Artificial Hair Implantation
Monday, April 13th, 2009
I just found this article on transplantation of artificial hair. Artificial or synthetic hair for the treatment of male pattern baldness or androgenetic alopecia has been tried in many countries, but has been unsuccessful at getting FDA approval in America for a variety of problems that it had. The result of the study published in Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology is very limited in terms of the number of participants and transplanted hair but it is worthy of mentioning in our hair restoration blog.
The article discusses the problems of the artificial hair implantation such as poor quality fiber, untrained operators, and inadequate techniques. However, the paper aims to establish safety and efficacy of a new artificial copolyamide fiber implantation in male patterned baldness or androgenetic alopecia.
In the study, ten healthy adults with androgenetic alopecia who had failed prior conventional therapies such as medical or surgical hair restoration were implanted with copolyamide fiber and were followed for a minimum of 3 years. Implantation consisted of 100 test fibers followed by subsequent sessions of up to 500 fibers every 4-6 weeks to achieve a density of 20-40 fibers per cm(2).
The techniques of implantation and follow-ups maintained a strict adherence to schedule. In this study 10,000 fibers were implanted with a mean of 1000 fibers per patient. With the exception of one patient, implantation was found to be safe, aesthetically pleasing, and psychologically rewarding to its recipients. Sebum deposition and temporary pitting at entry point of most fibers were universal. Recurrent mild folliculitis occurred in 30% of patients.
The other complications such as facial swelling, cellulitis, and severe scarring were not seen in this study. Between 15-20% of all transplanted fibers fell every year and maintenance of the procedure was shown to be necessary. In conclusion, the choice of fiber implantation technique and mandatory follow-up were deemed to be some of the important contributory factors towards positive results. Hair restoration with artificial hair might become more popular in the future for patients who lack good quality donor hair with extensive baldness. However, other studies on a larger number of patients need to be done before it can really prove to be safe for practical use.
