Donor site dominance in action: transplanted hairs retain their original pigmentation long term.

Abstract

Donor dominance refers to autografts which maintain their original characteristics (ie. texture, growth rate, period of anagen) after translocation to a new site independent of the qualities of the recipient site. Since Dr Norman Orentreich introduced the term in 1959, it remains the fundamental concept underlying the success of hair transplants for conditions such as androgenetic and cicatricial alopecia. Recently, the influence of the recipient site on the growth and morphology of transplanted hairs has been discussed. We discuss two patients who underwent autologous hair transplantation for androgenetic alopecia. Their donor hairs displayed prominent long-term pigmentary donor dominance despite being implanted into an area affected by greying. We propose that both donor and recipient sites play a role in hair transplantation and discuss possible mechanisms behind the preservation of pigmentation in hair transplantation.