequate scalp donor density and stable scalp hair.
Reasons a good surgeon will ask you to wait or choose something else.
A sideburn transplant is avoided in unstable scalp hair loss where the donor is needed elsewhere, in insufficient donor density, in active scarring alopecia affecting the temples such as frontal fibrosing alopecia, in a history of keloid scarring, and in active skin conditions of the area.
Ask your surgeon which technique they recommend for you and why.
Fine single-hair grafts placed nearly flat, following the downward and slightly backward direction sideburn hair naturally takes.
Grafts used to rebuild a sideburn displaced or lost when a facelift moved the hairline, restoring the natural relationship to the ear.
The sideburn shaped to suit the intended outcome: shorter, finer and more rounded for feminisation, longer and squarer for masculinisation.
The sideburn treated as the junction between scalp hairline and beard, planned with both rather than in isolation.
Step by step, from arrival to discharge.
Before a sideburn transplant the surgeon establishes whether the aim is restoration, feminisation or masculinisation, since each implies a different shape.
Shape, height and density are planned for both sides at once, accounting for any natural facial asymmetry rather than imposing symmetry.
Grafts are taken from a finer part of the donor, since coarse hair looks wrong in a sideburn and texture cannot be changed afterwards.
Where a facelift caused the loss, the scarred tissue is assessed for blood supply and the patient warned that yield will be lower.
Grafts are placed nearly parallel to the skin, pointing downward and slightly back, which is what makes a sideburn lie flat.
The patient is advised to avoid glasses and phone contact on the area for the first week, which is the practical constraint here.
Frequencies follow published guidance; your personal risk depends on your health and the surgeon.
A sideburn transplant is a small operation that is judged unusually closely, because the sideburn is a defined strip framing the face and the two sides are compared directly. Small errors that would disappear on a cheek are conspicuous here: a shape that differs between sides, a density that looks drawn on, or hair that is coarser than sideburn hair should be. Selecting the finest available donor hairs and placing them almost flat is what makes the difference.
Where a sideburn transplant follows a facelift, which is one of its commonest uses, there is an additional constraint. A facelift displaces or removes the sideburn by moving the hairline backward, and the tissue involved has been operated on, so its blood supply is reduced and grafts grow less reliably. A surgeon should say in advance that two sessions may be needed, and should be working in tissue that has fully settled, usually at least a year after the facelift.
Transplanted hairs shed at 2 to 4 weeks, so the sideburn looks unchanged for several months before growth begins.
Sideburn hair lies almost flat and points downward and slightly back. Grafts placed upright after a sideburn transplant stand out on a small, defined strip.
Sideburn hair is naturally fine. Grafts taken from a coarse part of the donor look wrong here, so finer hairs should be selected deliberately.
Where a sideburn transplant follows a facelift, the tissue is scarred with a reduced blood supply, so yield is lower and a second session is often needed.
The two sides are closely compared in a way scalp areas are not, so small differences in shape or density are noticed.
Grafts come from the scalp, so a sideburn transplant spends donor hair that would otherwise be available for the head.
Inflamed spots around growing grafts in the months afterwards, usually settling without treatment.
A sideburn transplant is one of the shorter procedures in this category and the recovery is correspondingly brief, but the location creates a specific nuisance: the area in front of the ear is exactly where the arms of glasses sit and where a phone is held. Both need avoiding for the first week or so, which is more disruptive than it sounds for anyone who wears glasses all day.
Otherwise the pattern is familiar. Crusts clear over about 10 days, redness lingers a little longer, and most patients are presentable at around a week. The transplanted hairs shed at 2 to 4 weeks, regrowth begins at 3 to 4 months, and the result is judged at around a year. Where the work followed a facelift, growth may be patchier and a second session is often planned from the outset.
Days 1-3
Mild swelling in front of the ear and small crusts at each graft. Nothing may rub the area, including glasses arms and phone handsets.
Days 4-10
Crusts loosen with gentle washing and are usually gone by day 10. Redness persists a little longer. Most patients are presentable at around a week.
Weeks 2-4
The transplanted hairs fall out, which is expected. The sideburn looks as it did before surgery for several months.
Months 3-6
New hairs emerge fine and thicken over months. Trimming and shaping wait until growth is established.
Months 9-12
Shape, density and direction settle. A sideburn transplant is usually assessable at around 12 months.
A sideburn transplant restores the strip joining hairline to beard, which frames the face more than its size suggests.
Hair lies flat and fine, matching the natural texture where grafts were selected for it.
Both sides are planned together, though small differences in yield are common.
The result matures at around 12 months, with lower yield where the tissue was previously operated on.
