Goatee transplant, moustache or sideburns: one beard area, not the whole beard

Updated: 12 October 2026 — Dr Khalil El Cadhi, hair transplant surgeon · ISHRS Full Member · Djerba (Tunisia).

Yes, a single area of the beard can be transplanted on its own — the moustache, the goatee, the sideburns or a patch on the cheek — without touching the rest. A goatee transplant or a moustache transplant is a beard transplant with a reduced perimeter: the grafts are harvested by FUE from the back of the scalp, sorted into one- and two-hair units, then implanted at a very acute angle in the exact direction in which the hair of that area naturally grows. The number of grafts is not a standard figure: it depends on the surface to be covered, on the density already present and on the density being aimed for; it is set at the consultation, once the design has been drawn. The transplanted hairs shed between the second and the eighth week, regrow from the third or fourth month, and the result is assessed at twelve months. This article details the areas that can be transplanted in isolation, what determines the number of grafts, the donor area, the rules of direction and angle, the course of the procedure at the practice and the aftercare.

Which beard areas can be transplanted on their own?

Four requests come up again and again at the consultation, each with its own constraints.

• The moustache. It is the most exposed area of the face and the least tolerant of error: a two-millimetre asymmetry between the two halves of the upper lip is noticed at once, and the philtrum (the groove beneath the nose) is often the sparsest part, sometimes marked by an old scar. The hair there runs obliquely, downwards and outwards, at a very flat angle to the skin.
• The goatee. Lower lip and chin form the combination most often requested by patients who wear a goatee without full cheeks. The chin is naturally the densest area of the beard: a goatee transplant therefore has to reproduce a higher density than a cheek, with hairs that converge towards the tip of the chin.
• The sideburns. They bridge the hair of the temple and the beard of the cheek. The challenge is continuity: the same calibre, the same downward direction, with no visible break between native hair and transplanted hair.
• Cheek patches. A gap, a sparse zone or a scar from acne, a burn or surgery can be filled without redoing the whole cheek. The particular case of scars is covered in our article on beard transplantation on scars (in French).

In every case, transplanting an isolated area means blending it into the existing beard: the target area is filled in, but its edges are also worked so that the transition to the native hair stays invisible.

How many grafts for a moustache, a goatee or sideburns?

There is no “typical number” per area in the literature: the figure is calculated from three parameters measured at the design stage.

• The surface to be covered, in square centimetres, once the outline has been drawn and approved by the patient.
• The density already present and the target density, which are not the same everywhere: the chin and the upper lip call for more hairs per square centimetre than a cheek.
• The composition of the grafts. On the face, almost only one-hair units are implanted, with two-hair units as a second line; larger grafts give a tufted look. In a series of facial reconstructions published in 2021, single-hair grafts made up all of the moustache grafts and close to nine out of ten of the beard grafts (Noori et al.). The American surgeon Jeffrey Epstein, who reports more than seven hundred beard transplants, insists on a dissection that leaves as little skin as possible around these one- and two-hair grafts, a precondition for flat implantation and discreet healing.

In practice, the number of grafts is given to the patient after the consultation and the design, area by area, and it appears on the quote. To understand how this calculation is made and why the density of a transplanted beard cannot be compared with that of a native beard, read our article on grafts, density and the design of a beard transplant (in French).

Where do the grafts come from: the back of the scalp, the temples, or the beard itself?

The reference donor area is the back of the scalp, harvested by FUE: occipital hair is stable over time and its calibre is close to that of beard hair in most men. A 2021 review of facial hair transplantation retains occipital follicular unit extraction as the technique of choice, turning to the temple when additional grafts are needed (Patel et al.). This donor capital is the same one a future hair transplant would draw on: if baldness is progressing at the same time, the allocation is planned from the first consultation.

