82 Preview Long Hair Transplantation

Marcelo Pitchon and Ricardo Gomes de Lemos

Summary

Preview long hair transplantation (PLHT) is a unique methodology in which the surgeon transplants the patient’s real hairs, not just the hairless follicle, as is normally done. ^{1 2 3 4 5} The surgeon, in fact, extracts and implants the hair follicles without shaving or trimming the patient’s donor area, in order to keep the external extension of hair that is visible outside the skin attached to the follicle. In PLHT, the surgeon can “preview,” with actual hairs, the look of the transplant result that is being three-dimensionally sculptured over the recipient bald area, be it on the scalp, face, or body. This preview element gives the surgeon, during the placement phase, the unique power of precise visual control over the progressive hair mass construction in the recipient area. Having visual control over implantation angle, hair direction, and hair curvature increases the artistic precision for naturalness and optimizes the use of the extracted hair, transforming surgery from a shaved “hair-shaft-blind” method into a “hair-shaft-non-blind” method of hair transplant. That visual control also allows for a “donor-ecologic” management of the finite number of hairs available over the patient’s lifetime. While being able to view each patient’s minimum number of hairs that are sufficient to produce satisfactory aesthetic improvement, PLHT optimizes the use of the donor hair, potentially saving hair extractions and implantations over the patient’s life. As a secondary benefit, the patient’s visualization of the postoperative “preview” of the future result generates an emotional reaction and an understanding of his image’s maximum potential improvement, both of which favorably impact the immediate and the late postoperative periods.

Key words

preview long hair transplantation - coverage behavior - satisfaction density - satisfaction coverage - minimum density concept

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