In practice
Beard and moustache transplant in Tunisia
Creating or completing the beard, sideburns and moustache. Graft by graft, hair by hair, at the exact angle a beard grows.
A beard shows. It occupies the lower third of the face, it is the first thing someone looks at after the eyes, and it does not hide under a cap. That is what makes a patchy beard so hard to live with: the flaw sits in the middle of the face, permanently, and in every photograph.
Men who come to see us almost never ask for "more hair". They describe something else: a chin that stays bare while the cheeks fill in, a moustache that does not meet the beard, one side thicker than the other, an empty patch they have been hiding for ten years behind a three-day stubble they did not choose. The subject is asymmetry and irregularity, not quantity.
The starting point
Why a beard matters this much
Facial hair is a secondary sexual characteristic: it appears at puberty under the influence of androgens, like the voice breaking. That is why it is tied to masculinity in almost every culture, and why an absent or patchy beard is experienced as something other than a simple cosmetic flaw.
It also gives the face its structure. A beard draws a jawline, lengthens a receding chin, balances features. Many of the men who come to us first tried to compensate some other way, through hairstyle or the gym, before realising that what bothered them came down to a few square centimetres of skin.
Finally, it has become a matter of style one either owns or endures. Wearing a beard is ordinary today; being unable to wear one is much less so, and it is that gap that brings people to consult.
Indications
Who a beard transplant is for
The reasons are more varied than people think, and not all of them are cosmetic.
Filling in bare patches
The most common reason. A bare chin, hollow cheeks, an empty band along the jaw. The transplant completes what is missing while respecting the natural pattern of what already grows.
- Between 800 and 2,500 grafts depending on the areas
- A result in a single session in most cases
Creating an absent beard
Some men grow no facial hair at all, or so little that it does not show. Everything then has to be designed: the cheek line, the neck line, the junction between moustache and beard.
- Between 2,500 and 4,000 grafts
- Often in two sessions, a year apart
Joining moustache and beard
The junction between the moustache and the chin is often missing, which breaks the continuity and is noticed from a distance. It is a short procedure, with an effect far greater than the number of grafts used.
- Between 300 and 800 grafts
- Includes the sideburns when they are asked for
Covering a scar
Severe acne scarring, the sequel of an accident, the mark of surgery or a bite. Hairs placed in and around the scar make it invisible without touching the skin itself.
- Moderate density: scarred skin feeds grafts less well
- The scar must be mature, often a year on
Gender transition
Masculinising the face is a request we receive and treat like any other. Hormone therapy grows part of the beard; the transplant completes what it does not, and draws the intended shape.
- Well into hormone therapy, so the result can be judged on what is there
- The consultation is about the shape you want, first of all
From what age
A beard keeps thickening until around twenty-five, sometimes later. Operating at twenty means transplanting an area that might have filled in on its own, and spending capital for nothing.
- Rarely before twenty-four or twenty-five
- A year of watching is worth more than one session too many
The technique
What sets a beard transplant apart from a hair transplant
The method is the same; the demands are not. On a scalp, hairs grow close together, lie over one another and can be styled: an approximation is lost in the mass. On a face, each hair stands alone, is visible along its whole length, and there is nothing to hide a mistake behind.
Single-hair grafts, and nothing else along the edges
A beard hair emerges from the skin on its own. A two- or three-hair graft placed on a cheek produces a tuft: two hairs coming out of the same point, which nature does not do there. It is the flaw that gives a beard transplant away instantly, and it can only be undone by removing the grafts one by one.
The entire outline, along the cheeks, the neck and around the moustache, is therefore made exclusively of single-hair follicular units, selected under the microscope during the procedure. Two-hair grafts are used only in the body of the beard, where density absorbs them and where nobody can tell where a hair came from.
The angle of emergence, which changes every centimetre
This is the hardest part. On the scalp the angle changes slowly. On a face it changes from one area to the next and sometimes within a few centimetres: cheek hairs run almost flat downwards, jaw hairs point outwards, chin hairs drop vertically, and moustache hairs converge towards the middle of the lip and lie considerably flatter than anything else.
Every incision is therefore made at the exact inclination of the area it sits in, generally between fifteen and thirty degrees, against forty to sixty on a scalp. A hair placed too upright stands up, catches the light and never lies down, however it is trimmed.
Direction, which has to follow the flow
The angle says how high the hair emerges; direction says where it goes. On a face it follows flow lines that have to have been observed to be reproduced, and the surest reference remains what the patient already has: the existing hairs give the direction, and the new ones fall in behind them.
Lower density, deliberately
A natural beard is less dense than a head of hair: roughly thirty to forty units per square centimetre, against eighty on a young scalp. Packing them tighter does not produce a fine beard, it produces a beard that looks applied. Restraint is part of the work.
A design agreed before anything begins
The shape, the height of the cheek line and that of the neck line are drawn in pencil on your face, in front of a mirror, and discussed before the first incision. A cheek line set too high ages you; set too low it muddies the face. It is a decision taken together, and one that commits you afterwards.
What you will feel
Anaesthesia, and the question of pain
It is the first question asked in consultation, and the answer is reassuring: the procedure is not painful. It is carried out under local anaesthesia, you are awake, you talk, you listen to whatever you like, and you have lunch in the middle of the day.
The only sensitive moment is the very first injections, before the product takes effect. It lasts a few tens of seconds on each side, and it is comparable to anaesthesia at the dentist. Once the area is numb, all you feel is pressure and movement, not pain.
The face is then numbed by nerve blocks, which anaesthetises large territories in one go rather than multiplying injections. Light sedation can be offered to very anxious patients, in addition and never instead.
