Pubic Hair Transplants: The Latest Korean Beauty Craze?

Sometimes it seems like we can't go more than a few days without hearing about celebrities having hair transplants; take Calum Best, for instance, who is about to undergo his third transplant. But now a new hair craze seems to be sweeping the nation, in Korea at least.

Solution to pubic atrichosis

Pubic hair transplants are the latest craze amongst Asian women in Korea - known for their advanced approach to beauty treatments - who undergo the procedure to combat a medical condition known as pubic atrichosis.

This rare condition, which most commonly affects Korean women with Mongolian heritage, is thought to affect around 10% of women in Korea, where pubic hair is seen as a sign of fertility and sexual health. The condition, also known as hypotrichosis, causes a total lack of pubic hair, leaving many Asian women feeling under-confident and stressed. The only available treatment for pubic atrichosis is hair transplant surgery. The surgical procedure costs around £1,250 and takes between two and four hours.

Growing trend

This new trend is taking off across the country, with rising numbers of women undergoing pubic hair transplants; in fact, the number has been steadily rising since 2006. Figures released by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) revealed that between 2010 and 2012, the number of pubic hair transplants performed in Korea rose by 78%, from 324 in 2010 to 576 in 2012. These figures also revealed that more pubic hair, eyelash and eyebrow transplants are carried out in Asia than anywhere else in the world.

Health consequences

Whilst many of us may spend a fortune to remove hair, for those women who are unable to grow pubic hair, there can be health consequences. Pubic hair is designed to protect the female genitals from infection and irritation, and a lack of it can be detrimental to health, so it isn't just vanity spurring this surge of transplants.

Eastern craze

The surgery, which works in a similar way to a hair transplant, uses head hair from women which is transplanted to the pubic region. It looks unlikely that this craze will take off in Europe and the UK given the number of women affected by pubic atrichosis in these areas is thought to be far smaller than in Korea.

For women affected by pubic atrichosis, it seems like surgery is currently the only available option, but maybe in the future there may be other treatments designed to help regrow hair in the pubic region. At The Belgravia Centre we specialise in using effective pharmaceutical methods for treating hair loss that affects the scalp and cannot treat hair loss in other parts of the body. Whilst we are leaders in the treatment of hair loss conditions which affect the scalp, if you are experiencing any kind of unusual hair loss in other areas, it is a good idea to visit your GP.