[Treating cicatricial baldness with scalp expanding and hair autografting].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effective method to treat cicatricial baldness. METHODS: From 1993 to 1998, 21 cases with multi-region or great-dimensional cicatricial baldness were treated with scalp expanding and hair autografting. Among them, there were 17 males and 4 females, aged from 14 to 49 years old. The operation was divided into two stages, stage one meaned to embed the expander under the scalp and stage two meaned to sow the autogenous hair. RESULTS: All cases, no matter what the position and area, were repaired successfully. The biggest dimension of repaired baldness was 340 cm2, one expander exposed and one failed in expanding after operation and be corrected immediately. The normal hair direction changed in two cases. CONCLUSION: Combined use of scalp expanding and hair autografting is an effective method to treat multi-region or great dimensional cicarticial baldness.