[Basic research and clinical applications of the human hair suture]

An atraumatic suture was manufactured from human hair, which has been tested and used in 817 clinical cases with satisfactory results. The authors found that the suture has the following characteristics: smooth, thin, strong and elastic, structurally steady, histocompatible, atoxic, aseptic, atraumatic, with endurance of more than one thousand times of bending. It does not swell in water or blood nor it causes reaction after being buried in tissue for 150 days. It definitely has an advantage over the silk and nylon. The rich resources of hair favor its wide applications.