History of Hair Transplantation

Modern hair transplantation techniques originated in 1930's Japan. Prior to this, some scalp flap transplants and free grafts were performed in the late 19th Century. The Japanese continued to develop their transplantation techniques particularly on damaged eyebrows and lashes until they were distracted by something of even greater importance- the outbreak of World War II.

Hair transplantation re-originated as a procedure in the 1950's, but this time it was in the United States. Dr. Norman Orentreich, a New York Dermatologist, started transplanting grafts at a small and experimental level. The procedure might have caught on earlier than this but most everyone was operating under the false assumption that transplanted hair was controlled by the recipient location and would soon fall out just like the original hairs. Of course we now know that just the opposite occurs, and it was Dr. Orentreich who first proved this to be the case.

The chronological development of the procedure proceeded like any average medical procedure. Incremental improvements and refinements were made. The procedure kept evolving to utilize smaller grafts and eventually led to what we commonly refer to as "plugs." Plugs may be very small but they are unnatural in appearance- not the goal of a hair transplant. Plug recipients usually ended up with hair that looked like a dolls head. Patients were losing their patience.

All this changed in late 1988. In 1988, several events of great historical significance took place: George H.W. Bush was elected the 41st president of the United States; the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan; Bobby McFerrin won three Grammy Awards for "Don't Worry, Be Happy;" and most importantly if you are going bald, Dr. Limmer of Texas carried out the first pure follicular unit transplant. He waited until 1991 until he was absolutely confident in the procedure and then published the results in Hair Transplant Forum International. This is considered to be the most significant event in hair transplantation after its initial creation.

Several years later, Drs. Bernstein and Rassman published a paper entitled, "Follicular Unit Transplantation". They described a technique whereby a highly natural appearance is achieved by only transplanting in follicular units- our naturally occurring clusters of 1-4 hairs. Dividing the donor skin into such small pieces was made possible by the application of something called microscopic dissection. The results of this micro-follicular hair transplantation are a nearly perfect natural hair appearance.

The history of hair transplantation continues to be written. Hair surgeons are refining existing techniques with the development of angle and orientation techniques. More grafts are getting placed per square inch. History becomes the future with the possible development of techniques such as hair cloning, replicants, and the potential genetic engineering and worldwide release of an anti-follicular virus that renders every one bald and the entire issue moot.