Role of tissue expansion in hair restorative surgery

Objectives: To share the experience of tissue expansion used in hair restoration. Materials and methods: The study was carried out from June 2005 to June 2010. In the 1st stage, tissue expander was laced under the normal skin adjacent to the defect. Serial expansions were performed twice weekly. In the 2nd stage, the tissue expander was removed, the defect was excised and adjacent flaps were used to reconstruct the defect. The patients were followed up regularly. Results: A total of 16 patients underwent reconstruction with a male to female ratio of 2.2:1. Postburn scar was the most frequent cause (43.8%). The mean expansion time was 33.6 days with average fill volume of 193.4ml. Conclusion: Tissue expansion is a safer technique and should be used as a primary procedure prior to hair transplantation in patients with large scalp defects.