Retrospective Assessment of Follicular Unit Density in Asian Men With Androgenetic Alopecia

BACKGROUND Hair density, together with hair diameter has a tremendous impact on the cosmetic outcome of hair transplantation surgery. OBJECTIVE This retrospective study aims to assess the average number of follicular unit (FU) grafts in the donor area of Asian men with androgenetic alopecia. METHODS Seventy patients (ages 24-65 years old) with virgin scalp who had their first hair transplantation were included. During the harvesting procedure, a 2- to 3-cm-wide area of the donor site was shaved from ear to ear with 5 specific areas assigned as reference points for the study namely the central occipital area, left and right parietal and temporal areas. A video microscope was used to capture the field of each reference point. Follicular units in each area were counted and the number of 1-hair, 2-hair, and 3-hair follicular groupings was recorded. RESULTS East and Southeast Asians had an average of 61.1 FU/cm(2) (111.2 hairs/cm(2)); West Asians had an average density of 63.6 FU/cm(2) (126.8 hairs/cm(2)); South Asians were noted to have an average density of 63.5 FU/cm(2) (126.8 hairs/cm(2)). CONCLUSION Asian hair density has slight variations in the number of FU grafts in each donor area.