A Brief Look at Early Surgical Hair Loss Treatment Techniques

It was a welcome relief when scientists finally unlocked the hair loss mystery. It led to the development of more appropriate, systematic, and effective methods of fighting the course of hair loss. Desperate attempts to restore lost hair due to alopecia from the ancient civilizations until the turn of the 19th century had little to no help at all.

One of the oldest and rational approaches to hair loss is surgical hair loss treatment; and the first recorded initiative to bring hair restoration to a different level was in 1822 in Wurzburg, Germany. Dr. J. Dieffenbach investigated the idea of using hair, feathers, and skin in animals for auto-transplantation.

However, it was not until a hundred years later when Dr. Dieffenbach’s concept of hair transplantation was actually materialized. In 1939, Japanese dermatologist Dr. Okuda experimented on using small grafts to fix cosmetic problems concerning the scalp hair, eyebrows, and mustache. Using a strip containing permanent hair-bearing follicles, Dr. Okuda restored the affected area but noticed bad aesthetic results. The procedure left scars on the donor areas and thus noted that slightly smaller punches produce better aesthetic results.

From the success of his concept came the following surgical techniques which to some extent, however, were more adverse than therapeutic.

Read more A Brief Look at Early Surgical Hair Loss Treatment Techniques