The Future in Hair Transplantation

The 1990's have witnessed major changes in hair transplantation, most notably the trend towards the use of large numbers of very small grafts and the emergence of follicular unit transplantation as possibly the new "gold standard." This article reviews the new developments that will shape hair restoration surgery as we enter the next millennium. Many aspects of hair transplantation will be explored including: the follicular unit/mini-micrograft controversy, ways to measure and maximize the donor supply, new concepts in graft storage, advances in wound healing, new instrumentation, automated graft cutting and placing, advances in laser technology, the role of new medical treatments, and finally the status of research in cloning and genetic engineering.