Efluvio en línea de aparición inmediata asociado a trasplante capilar de alta densidad: descripción de 28 casos / Immediate-Onset Linear Effluvium Associated With High-Density Hair Transplantation: A Series of 28 Cases

Describimos 28 pacientes que desarrollaron una forma de efluvio postrasplante capilar con características no descritas en la literatura: a) morfología lineal; b) aparición inmediata (1-3 días); c) asociación con ‘dense packing’ en entradas (‘signo de Mickey Mouse’); d) progresión del diámetro de la línea (patrón ‘wave-like’); e) posible adición posterior de efluvio lineal concéntrico a vértex (‘signo del Donut’), y f) además de otros efluvios tampoco publicados por su inmediatez de aparición. La morfología lineal podría ser el resultado de la alta densidad colocada en nuestros pacientes, provocando hipoxia perilesional y efluvio de las unidades foliculares miniaturizadas que rodean la zona receptora. Debido a que la línea alopécica provoca inseguridad a los pacientes sobre una posible no colocación de injertos, recomendamos iconografía postoperatoria inmediata demostrando unión de áreas trasplantada y no trasplantada, así como la explicación previa al paciente de este fenómeno transitorio y completamente reversible en 3 meses (AU)

We describe 28 patients who experienced effluvium with previously unreported features shortly after hair transplant surgery. Notable features were as follows: a) a linear morphology; b) immediate onset (1-3 days); c) association with dense-pack grafting in areas of receding hairline at the temples (Mickey Mouse pattern); d) a progressive increase in the diameter of the hair loss line (wave-like pattern); e) in some cases, subsequent concentric linear effluvium on the crown (donut pattern); and f) other forms of previously unreported immediate-onset effluvium. The linear morphology could be the result of dense packing, which can cause perilesional hypoxia and loss of miniaturized hairs around the recipient area. Since linear hair loss can cause patient concern about graft failure, we recommend taking images of transplanted and nontransplanted areas immediately after surgery and warning patients in advance about these transient effects, which are fully reversed in 3 months (AU)

[Translated article] Immediate-Onset Linear Effluvium Associated With High-Density Hair Transplantation: A Series of 28 Case / Efluvio en línea de aparición inmediata asociado a trasplante capilar de alta densidad: descripción de 28 casos

We describe 28 patients who experienced effluvium with previously unreported features shortly after hair transplant surgery. Notable features were as follows: a) a linear morphology; b) immediate onset (1-3 days); c) association with dense-pack grafting in areas of receding hairline at the temples (Mickey Mouse pattern); d) a progressive increase in the diameter of the hair loss line (wave-like pattern); e) in some cases, subsequent concentric linear effluvium on the crown (donut pattern); and f) other forms of previously unreported immediate-onset effluvium. The linear morphology could be the result of dense packing, which can cause perilesional hypoxia and loss of miniaturized hairs around the recipient area. Since linear hair loss can cause patient concern about graft failure, we recommend taking images of transplanted and nontransplanted areas immediately after surgery and warning patients in advance about these transient effects, which are fully reversed in 3 months (AU)

Describimos 28 pacientes que desarrollaron una forma de efluvio postrasplante capilar con características no descritas en la literatura: a) morfología lineal; b) aparición inmediata (1-3 días); c) asociación con ‘dense packing’ en entradas (‘signo de Mickey Mouse’); d) progresión del diámetro de la línea (patrón ‘wave-like’); e) posible adición posterior de efluvio lineal concéntrico a vértex (‘signo del Donut’), y f) además de otros efluvios tampoco publicados por su inmediatez de aparición. La morfología lineal podría ser el resultado de la alta densidad colocada en nuestros pacientes, provocando hipoxia perilesional y efluvio de las unidades foliculares miniaturizadas que rodean la zona receptora. Debido a que la línea alopécica provoca inseguridad a los pacientes sobre una posible no colocación de injertos, recomendamos iconografía postoperatoria inmediata demostrando unión de áreas trasplantada y no trasplantada, así como la explicación previa al paciente de este fenómeno transitorio y completamente reversible en 3 meses (AU)

Immediate-Onset Linear Effluvium Associated With High-Density Hair Transplantation: A Series of 28 Cases. / Efluvio en línea de aparición inmediata asociado a trasplante capilar de alta densidad: descripción de 28 casos.

