Face Transplant Patient Also Got a New Hairline
This is the article about the face transplant patient: Face transplant patient ready to go home
From the pictures in the article, the picture on the left shows his mid-scalp area has no hair at all due to his injury, and the after picture shows him with ample amount of hair in the mid-scalp area. The article points out, ‘even the hair on Wiens’ head, from the mid-scalp area, is part of the donor skin (the hair on the back of Wiens’ head is his own).’
Is there a possibility scalp transplants will be available in the near future?
I’ve received more than a few emails about this case where people have excitedly pointed out that this patient also received hair. Yes, full face transplants are possible thanks in part to some amazing surgeons, and yes, it’s possible to have part of the donor scalp and hair survive during this type of procedure. But surgery like this not practical or safe for someone that just has genetic hair loss and wants a head of full head of hair from a donor.
The key issue preventing person-to-person hair (and scalp) transplants is with the anti-rejection medication he must take. For the face transplant patient the risk is worth the reward, but for someone that wants to have hair harvested from someone else, the side effect risks from these immunosuppressive drugs are quite serious. The risks include massive infections and even cancer.
However, let’s look at this from a realistic point of view. Who would even volunteer for a scalp transplant just to treat genetic balding? Keep in mind that the scalp has to come from someone… and that someone is likely a cadaver.
There have been some that have been diagnosed with alopecia feel that there are not options. Some procedures such as surgical hair implants can be very costly. There are some that have this luxury of affording this procedure. But for others that can not afford surgical options, might feel that they have been left behind or dealt not the best hand. Like to share, there are many options that are affordable. If I may help in anyway, please let me know.
This is remarkable to me that they were able to transplant the scalp, not to mention everything else to this patient. I can’t imagine anyone would think having an entirely new scalp would be a reasonable solution to hair loss instead of the normal methods like hair grafting etc. At least I hope no one would seriously consider it.
So happy for the patient. And hoping he has no issues from the transplant.
Thanks for explaining!
How about using a strip from a cadaver and implant it on a living donor? Is that possible? If I recall correctly Colin Jahoda transplanted his hair on his arm, and also his wife´s hair on his arm, and it grew both.
I’ve followed this story for a while. He had a nice head of hair until the power line accident fried his follices. I’m still amazed that an area of hair that large was grafted on and grew perfectly. I wonder how long it was removed from the donor before surgery, how they kept it alive, etc.? This may just show how tough hair follicles are and that damage/low yield situations could lie in the direction of the handling/implanting.