Scarring Alopecia repaired on a female patient -Dr. Ron Shapiro, Shapiro Medical Group.

[janna]

This female patient has a form of Lupus that caused scarring alopecia. Here is how Dr. Ron addressed this patient.

Approximately 9 to 10 cm2 was scarred. Patient received 436 grafts/1122 hairs to fill the scar. With scars, you have to be careful not to approach too aggressively by dense packing. Of course she has plenty of donor supply so a limited donor supply was not a concern.

BEFORE"

AFTER PHOTOS -

 

[Bigmac]

Very nice natural result Janna.

She must be very happy.

What age approximately is the patient and what is Lupus.

Thanks bm.

 

[janna]

Thanks Bigmac.

This patient is 41 years of age. I was going to say you can "google" Lupus to find more info but I thought I'd be nice and did the copy and paste for you from a medical site.



What is lupus? What are the types of lupus?


Lupus is an autoimmune disease characterized by acute and chronic inflammation of various tissues of the body. Autoimmune diseases are illnesses that occur when the body's tissues are attacked by its own immune system. The immune system is a complex system within the body that is designed to fight infectious agents, such as bacteria and other foreign microbes. One of the ways that the immune system fights infections is by producing antibodies that bind to the microbes. Patients with lupus produce abnormal antibodies in their blood that target tissues within their own body rather than foreign infectious agents. Because the antibodies and accompanying cells of inflammation can affect tissues anywhere in the body, lupus has the potential to affect a variety of areas. Sometimes lupus can cause disease of the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, joints, and/or nervous system. When only the skin is involved, the condition is called lupus dermatitis or cutaneous lupus erythematosus. A form of lupus dermatitis that can be isolated to the skin, without internal disease, is called discoid lupus. When internal organs are involved, the condition is referred to as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Both discoid and systemic lupus are more common in women than men (about eight times more common). The disease can affect all ages but most commonly begins from 20 to 45 years of age. Statistics demonstrate that lupus is somewhat more frequent in African Americans and people of Chinese and Japanese descent.

 

[Bigmac]

Thanks Janna.

Late reply by me but reading this again it has occurred to me that some patients who have poor or no growth from a HT could suffer from this or a similar condition where the body see`s the transplanted hair as foreign and effectively rejects them.

bm.

 

[Nervousnelly]

This is a great result. It blends perfectly to native hair so I am sure she is very pleased. Is this a type of case that insurance might actually pay for the treatment since it is a cosmetic enhancement do to a diagnosed disease? Just curious what percentage of patients are there for issues such as this or burns, etc.?

NN

 

[janna]

Bigmac wrote:

Thanks Janna.

Late reply by me but reading this again it has occurred to me that some patients who have poor or no growth from a HT could suffer from this or a similar condition where the body see`s the transplanted hair as foreign and effectively rejects them.

bm.

I don't know if I've come across the body seeing transplanted hairs as foreign object. You have to be careful in scar tissues to not over transplant as the blood supply is lower. Dr. Shapiro stays on the cauticious side by planting at lower density and perform another session to make sure the first session has proper growth.



NN,

These type of cases are low on the percentage at SMG. We have performed surgeries on patients where the insurance companies have paid for the procedure. Generally, they were the accident type of cases where the patients lost their hairs to some sort of trauma.

 

[Bigmac]

Thanks Janna

 

[Medillion]

Jana, are there instances when the transplanted hairs dont grow? If so what does your clinic recomend?

 

[Bigmac]

All surgery has a risk factor to it,some people who are in the minority can experience little or no growth at all for reasons unknown.

By researching as much as you can and choosing a doctor you are happy with you should hopefully reduce the chances of having a result that does not meet your expectations.

 

[janna]

BM is correct that there may not be a reasonable explanation as to why someone had poor growth. It's what doctors say is an X Factor. We have not come across this type of case but for one or two in my time with SMG. When someone has no growth and they came to us looking for recommendations as to what to do next... Much of our recommendation will vary depending on the circumstances. Such as, how much donor was used and how much is available. I'm sure we would not tackle it full force but take small steps to determine what might have been the determining factor to cause poor growth. We would learn from it and do everything we can to optimize better growth.

 

[bullitnut]

Awesome result janna! Just out of interest what are the percentage of female patients you get these days?.....and has this changed over the last few years?

 

[Foody]

What treatment protocol was this lady using before and after surgery?