Hair Transplantation After Burn
The application of hair transplantation to the burn has opened a new era in the aesthetic repair of hair loss by providing tissue expansion, a large scalp area with acceptable hair density. However, the remnants of the alopecia area and visible scars still remain as aesthetic problems. Hair transplantation can be done after a burn.
Hair follicle transplantation promises a more natural result. Because in this procedure, the hair can be transplanted in their natural direction and the desired density can be obtained. In a study conducted in Korea, in 41 male and 21 female patients with burned scalp at the age of 3 years, the first repair was performed with extended flaps, and 5 of these patients had excellent results in 70%, good results in 29%, and poor results in only 1.6%. has been obtained.
Follicular unit transplantation has been shown to be highly successful in repairing unrepaired alopecia and scars, especially on the anterior hairline and forehead, after repair of burns with extended flaps.
Hair Loss due to Burn and Hair Transplantation
Functional and aesthetic problems are seen in deep burns in areas such as the scalp, eyebrows and beard, and hairless areas occur in these areas. Long-term scar tissue causes functional deformities such as eyelid ectropion and perioral contractures. Before hair transfer treatment, these contractures should be opened first, deformities should be repaired, and hair, eyebrow and beard should be repaired after functional results are achieved.
Various methods such as follicular unit grafts, local scalp flaps, free scalp flaps and tissue expansion have been used in the treatment of late hair loss in scalp burns.
The blood supply of fibrotic scar tissue that normally occurs after burn injury is unclear. This area may not be an optimal area for any graft. Since folk unit grafts are small grafts, their metabolic requirements are also low. For this reason, they have an optimal use in such degraded areas.
After observing that these small grafts survived in patients with male pattern baldness and scars from previous surgical procedures, their use in the treatment of hair loss due to burns was started and successful results were obtained.
Acute wounds are healed after such a burn event. Afterwards, it is recommended to wait at least 1 year for the secondary healing of the scalp, its softening and complete recovery from the effects of surgery or trauma. Then, hair transplantation can be performed on the burned area using follicular unit grafts. The procedure is performed in a hospital operating room after the patient is given mild IV sedation and local anesthetic as described in the treatment of male pattern baldness. Follicular unit grafts are isolated, harvested, local anesthesia is applied to the burned area, appropriate slits are opened, and the grafts are adapted to their new places. It is recommended to wait 8 months for a second hair transplant operation for burns.
Source: J Craniofac Surg. 2010 Nov;21(6):1737-40. Expanded flap and hair follicle transplantation for reconstruction of postburn scalp alopecia. Oh SJ, Koh SH, Lee JW, Jang YC. Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital Hallym University Medical Center, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.