The beard itself is a donor area that has been studied. In 2025 a Chinese team published a two-step assessment grid to judge whether beard hairs can be harvested and to which area they can go: distribution, density, diameter and angle of emergence are measured, and a beard confined to the perioral region, too sparse, too fine or too flat is deemed unusable as a source (Zhao et al.). This grid is aimed first at the scalp, but it is a reminder of what matters if one considers redistributing hairs harvested under the chin or on the neck towards the moustache or a cheek: the decision is made case by case, on the density and angle of the submandibular area, never as a matter of principle.

Direction, angle and design: what makes a transplanted moustache credible

Three steps make the difference between a transplanted beard that gets noticed and one that does not.

• The angle. Beard hairs leave the skin very flat. The recipient incisions are therefore made at an acute angle, with the finest blades possible: this is one of the key aesthetic steps described by Epstein in his 2024 review, together with minimal graft dissection and the design.
• The direction. It changes from one area to the next and sometimes within a single area: downwards and outwards on the moustache, converging towards the tip of the chin on the goatee, vertical then slightly oblique on the sideburns. The marking, done before the anaesthesia, reproduces the direction of the neighbouring native hairs; on a completely bare area, it relies on the direction of the hair on the other side of the face or on the patient’s photographs.
• The design. An outline that is too sharp or too symmetrical gives the transplant away; the edge of a moustache or a goatee is deliberately irregular and the density decreases towards the periphery. The patient approves the design in the mirror before the first incision is made.

How the procedure unfolds at Dr El Cadhi’s practice

A partial beard transplant is performed under local anaesthesia, in a single session, and the patient goes home or back to the hotel the same day. Dr El Cadhi personally performs: consultation, marking, anaesthesia, FUE extraction, sapphire incisions and DHI implantation. His medical assistants intervene solely for post-incision extraction, sorting and trimming of the grafts under microscope, and insertion via the K.E.E.P. implanter into the incisions previously opened by the doctor. On the moustache and the philtrum, implantation is done hair by hair, the angle being checked on every graft.

Aftercare: crusts, shedding, regrowth, shaving

The aftercare of a partial beard transplant is that of a beard transplant, scaled to the treated area. Small crusts form around each implanted hair and fall off during the first or second week. Then comes the phase that worries patients most: the transplanted hairs shed. This is expected; on the scalp, the 2026 review of FUE complications places this transient shedding between the second and the eighth week, with regrowth starting around the third month (Romera de Blas et al.), and the mechanism is the same on the face. The follicle itself is in place: it enters a resting phase, then produces a new hair. Regrowth thickens between the fourth and the eighth month, and the result is assessed at twelve months. A second densification of the same area is possible, but only once that period has elapsed: the 2021 review cited above notes that a second session may be needed one year after the first to reach the desired density (Patel et al.).

Shaving and grooming do not resume straight away; the precise timetable is detailed in our article on the day-by-day aftercare of a beard transplant and shaving (in French). Once they have regrown, the transplanted hairs can be shaved, trimmed and grown out like any others.

When the answer is no, or not yet

• Active alopecia areata of the beard. Smooth, round, sometimes migrating patches are not transplanted while the disease is evolving: the transplanted follicle would suffer the same attack. The diagnosis and the options are described in our article on alopecia areata of the beard (in French).
• A sparse beard whose cause has not been established. Genetics, hormones or alopecia areata do not call for the same response; transplantation is the option when the cause is known and stable. Our article on the patchy beard details this sorting.
• A scar that is still inflamed or recently operated skin: we wait for it to mature.
• An expectation of density that the donor area cannot meet, or a design that does not match the morphology of the face. In that case, the consultation serves to redefine the goal, not to force it.

To find out more about this procedure as performed by Dr Khalil El Cadhi in Djerba, see the Beard Transplant page.

FAQ

Can only the moustache be transplanted?

Yes. The moustache can be transplanted on its own, with single-hair grafts harvested from the back of the scalp and implanted very flat, in an oblique direction downwards and outwards. It is the area that demands the greatest precision, because of its visibility and the frequency of asymmetries.

How many grafts does a goatee transplant take?

There is no standard figure: the number depends on the surface drawn, on the density already present and on the target density, which is higher on the chin than on a cheek. It is calculated after the design, at the consultation, and appears on the quote.

