Surgical reduction of alopecia

Abstract

Scalp reduction is an important adjunct to hair transplantation for correction of male-pattern baldness. Hair lifting, scalp lift, scalp reduction, alopecia reduction, and male-pattern reduction 1 are but a few of the names given this collection of geometric surgical excisions of the scalp. This type of surgery is most useful in that group of patients in whom hair transplantation alone is not cosmetically satisfying. These types of patients usually fall into the Hamilton 2 and Norwood 3 IV, V, VI, and VII categories of male-pattern alopecia. For these patients, scalp reduction can significantly reduce the amount of bald recipient area. Also, scalp reduction can more easily cover the bald vertex of the scalp with more cosmetically satisfying results than hair transplantation. Care should be taken in selecting patients. Type VII patients should be avoided, and patients with low hair density are not good candidates. It must be realized that both hair transplantation and scalp reduction are not creating any new hair but are merely redistributing it.