The tumescent technique facilitates hair micrografting

Micrografting for hair restoration has become increasingly popular because of the natural results it can achieve. The procedure is often performed under local anesthesia or local anesthesia with sedation. To achieve adequate anesthesia, supraorbital and supratrochlear nerve blocks are often performed as well as infiltration of the donor and recipient areas via multiple needle injections. These nerve blocks and multiple injections are associated with significant discomfort and may need to be repeated if anesthesia is inadequate. In addition, because of the rich vascularity of the scalp, donor site and recipient bed bleeding are often encountered, making the procedure more difficult and increasing postoperative bruising and morbidity. In an attempt to alleviate these difficulties and increase patient comfort, the tumescent technique was employed in 50 consecutive micrografting procedures. The ability to achieve anesthesia in the donor and recipient beds without the need for additional nerve blocks was evaluated. The ability of the tumescent technique to minimize bleeding and subsequent postoperative ecchymosis and morbidity was analyzed. The findings of this study suggest the tumescent technique is useful in facilitating hair micrografting. It consistently achieves excellent anesthesia in both donor and recipient sites without the need for multiple needle injections or nerve blocks. The duration of anesthesia is significant, allowing completion of the procedure and offering prolonged postoperative anesthesia as well. Bleeding can be minimized using the tumescent technique for both donor site harvesting and the micrografting procedure itself.