Hair Transplant History

 

Hair Transplant History

 

Hair transplantation history started several decades ago in Japan, through research carried out by Japanese doctors. But the milestone of modern hair transplantation was marked in the ‘50s through Dr.Orentreich΄s scientific research. A brief historical overview will cover all the significant landmarks:

Hair transplant history.

 

1930

 

Japanese surgeon Sasagawa was the first to present the idea of hair follicles transplantation.

 

1939

 

The second hair transplantation attempt was made by the Japanese dermatologist Dr. Okuda, through his revolutionary – for the contemporary medical conditions – approach. He suggested and performed the auto-transplantation, using grafts, and setting a precedent to the way hair transplantation would be practiced in the following decades.
But due to the political and social circumstances of the era (World War II), there was no room for further research.


 

1943, 1953

 

Japanese doctors Tamura and Fujita made similar attempts as well.

 

1959

 

The American Dr. Norman Orentreich studies the transfer and implantation of hair from the back and sides of the scalp to the thinning areas. In 1952 he performs his first surgery. In 1959 he publishes his paper ‘’Autografts in Alopecias and other Selected Dermatological Conditions”. Dr. Orentreich΄s studies proved that transplanted hairs maintained their genetic resistance to hair loss –regardless of the area they where reimplanted- and continued to grow throughout a lifetime. This unique characteristic was the center of the theory of Donor Dominance, which is the foundation of modern hair transplantation and is described briefly as follows:

Transplanted hair follicles preserve their genetic resistance to hair loss and continue to grow at the recipient area throughout a lifetime“.

 

60’s-70’s

 

All hair transplantations performed concern grafts of quite big diameter, which consist of 20-30 hair follicles and therefore lead to unnatural results.

 

80’s

 

The size of the grafts is reduced to 12-20 hair follicles per graft, but of course even these results are not aesthetically satisfactory.
The innovative techniques of mini and micro grafting developed in 1981-1984, provided natural and fine aesthetic results.

 

90’s-00΄s

 

The scientific progress in hair transplantation techniques evolves and reaches its present method: Follicular Unit Transplantation, which reproduces the natural way of hair growth and thus provides an absolutely natural and successful aesthetic result. “Follicular Unit” is the term that describes the way hair grows in nature and reinforces the theory that hair transplantation should be performed using only naturally occurring groups of hairs.

 

We should underline that BERGMANN KORD was the first hair clinic to carry out a hair transplant procedure in Greece (micro transplantation).