Guidelines on Hair Restoration for East Asian Patients

BACKGROUND In East Asian countries, hair transplantation is a quite common procedure for treating pattern hair loss, cosmetically correcting the hairline, and correcting eyebrow and pubic hair defects. Although there are general guidelines concerning hair transplantation, certain factors need to be addressed to make the guidelines more specific and suitable to East Asian requirements. OBJECTIVE To provide guidelines for hairline design, donor harvesting, graft preparation and placement, and medical treatment that are appropriate for hair transplantation in East Asian patients. METHODS Recommendations are based on the experience of the authors, surgeons who perform hair transplantation, and a comprehensive review of the available literature on hair transplantation in East Asians. RESULTS Data on hair thickness and graft density, hairline design, and graft creation and placement techniques have been collaboratively evaluated and used to establish overall guidelines. CONCLUSION The use of the proposed guidelines by surgeons will hopefully enhance outcomes and bring greater consistency to hair transplantation procedures for East Asian patients.