A sideburn transplant uses only 200 to 500 grafts per side, so quoted alone it is among the least expensive procedures in this category.
It is usually priced as part of a larger beard or hairline plan rather than as a standalone booking, which generally produces a more coherent result as well as better value.
Where the loss followed a facelift, budget for a second session: scarred tissue yields less, and topping up at 12 months is common rather than exceptional.
Why quotes for the same procedure differ, so you can compare packages fairly.
Options to weigh before deciding, surgical and non-surgical.
Treating the sideburn as the junction between hairline and beard, planned with both, which gives continuity rather than a treated patch.
Where the beard is also being treated, planning the sideburn within it keeps density and direction flowing.
Allowing at least a year for operated tissue to settle, which improves yield and is worth the delay.
For minor sparseness, a different hairstyle or beard shape disguises a weak sideburn at no cost.
Ask the same questions at every consultation so you can compare answers.
Three main reasons. Naturally absent or very sparse sideburns, which is simply how some faces are. Loss after a facelift, which moves the hairline backward and displaces or removes the sideburn. And facial feminisation or masculinisation, where sideburn shape is part of the overall design.
Scarring from injury or previous surgery in the temple area is a fourth. In all of them the sideburn matters more to facial framing than its size suggests, which is why a relatively small graft count has a noticeable effect.
Usually 200 to 500 per side, depending on how much native hair exists and how large a sideburn is wanted. It is one of the smaller procedures in this category.
Where it is combined with hairline or beard work, the sideburn is planned as the junction between the two rather than counted separately, which generally produces a more coherent result than treating it in isolation.
Yes, and it is one of its commonest uses. A facelift pulls the skin backward, which can displace the sideburn behind its natural position or remove it altogether, leaving an obvious gap in front of the ear.
The tissue has been operated on, so blood supply is reduced and yield is lower than in unoperated skin. Most surgeons wait at least a year after the facelift for the tissue to settle and plan for the possibility of a second session.
A sideburn transplant should match your texture, if the surgeon selects for it. Sideburn hair is naturally fine, so grafts need to be taken from a finer part of the donor rather than whatever comes to hand.
Coarse hair transplanted into a sideburn looks wrong and is one of the commoner errors on this small, closely inspected area. It is worth asking how the surgeon selects grafts for texture rather than assuming it is automatic.
A sideburn transplant is frequently part of facial feminisation. A feminising design tends toward a shorter, finer, more rounded sideburn, and it is usually planned alongside hairline work, since the two together do most of the framing.
For masculinisation the goal is the opposite: a longer, squarer sideburn joining a fuller beard. Either way the design intent has to be explicit, because a sideburn shaped without reference to the goal simply looks like a sideburn in the wrong style.
A sideburn transplant shows first regrowth at 3 to 4 months and the final result at around 12, following the same pattern as any transplant. The hairs shed at 2 to 4 weeks first.
Because the graft count is small and the area defined, progress is easier to see here than on a scalp. Take photographs of each side in the same light and position, since asymmetry is the thing you are most likely to notice.
Glasses wait a week or so after a sideburn transplant, which catches people out. The arms sit exactly where the grafts are, and rubbing dislodges them before they are secure.
Contact lenses are the usual solution if you need correction. Holding a phone against the ear is the other thing to avoid, so use speakerphone or the other side for the first week.
Both sides of a sideburn transplant should be planned to match, but small differences in yield are common and the two sides are compared more closely than any other transplanted area because they are seen together.
A touch-up session at around 12 months to even out density is not unusual and is worth discussing beforehand. Faces are also naturally slightly asymmetric, so a surgeon may deliberately match your existing asymmetry rather than imposing symmetry.
A sideburn transplant uses scalp donor hair as usual, though the graft numbers are small so the cost is modest compared with beard or scalp work.
It is still worth raising your family history of balding. Where a patient is likely to need substantial scalp work later, even small facial sessions are worth counting into the overall plan.
Shaving around the area is usually allowed from around 10 days once crusts have cleared, using an electric shaver rather than a blade at first.
Shaping and trimming the sideburn itself waits until growth is established, generally 4 to 6 months, since trimming before then removes hairs that are still establishing and makes progress harder to judge.
The anaesthetic for a sideburn transplant is uncomfortable but less so than the upper lip, and they last a few minutes. The procedure itself is not painful and it is one of the shorter sessions in this category.
Afterwards, simple painkillers are usually enough. Mild swelling in front of the ear settles within a few days and there is no lasting discomfort.
Ask to see sideburn cases specifically, photographed from both sides at 12 months, and look at whether the hair lies flat and whether the two sides match in shape as well as density.
