A Ten-Year Retrospective Analysis on the Long-Term Survival of Hair Transplants

ABSTRACT

Over time, and as our knowledge and experience has grown, researchers have studied various treatments for androgenetic alopecia (AGA). Among them, hair transplantation is considered to be the only potentially permanent solution for hair loss. However, there are concerns about the long-term sustainability of its outcomes. Hence, the authors evaluated hair transplantation results in patients who had undergone a linear strip excision hair transplant a decade or more prior. Overall patient satisfaction rate, influence of medications on patient satisfaction, recipient and donor hair characteristics, and patient demographics were evaluated. Medical records of patients who met the criteria for the study were retrieved, and the necessary data was collected.

The study included a total of 70 patients with AGA. Overall, the results demonstrated a high level of patient satisfaction, with a statistically significant correlation found between the intake of hair loss medications and patient satisfaction, particularly in the case of oral finasteride. Donor hair and recipient hair characteristics were also compared, but they did not show significant differences in measured outcomes.

Interestingly, for the few participants who were female, we found that hair loss was relatively stable and did not show significant progression during the 10-year or greater interval. The success of hair transplantation when it comes to permanence and in correlation with patient satisfaction rate is dependent on different factors, including the quality of donor hair and, importantly, patient compliance with hair loss medications. Even 10 years after the procedure, a majority of patients noted high satisfaction, but this was seen mainly in patients who had been compliant with medications; however, evaluation of hair density showed a statistically significant decrease of 4-6% over five years, suggesting that not all hair from the safe donor area is permanent. No statistically significant difference was seen in donor compared to recipient hair caliber after 10 years.