HAIR TRANPLANTATION SURGERY – HOW IT ALL BEGAN?

Hair transplantation surgery is one of the most common cosmetic surgery that is performed in these days as hair loss has become an enraging problem in this 21st century. No one wants a patchy scalp or a shining bald in their late twenties or early thirties hence hair transplant in Kolkata has become very popular. But ever thought how it all started?

Way back in 1987, Menaham Hodara, an ottoman surgeon, successfully implanted hair on a patient, taking from the unaffected part of the scalp on a scar that was left by favus, a disease usually affects the scalp, but occurring occasionally on any part of the skin, even on the mucous membranes.

In the year 1939, Dr. Okuda first documented his surgical attempts to restore hair in burn victims. He used a “punch technique” to extract skin with hair cells and then implanted them in the scarred areas of the patient. After recovery hair continued to grow on those scarred areas.

In 1943, a Japanese dermatologist named Dr. Tamura refined hair transplantation surgery with finer grafts consisting of 2-3 hair strands, a process similar to the ones used today. But their efforts did not receive worldwide attention at the time, and the traumas of World War II kept their advances isolated for another two decades.

Later on in 1953 a Dermatologist from New York, Dr. Norman Orentreich while experimenting with free donor grafts with a patient suffering from male pattern baldness successfully implanted the hair grafts. Previously it was thought that the graft from the donor site will turn out to be same like the hair fell out when implanted in the recipient site. Dr. Orentreich demonstrated that the hair from the donor site are “donor dominant” and will act the same as it was supposed to act in its original position.

Advancing the theory of donor dominance, Walter.P.Unger defined the parameters of the “Safe Donor Zone” from which the most permanent hair follicles could be extracted for hair transplantation. As transplanted hair will only grow in its new site for as long as it would have in its original one, these parameters continue to serve as the fundamental foundation for hair follicle harvesting, whether by FUTor FUE.

In the next 20 years there was no development. Each and every experimentation failed and the end results turned out looking too artificial using the plug technique. Then in 1980’s the strip technique was introduced which replaced the plug technique.Carlos Uebel in Brazil popularized using large numbers of small grafts, while in the United States William Rassman began using thousands of “micrografts” in a single session.

The follicular unit transplant technique has evolved since and became much more refine and precise. Much lesser incisions are made along with more number of grafts are implanted in a single sitting. Surgeons have devoted much more time and attention to improve the technique considering the least incisions and discomforts to be made with the patients.

Currently there are two procedures that are used to transplant hair. FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) and FUT (Follicular Unit Transplant). In FUT a strip is extracted from the back of the head which is then dissected into individual graft which is them implanted in to the affected area. Whereas in case of FUE individual hair follicles to be removed from the donor area. They are transplanted to the balding area without causing any type of linear scar on the scalp.