Evaluation of Hair Follicle Counts of Occipital Scalp Biopsies from Male Hair Transplant Patients in Thailand

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the average hair follicle count from the occipital scalp of Thai males with AGA who were candidates for hair transplantation. Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional study of 47 male with AGA undergoing hair transplantation surgery was conducted. The 4-mm punch biopsies from the occipital scalp were evaluated for hair count parameters. The results were compared to prior studies. Results: The average counts of total hair follicles and the density of hair follicle per square millimeter were 18.6±1.2, and 1.5±0.1, respectively. The terminal-to-vellus ratio was 11.1, and the percent ratio of anagen-to-telogen ratio was 91.9:8.1. The hair count number is significantly lower than other ethnicities including Thais in general population (P < 0.001), but greater than the Thai males with AGA in the previous study. (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Our study showed a lower average hair density as compared to the other normal Asian population. The total hair count in the occipital area from this study is less when compared to the previous studies conducted in Thai normal controls but higher than those with more advanced AGA. This result supported the evidence of hormonal effect involving the occipital scalp of male AGA.

Keywords

• Hair counts
• hair density
• occipital area
• androgenetic alopecia