Hair Restoration, Hair Transplant, Hair Loss Treatment Clinic

Meta-Analysis of All Hair Transplant Survival Studies To Date

By Michael L Beehner, MD

International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery 19th annual scientific meeting

October 2011

Anchorage, Alaska

The following article was presented at the 19^th Annual International Society of Hair Restoration

Meta-Analysis of All Hair Transplant Survival Studies To Date

Michael Beehner, MD has practiced hair transplant surgery full-time since 1989 in Saratoga Springs, NY. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery and formerly the American Board of Family Practice. He sewed as president of the ABHRS in 2005, was co-editor of the Forum (2002-2005), received the Platinum Follicle Award in 1999 and the Manfred Lucas Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, along with four research grants from the ISHRS. He has written over 50 clinical articles on hair transplantation and has written several textbook chapters.

M.L. Beehner: None.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction:

The main purpose for this talk is to take an overall view of all studies to date on hair growth and survival in various size grafts. The great majority of these studies have been done with FU's, and these will be looked at with regard to both planting density and whether they are 1-hair, 2-hair, or 3-hair FU's. This talk will confine itself mainly with grafts planted without any undue stress factor present. If time permits, I will look at those as a group and make appropriate comments, comparing how various grafts did in the face of these stress factors.

This author has completed approximately 20 hair growth studies over the years of various types which will be included. Studies on FU growth by researchers such as Jung Chul Kim, Mel Mayer, Sharon Keene, Walter Unger, David Perez-Meza, William Reed, and Jennifer Martinek will be included.

Premise:

There is no one objective I am out to prove, other than to see if the trends found by other researchers are somewhat similar to the conclusions I have found in my own research. A number of conclusions I have reached over the years in my own research are the following:

·         Two-hair FU grafts survive better than one-hair FU grafts, and three-hair FU's likewise do better than two- hair FU's.

·         Multi-FU grafts ("mini-grafts") survive at a higher percentage than FU grafts

·         "Chubby" FU grafts result in more hairs being present than "skinny" or "skeletonized" FU grafts.

·         Stress-factors, such as drying, time-out-of-body, partial transection of the graft, graft handling trauma, and hydrogen peroxide result in decreased graft survival percentages.

·         FU grafts planted in the 30/cm2 range predictably survive with high percentages near 90-95%, while those in the 50/cm2 or above vary in various studies and are not as predictably good.

Discussion:

All of the raw numbers for "large" grafts, "mini-grafts," and FU grafts from all available studies will be aggregated and presented. The only ones that will be excluded will be those grafts from studies in which a stress factor was deliberately introduced into the study. With regards to FU grafts, where possible, these numbers will be presented separately and compared for FU grafts with one, two, and three hairs per graft.