Hair Transplant Surgery History

History of Hair Transplant Surgery

Hair transplantation is generally regarded by the public as a procedure that has only been around for the last twenty years or so. While it is true that that this procedure has only gained notoriety to the general public since the late 70’s and early 80’s, the truth is that this procedure is actually almost 200 years old.

The very first hair transplant surgery is believed to have occurred in Germany in 1822, performed by a medical student who transplanted hair from his own scalp to his forearm. His purpose in doing so was to specifically ascertain whether it would even be possible for transplanted hair follicles to form a permanent adhesion and begin to grow once again. In total, 6 hair follicles were transplanted. Of those 6 follicles, 4 were not successful for various reasons including infection, however; 2 of the transplanted hairs held on and actually did begin to grow. Although the medical student continued to experiment with hair transplantation methods and procedures there was no real growth or belief in the feasibility of this process until the early 20^th century.

Although it was not widely known around the world at the time, the Japanese began experimenting with hair transplantation procedures as early as 1930. For almost two decades, a number of successful hair transplantation surgeries were conducted in Japan primarily for the purpose of transferring patches of skin and hair from healthy sites on the body and transplanting on other areas that were either damaged or disfigured due to the effects of war or other injuries. These methods were published widely in medical journals, however due to the escalating tensions between Western countries and Japan during the 1930’s and impact of the Japanese-U.S. relations following World War II, it would take several more years before a surgeon in the United States would begin to publish the possibilities of hair transplantation surgery. Even then, the extensive history of Japanese experimentation and progress in this field would not be known until the mid 1970’s.

In 1952, an American dermatologist, Norman Orentreich, began publishing articles describing how the procedure could be accomplished. Dr. Orentreich referred to theory behind this procedure as “donor dominance.” In his articles, Dr. Orentreich explained that when a hair follicle is transplanted from one location to another it is able to grow and fully function because it maintains its original traits and does not succumb to any damage present in the new location. It is believed that Dr. Orentreich may have been the first person to develop the idea of using this process for the purpose of replacing hair that is loss due to the effects of balding.

Fifty+ years later, these methods are known as follicular transplants and are the basis for many successful hair transplant procedures. Hair transplant surgery is very commonplace and many persons undergo this procedure on a daily basis. Since hair transplants first began to be used as a way to fight the effects of hair loss, the procedure has developed greatly and today physicians have been able to perfect the surgical procedures used.

While the first hair transplant surgeries were deemed to be a modern miracle by those suffering from hair loss and balding; the newly introduced procedures were not without their problems. When the procedures were first introduced, doctors tended to take much larger grafts from the donor site. During the early days of hair transplant surgery it was quite common for one session to involve the transplant of up to 300 grafts per session. Depending on the type and size of the graft this could have represented up to over 1,000 hairs in a single session. In the very first surgeries performed by Dr. Oreintreich, 4mm punch grafts were utilized. These first grafts were known as plugs, a term that is stille used today.

Over the period of the next two years or so, the patient might undergo several more grafting sessions in order to achieve the level of fullness and coverage they needed and desired. The round shape of the graft, the only shape there was at that particular time, did not lend itself to a natural appearance. In addition, it was difficult in the early days of hair transplant procedures to place the hair grafts so that the new hair would grow in the same direction as the original hair. Oftentimes the results of the procedures appeared to resemble more of a plugged doll’s head or cornrow. In later years, the patient’s appearance would grow even worse; particularly if he were to experience hair loss in other areas of the scalp. Many early hair transplant recipients noticed that they have very limited styling options due to the fact the ‘plug’s’ tended to stand up at different angles than the rest of the natural hair.

Furthermore, most early hair transplant surgeries could not be completed in a single session. As many as five or more surgical procedures might be required to finish the job. Given the fact that patients really need to wait several months in between surgeries, this meant that the process could last for a number of years. In that length of time, any number of things could happen that could prevent the patient from returning to finish the remaining sessions. If the patient was unable to have the remaining hair transplant sessions, he would more than likely endure the rest of his life with very tell-tell signs that he’d had ‘work’ done.

Unfortunately, in far too many cases the results of the surgery yielded results that looked worse than the patient’s original appearance prior to the procedure. Another significant problem with the early hair transplant procedures is that they would commonly leave open gaps between the transplants, mostly because they were placed in straight rows. Because of this, the hair was not able to grow in a manner that would cover the scars resulting from the surgery. Additonally, the earliest hair transplant procedures were not developed enough yet to able to be implemented on female patients. Overall, the early hair transplant procedures were tenuous at best.

Surprisingly, despite these problems, hair transplant surgeries continued to thrive throughout the Sixties and Seventies. As hair transplant procedures entered the early Eighties, however; more and more people began to desire better results. We were coming into an age when any number of things was possible, and so it seemed only natural that the process of hair transplantation surgery could be improved as well. About twenty-five years ago scientists discovered that hairs tend to grow in clumps. The clumps range in size from just two hairs growing together up to several growing together within the same cluster. This was an extremely important breakthrough in hair restoration procedures and the way surgeons began to handle surgeries for the purpose of restoring hair. Today these cluster or groups of hair are known as follicular units.

It was also at this time that doctors began experimenting with using smaller grafts in the hopes of producing better results. The smaller grafts that were created in the early Eighties, known as mini-grafts, are the basis on which today’s successful hair transplant procedures were formed.

Mini-grafts are still commonly used today, although there are actually five different types of grafts used by surgeons in today’s hair transplant procedures. Anyone considering hair transplant surgery should question their physician as to what type of graft they commonly use during their procedures.

Micro-grafts will contain only 1 to 2 hairs per each individual graft.

Mini-grafts contain only 2 to 4 hairs per each individual graft.

Slit grafts contain anywhere between 4 to 10 hairs per each individual graft.

Punch grafts normally contain anywhere from between 10 to 15 hairs within each graft.

Strip grafts contain anywhere between 30 to 40 hairs per each individual graft.

Next: Modern Hair Transplant Techniques