Does a partial beard transplant leave scars?

FUE harvesting leaves punch-sized dots at the back of the scalp, which fade and are hidden by the surrounding hair. On the face, the recipient micro-incisions heal within a few days; hairs implanted flat, as one- or two-hair units, are not meant to mark the skin. Skin prone to thick scarring is identified at the consultation.

When do the transplanted hairs regrow?

The implanted hairs shed between the second and the eighth week, which is expected, then regrow from the third or fourth month. Density settles in between the fourth and the eighth month and the result is assessed at twelve months.

Can a transplanted beard be shaved?

Yes, once regrowth is established: the transplanted hairs can be shaved, trimmed and grown out like native hairs. During the first weeks, shaving of the transplanted area follows a precise timetable given after the procedure.

Further reading

• Beard transplant in Djerba — the procedure page
• Beard transplant: is the result long-lasting? Regrowth, maintenance and densification
• Patchy beard: genetics, hormones or alopecia areata?
• Beard transplant: grafts, density, design (in French)
• Beard transplant: day-by-day aftercare and shaving (in French)
• Beard transplantation on scars (in French)
• Before / after results

About the author

Dr Khalil El Cadhi — hair transplant surgeon, ISHRS Full Member (directory verified on 29/07/2026), MBA Paris-Dauphine. He practises at his practice in the Dar El Hakim medical complex in Djerba (Tunisia) and personally performs every surgical step: consultation, marking, anaesthesia, FUE extraction, incisions and implantation.

Results depend on each patient’s individual profile. No result can be guaranteed. General information that does not replace a medical consultation; no firm quote is issued without a consultation.

Considering a moustache, goatee or sideburn transplant? Send three photos of the area (front, right profile, left profile): Dr El Cadhi replies personally, with a quote within 24 hours of receiving your photos. → Discuss your case on WhatsApp · Book a consultation

References

• Epstein JS. Facial Hair in Hair Restoration Surgery: Beard Transplantation and Beard-To-Scalp Hair Restoration. Facial Plast Surg Clin North Am 2024;32(3):409-416 — PMID 38936998 · DOI 10.1016/j.fsc.2024.02.005 (via PubMed) — experience review (more than 700 beard transplants): one- and two-hair grafts with minimal skin, acute-angle incisions in the right direction with the finest blades, aesthetic design.
• Zhao Y, Zhang J, Jiang B, Fan Z, Miao Y. Development of an Evaluation System to Classify Beard Donor Area for Hair Transplantation. Dermatol Surg 2025;51(9):882-886 — PMID 40323042 · DOI 10.1097/DSS.0000000000004662 (via PubMed) — two-step grid to assess the beard as a donor area (distribution, density, diameter, angle, curl, colour contrast) and its applications.
• Noori A, Rabiee M, Mehrabani D, Namazi MR. Head and Neck Restoration in Scar Alopecia: Hair Transplantation in Scalp, Eyebrows, Beard and Mustache. World J Plast Surg 2021;10(3):90-98 — PMID 34912672 · DOI 10.29252/wjps.10.3.90 (via PubMed) — 56 patients: single-hair grafts for all moustaches and the majority of beards.
• Patel V, Nolan IT, Card E, Morrison SD, Bared A. Facial Hair Transplantation for Transgender Patients: A Literature Review and Guidelines for Practice. Aesthet Surg J 2021;41(3):NP42-NP51 — PMID 33565575 · DOI 10.1093/asj/sjaa430 (via PubMed) — literature review of facial hair transplantation: occipital donor area by FUE, temple as a supplement, possible second densification session at one year.
• Romera de Blas C, Vega Díez D, Ricart Vayá JM, Gómez Zubiaur A. Complications in follicular unit excision hair transplantation: current evidence and practical approaches. Front Med (Lausanne) 2026;13:1750989 — PMID 41709896 · DOI 10.3389/fmed.2026.1750989 (via PubMed) — review: transient shedding of recipient-area hair between the 2nd and 8th week, regrowth around the 3rd month.