Hair Transplantation - History

Hair loss has plagued mankind for centuries and this has resulted in thousands of so-called "cures" to remedy the situation. In the 1700's, men wore long, curly powdered wigs to cover up their hair loss. These evolved over the years into today's high-priced hair systems that are detectable only to the trained eye. Unfortunately, these hair systems need prolonged and constant maintenance. They may be ideal solutions for completely bald people, but with regard to people with adequate donor hair, they are very expensive imitations of what can be achieved naturally with hair transplantation surgery.

No further progress has been made in the fight to stop balding. However, this has not prevented bald people from spending millions every year on countless so-called cures for hair loss restoration. As a result, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned claims by producers that they have a product that produces hair or stops hair loss, unless it has first passed stringent FDA examination. To date, there have been only two products which have been licensed by the FDA, namely PROPECIA and REGAINE.

In 1939 a Japanese dermatologist moved hair from the back of the head to areas of the face. Unfortunately, his work remained undiscovered due to the outbreak of World War II. In 1959, Dr Norman Orentreich, a New York dermatologist credited as the "father of modern hair-transplantation" developed the theory of donor dominance. This concept states that hair in certain areas of the head is genetically encoded not to shed and will retain its original growth and characteristics when transplanted to another part of the head. Dr Orentreich pioneered moving large plugs of skin which contained up to 20 hair follicles. This sometimes created an unnatural hairline characterised by a "corn-row" or "Barbie doll" appearance. This surgery was also highly painful and bloody and sometimes left significant, visible scarring. Other forms of surgical hair restoration, such as sewing flaps of hair-bearing skin onto the bald scalp and implantation of artificial hair into the scalp added to the overall bad impressions of hair transplantation and did not help with regard to successful hair loss solutions.

Fortunately, specialists in the field of hair restoration surgery were aware of these problems and were actively searching for better techniques to get more natural results. In the late 1980's, hair transplant surgeons started using smaller and smaller grafts. Today, grafts contain one to three hair follicles and are used in every transplant session. These tiny grafts give natural heads of hair, resulting in the patient looking good not only when the hair has just been brushed, but also when the wind is blowing or when the hair is wet. There is also minimal discomfort during and after the procedure. The era of modern hair transplant surgery has arrived at long last.