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Corrective hair restoration techniques for the aesthetic problems of temperoparietal flaps
1Department of Dermatology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Background:
Temperoparieto-occipital flaps (Juri flap) and temperoparietal flaps (Elliott) were commonly performed in the previous decades but have fallen out of favor for the most part with the development of follicular unit hair transplantation. Besides high complication rates, these procedures created straight abrupt hairlines in many cases, posterior hair direction, hair density that was disproportionately thick, and blunt temperofrontal angles.
Objective:
Because there are many patients who live with cosmetic deformities created by previous flap procedures, the objective of this article is to present a series of techniques that will restore these patients to normal cosmesis.
Methods:
The techniques for amelioration of poor cosmesis secondary to flap procedures are (1) undulating follicular unit grafting anterior to the hairline, (2) removal of 2- to 3-mm cylinders of hair-bearing scalp at the anterior hairline, (3) removal of 2- to 3-mm cylinders of hair-bearing scalp from within the flap itself, and (4) appropriate fusiform excision techniques to create a normal temperofrontal angle.
Results:
The combination of the aforementioned techniques has restored a very natural cosmesis in patients who have poor aesthetics after flap surgery.
Conclusion:
Many patients exist who have had Juri and Elliott flaps. Although the cosmetic deformities that are created from these flaps are difficult to improve, they can be ameliorated effectively through a series of maneuvers that are described in this article.