Men and women receiving transplants may be able to achieve better results and a quicker healing time thanks to a product called GraftCyte from ProCyte corporation.  GraftCyte is a post-operative treatment program for transplants to speed results and healing.  In a recent study from the International Journal of Cosmetic Surgery(vol. 6, no. 1, 1998, pp80-84), GraftCyte showed a significant improvement over the typical saline gauze used.

Twelve patients were studied over a 13 week period where the investigators did not know which patients were using the GraftCyte dressings and which were using saline gauze.  Each patient received 16 treatments over the initial 4 days after surgery.  Each patient received a saline gauze dressing on one side of the transplant procedure and a GraftCyte dressing on the other in a pre-assigned random scheme.  Neither the patient or the investigator knew which side was the GraftCyte dressing and which was the saline dressing.

Each week results were documentated by photographs and a video microscope to confirm clinical observations.  The study measured edema (excess fluid buildup and crusting), erythema (redness of the skin), effluvium (shedding of transplanted hair), continued growth of transplanted hair (with no shedding), regrowth of transplanted hair (returning after shedding), and overall cosmetic results.

Results

In the study, 42% of patients were found to exhibit less redness and crusting than on the placebo side, 42% were judged to have no difference, and 17% were judged to have less on the placebo side.  Redness and crusting was also judged to be milder in the majority of patients (75% none to mild for GraftCyte and 58% for placebo).  Hair shedding (effluvium) was experienced to some extent in all patients, with 7 of 12 showing no difference.  3 patients showed a positive difference for the GraftCyte side and 2 showed a positive difference for the placebo.   The two treatments showed no difference when comparing the time after transplantation that hairs started regrowing (5.3 weeks for both), but the GraftCyte side showed better regrowth at 4, 8, and 12 weeks compared to the placebo side (see table below).  Patients assessed their own growth at 4, 8, and 12 weeks.  In 9 out of 12 patients, the GraftCyte treated side was considered to be superior to the placebo side at 8 and 12 weeks.  All patients indicated that the GraftCyte treated side had hairs with greater body, shine, and texture when compared to the placebo-treated side.

Bottom Line: Patients treated with GraftCyte had significantly less redness and crusting which went away sooner and suffered showed hair growth quicker using GraftCyte compared to saline dressings.