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 (111.2 hairs/cm); West Asians had an average density of 63.6 FU/cm (126.8 hairs/cm); South Asians were noted to have an average density of 63.5 FU/cm (126.8 hairs/cm).

[CONCLUSION] Asian hair density has slight variations in the number of FU grafts in each donor area.