Afterwards, the discomfort is usually limited to tenderness and a feeling of tightness for two or three days, which paracetamol covers. Patients describe the next day as feeling like sunburn rather than like pain.
The timeline
From the day of the procedure to full regrowth
The shedding of the grafted hairs, around the third week, is the stage that worries every patient. It is normal and expected: the visible hair falls, the root stays. Here is the whole sequence.
The procedure
The grafts are in place. The area is red, slightly swollen, and small crusts form around each implanted hair.
The crusts come away
They come away on their own, helped by the gentle washing shown to you at the clinic. The redness fades within one to two weeks.
The grafted hairs shed
This is the stage that worries patients, and the most normal of all. The visible hair falls, the root stays and goes to rest. Nothing is lost.
Regrowth begins
The first hairs come through, fine and pale. They will thicken and take their final colour over the following months.
The shape appears
The intended shape appears. Density is not yet complete: some grafts are still behind, which is expected.
The result
The result is complete and is looked after like the rest. The final review takes place at fifteen months.
The procedure
How the day unfolds
The design, then preparation
The shape of the beard is drawn on your face and agreed with you in front of a mirror. The donor area, at the back of the head from ear to ear, is washed and trimmed. Local anaesthesia follows, on the scalp first, then on the face.
Extraction, one to three hours
Follicular units are harvested one by one with a micro-punch under a millimetre in diameter, then sorted under the microscope by the number of hairs they carry. That sorting governs everything else: it sets aside the single-hair grafts reserved for the outline.
Incisions, at the angle of each area
Recipient sites are opened one at a time, each at the inclination and in the direction of the area it sits in. It is the stage that demands the most attention, and the one that decides how natural the result looks.
Implantation, one to three hours
Grafts are placed with an implanter pen, graft by graft, respecting the planned density and the agreed design. Single-hair units go to the outline, two-hair units to the body of the beard.
Leaving, the same evening
You return to your hotel the same day, a few minutes away on foot. The next morning you come back to the clinic for the first wash and the check-up, where you are shown the routine to repeat at home.
Choosing where
Why have a beard transplant in Tunis
Tunisia is known for its prices. That is not the reason that should decide you, and it is not what sets this clinic apart.
One patient a day
This is the point that matters most, and the one no price replaces. Only one surgical patient is treated per day: there are no simultaneous procedures, and Dr Seffen stays in theatre from the drawing to the last graft.
Who does what
Dr Seffen draws the beard with you, performs the anaesthesia and the extraction, and creates every recipient site himself: on a beard, where each incision needs its own angle, that is what decides whether the result can be guessed at. He operates with his full-time surgical assistants, under his direct supervision.
A practice devoted to hair restoration
The clinic does nothing but hair restoration, and has done so for fifteen years. Beards are not a sideline added to a general cosmetic surgery offering.
A three-day stay
Two nights are enough. You arrive the day before, you are operated on the next day, you call back at the clinic the following morning for the first wash, and you leave. Transfers and the check-up are included.
Two hotels minutes away on foot
The Novotel Tunis Lac and the Adam Suites sit alongside the practice at Les Berges du Lac. Nothing to arrange on the morning of the procedure, no journey to repeat the next day, and the option of going back up to rest between moments of the day.
A price gap that has an explanation
The cost of living, overheads and salaries are lower than in Europe, for identical equipment and consumables. The gap does not come from an economy made on your procedure, and it never justifies choosing the lowest quote: that is almost always explained by what it leaves out.
The package
What is included
Always ask for this list in writing, whatever clinic you are considering. A low package price is usually explained by what it leaves out.
One patient a day, with Dr Seffen in theatre from start to finish
The pre-operative consultation and the drawing of your line
Local anaesthesia and all single-use instruments
Airport, hotel and return transfers
Lunch and a private rest room on the day
The first wash and the next-day check at the clinic
Follow-up by message and photographs throughout
The final review at fifteen months, included
Frequently asked
What you should know
Where do the implanted hairs come from?
From the back of the head, between the ears, as in a hair transplant. They are therefore scalp hairs, selected among the finest and placed one by one. They keep their original nature: they grow continuously and need trimming, whereas a beard hair stops by itself at a certain length.
On a beard worn short or trimmed regularly, the difference does not show. On a very long beard, the transplanted hairs grow faster than the rest, which a trimmer settles.
Will people be able to tell I have had a transplant?
Not if the outline is made of single-hair grafts and the angles have been respected. Those are the only two things that give a beard transplant away: tufts of two hairs from the same point, and hairs that stand up instead of lying down.
Once regrowth is complete, a transplanted hair cannot be told from an original one, even close up.
When can I shave again?
Trimming is possible from the forty-fifth day, without going onto the skin. Wet shaving with a blade waits for the third month: before that, pulling on a graft that is still fragile can dislodge it.
How long before I can go back to work?
Three to five days. Redness and small crusts are visible for a week to ten days, on the face and therefore hard to conceal. That is the real constraint of this procedure, and the period is worth planning for.
Does the transplant last?
In most patients, yes. The grafts come from the donor area at the back and sides of the scalp, where hair is relatively resistant to androgens, and they keep that property once moved: a transplanted beard is expected to last.
Can I have beard and hair transplanted at the same time?
It is possible, but rarely advisable: both areas draw on the same reserve, and splitting it between two objectives usually serves neither well. The consultation exists precisely to decide the priority.
Results
Before and after, beard transplant
Real cases from the clinic, photographed from the day of the procedure to the eighth month.
Have your case assessed
Send your photographs and receive a preliminary assessment and an estimated quote, prepared by Dr Seffen himself. Free, and without obligation.