We describe 28 patients who experienced effluvium with previously unreported features shortly after hair transplant surgery. Notable features were as follows: a) a linear morphology; b) immediate onset (1-3 days); c) association with dense-pack grafting in areas of receding hairline at the temples (Mickey Mouse pattern); d) a progressive increase in the diameter of the hair loss line (wave-like pattern); e) in some cases, subsequent concentric linear effluvium on the crown (donut pattern); and f) other forms of previously unreported immediate-onset effluvium. The linear morphology could be the result of dense packing, which can cause perilesional hypoxia and loss of miniaturized hairs around the recipient area. Since linear hair loss can cause patient concern about graft failure, we recommend taking images of transplanted and nontransplanted areas immediately after surgery and warning patients in advance about these transient effects, which are fully reversed in 3 months.

A rare complication of follicular hair unit extraction: Kaposi's varicelliform eruption.

Follicular hair unit extraction (FUE) is becoming a popular type of hair transplantation recently. Kaposi's varicelliform eruption (KVE) is an uncommon skin emergency due to cutaneous dissemination of several types of viruses, most notably herpes virus, over the lesions of preexisting skin disorders. A 34-year-old man visited our dermatology outpatient clinic with a blistering, itchy and tender eruption on his head and body. He had undergone follicular FUE for androgenic alopecia 12 days previously, and 5 days after the procedure, umbilicated and/or hemorrhagic vesiculopustules appeared firstly on the occipital scalp skin where the hair units were taken. The lesions had rapidly spread over the upper chest and back. After the operation, he had taken oral methylprednisolone, amoxicillin clavulanate and had used fusidic acid ointment without any benefit. Bacterial culture of the pustules yielded no microorganism, while Tzanck smear from the vesicles revealed multinuclear giant cell groups. Based on a diagnosis of KVE, we treated the patient with oral valacyclovir hydrochloride 1000 mg 3 times a day for 14 days. Symptoms cleared rapidly, pustules and vesicles dried in a few days, and re-epithelialization of the eroded areas started at the end of the first week. The reported complications of FUE include necrosis of the donor site, postoperative hyperesthesia, recipient area folliculitis, keloids, bleeding, infection and pyogenic granuloma. Up to this date there are only three reports of KVE developing just after dermatological surgery, including dermabrasion, laser resurfacing, and skin grafting. According to our knowledge, this is the first case of KVE occurring after the FUE procedure. We think that the traumatic effects and skin barrier disruption due to operation and immune alteration due to postsurgical steroid treatment might have precipitated the activation and dissemination of latent herpesvirus infection.

Comparative Evaluation of Hair Density and Grouped Hair Unit Pattern between Androgenetic Alopecia and Normal Scalp

BACKGROUND: Human hair usually emerges from the scalp in groups of 2 or 3-hair units. Hair densities and grouping patterns in androgenetic alopecia (AGA) patients are known to be different from those in normal adults, but no comparative study has ever before been made in Korea. Therefore we have developed some technical improvements on phototrichogram methodology to evaluate the differences between these two groups. BACKGROUND: Objectives: This study was performed to quantify Koreans' hair characteristics at each site (vertex, occipital, temporal) of the scalp according to the age and to compare the differences of hair characteristics of AGA and normal adults using phototrichogram. METHODS: Hairs in the precisely defined circle at each (vertex, temporal, occipital) site of the scalp in 37 AGA male patients and 15 healthy male volunteers were evaluated according to age. Each circumscribed area of the scalp, centered with a dot tattoo to ensure reproducibility, was photographed just after shaving, and named 'primary image'. Two days later, the same area was again photographed, and named 'secondary image', from which the hair density and the grouping pattern of hair follicular units were determined by the image analyzer program. RESULTS: The results can be summarized as follows: 1. In normal adult males, the range of hair density was 117~13/cm2~140~16/cm2, with the hair density of the occiput being significantly higher than that of the temple. No significant differences in hair density were shown between vertex and occiput. 2. In AGA male patients, the range of hair density was 102~23/cm2-137~17/cm2, and the differences of the hair density between vertex and occiput were statistically significant. 3. The numbers of grouped hair units per square centimeter in the non-bald adult male group ranged from 59~11/cm2 to 73~14/cm2. The most common grouped hair unit was a 2-hair unit, followed by a 1-hair unit and a 3-hair unit group. 4. In the AGA group, the numbers of grouped hair units per square centimeter ranged from 57~6/cm2 to 72~12/cm2, showing no significance with the control group. The most common grouped hair unit was a 1-hair unit, followed by a 2-hair unit and a 3-hair unit group. CONCLUSIONS: The AGA group compared remarkably with the normal adult male group, showing a lower hair density with a larger proportion of 1-grouped hair units. Based on the data about hair density and hair grouping patterns in AGA patients, surgeons can estimate the area of donor scalp with the most probable number of follicular units in hair trans-plantation procedures.