Hair Transplant Basics:
History
Transplantation of portions of hair-bearing skin from either animals
or humans has been done with varying degrees of success since the early
1800's. However, significant modern developments in hair transplantation
did not occur until the next century. In 1939, a Japanese dermatologist
named Okuda first described the punch technique of hair transplantation.
Dr. Okuda, working on severe burn patients, transplanted round grafts
of skin containing hair follicles from the permanent hair-bearing areas
into slightly smaller round openings in scarred areas of scalp. The grafts
continued to produce hair in their new locations. In 1943, another Japanese
dermatologist, Dr. Tamura, used 1-3 hair micrografts to restore female
pubic hair. These very small micro-grafts were obtained from a single
elliptical incision taken from the donor area. Interestingly, his techniques
were very similar to those we are using today. The work of both of these
physicians were published in Japanese medical journals, but their pioneering
procedures remained unknown to the Western World because of World War
II.
Hair transplantation was rediscovered by Dr. Norman Orentreich in New
York City in 1952, where he performed the first hair transplant for male
pattern alopecia. In 1959, Dr. Orentreich published his work in the Annals
of the New York Academy of Science (after several years of rejection by
a disbelieving medical community). In this publication he put forth his
theory of "donor dominance" and this began the "modern"
era of hair transplantation. Unfortunately, his work paralleled the "punch"
technique of Okuda, rather than the "micrograft" technique of
Tamura and so, by the 1960's, hair restoration surgery in the United States
was off and running, but in the wrong direction.
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