If your sideburn loss followed a facelift, ask how many post-facelift cases they have done, since grafting into operated tissue is a different proposition from grafting into virgin skin and yield expectations should be discussed honestly.
Because a facelift pulls skin backward, and if the sideburn sits within the skin being moved it travels with it, ending up behind the ear or disappearing into the hairline. It leaves a visible gap in the line from scalp to beard.
It is a recognised and fairly common consequence rather than a surgical error, and it is one of the main reasons sideburn grafting exists. Some facelift surgeons plan the incision specifically to avoid it.
A sideburn transplant after a facelift waits at least a year, so the tissue has settled and its blood supply has recovered. Grafting into recently undermined skin gives unpredictable results and risks disturbing the healing.
Expect lower yield than in virgin skin even after that wait, because the area has been operated on. Most surgeons plan a second session as a realistic part of the treatment rather than as a fallback.
From the finest available donor hair, usually above and behind the ear rather than the coarser occipital scalp, because sideburn hair is naturally fine and coarse hair looks wrong there.
It is worth asking how the surgeon selects, since it is easy to overlook on a small procedure. A sideburn built from thick hair reads as incorrect even when the angle and shape are right.
A sideburn transplant plans both sides together but small differences in yield are normal, and the two sides are compared more closely than any other transplanted area because they are seen together on one face.
Faces are also naturally asymmetric, so the goal is frequently to match your existing asymmetry rather than impose symmetry. Agreeing that explicitly beforehand avoids disappointment at a difference that was deliberate.
Glasses cannot be worn for the first week or so after a sideburn transplant. The arms rest exactly where the grafts are, and rubbing dislodges them before they are secure.
Contact lenses are the usual solution if you need correction. Holding a phone against that ear is the other thing to avoid, so use speakerphone or the other side for the first week.
A feminising sideburn is shorter, finer and more rounded, and it is planned alongside hairline work since the two together do most of the facial framing. A masculinising one is longer, squarer and joins a fuller beard.
The intent has to be stated explicitly, because the same procedure produces opposite results depending on the design. A surgeon experienced in facial feminisation will plan the sideburn as part of the hairline rather than separately.
For a defined gap, yes: a few hundred grafts, a short session and a noticeable effect on how the face is framed. It is one of the better value procedures in this category by effect per graft.
It is more often planned alongside hairline or beard work, which gives continuity across the whole line from scalp to jaw. Whether to combine depends on what else you want treated rather than on the sideburn itself.
A sideburn transplant takes 2 to 4 hours for both sides, since the graft numbers are small. It is one of the shorter sessions in this category and often done alongside other work rather than as a standalone booking.
Despite the short session the placement is slow and precise, because the hair is fine, the angle is almost flat and the two sides must match. Small procedures are not always quick ones.
Yes, and extending a short sideburn downward is a common request. Grafts are placed below the existing hair to lengthen the strip, following the same downward and slightly backward direction.
The design should account for what suits your face rather than a fashion, since a sideburn that is too long looks dated quickly and the hair is permanent. A surgeon should draw it and have you approve it first.
A sideburn transplant can camouflage previous scarring. Dot scars at the temple edge from punch extraction, or a scar from a facelift or injury, can be camouflaged by grafting into and around them.
Yield in previously operated tissue is lower than in virgin skin, so a second session is common. It is worth asking specifically whether the surgeon has done this in scarred tissue rather than only in untouched skin.
Yes. The follicles come from the scalp and grow continuously, so a transplanted sideburn needs trimming to stay at the length you want, in the same way a transplanted beard does.
Most men are trimming that area anyway, so it folds into an existing routine rather than adding one. It is worth knowing in advance rather than noticing at 6 months that the sideburn has kept growing.
Frequently, and it usually gives a better result than doing either alone, because the sideburn is the junction between hairline and beard and designing them together produces continuity.
The combined graft count is still modest compared with a full scalp session, so it rarely lengthens the day substantially. Ask for both to be drawn and approved together rather than separately.
A sideburn transplant does not look natural immediately, and the timeline is the same as any transplant. Crusting for about a week, then the hairs shed at 2 to 4 weeks and the area looks as it did before for several months.
Regrowth begins at 3 to 4 months and the result settles at around a year. Because the area is small and defined, progress is easier to track than on a scalp: photograph both sides in the same light every couple of months.
Expect after a sideburn transplant: mild swelling in front of the ear, small crusts at each graft, and a strong temptation to touch the area, which is exactly what must be avoided while grafts are not yet secure.
The specific nuisances are glasses and phones, both of which rest on the treated area. Switch to contact lenses and speakerphone for the first week, sleep without that side of your face against a pillow, and it settles quickly.
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