Is there a place for scalp flap in modern hair restoration surgery?

Abstract

Punch graft has never been popular in Asian countries as its corn-row appearance is more conspicuous with the coarse black hair of Asians. On the other hand, scalp flaps were well accepted and have enjoyed popularity since the 1970s. There are many types of scalp flap (Table 1); however, I will concentrate on my experience with the Fleming and Mayer flap, which is the modification of Juri's flap first described in 1980 [1]. When compared with the punch graft, flaps have the advantages of achieving immediate results, no temporal hair loss, outstanding density, and the possibility to re-allocate a large amount of hair. Table 1. Various types of hair-bearing flaps Temporo-parieto-occipital (TPO) flap Juri 1974 Occipital flap Juri 1975 Temporo-parietal (TP) flap Elliott 1977 Microsurgical free flaps Ohmori 1980 Superior-based temporo-parietal flap and temporal flap Nataf 1984 Expanded BAT & TAT flaps Anderson 1987 © 2010 Springer Japan.