Alba V. Reyes, MD, FISHRS, had a consultation with a 23-year-old patient who had initially gone to a low-cost black-market clinic for a quote for a hair transplant from a bald spot on his crown area that he had had since he was born. The black market clinic proceeded to give him a quote for a hair transplant combined with PRP. However, the young man’s father had doubts. So, they went for a consultation with her.
Upon evaluation, Dr. Reyes performed a biopsy, and it turned out to be a malignant tumor. This young man did not need a hair transplant, and the tumor was removed. As part of educating the public about the importance of doing a proper evaluation with a doctor, Dr. Reyes performed the surgery pro bono in collaboration with Dr. Derby Sang Caputo, a Plastic Surgeon, as part of ISHRS World Hair Transplant Repair Day. Although it was not a repair, it was a close call for something much worse for this patient.
In the video, the patient shares his thoughts after having had the consultation with Dr. Reyes, and some footage on the day of the surgery to remove the tumor.
Case Summary by Alba Reyes, MD, FISHRS | Dominican Republic
We have received this male patient, 23 years of age, with no history of any disease, who came to our clinic requesting a hair transplant in an area that shows a lack of hair from birth, with the desire to have it filled in.
The patient came to us after an evaluation at a clinic, in which he was recommended as a solution to his problem a hair transplant surgery with follicular units. During the physical examination, we observed a lesion in the area of the vertex of various cm2, accompanied by salmon-colored skin with a warty texture and a pigmented lesion on the lower edge of the bald spot. Therefore, we decided to perform a biopsy to look for an exact diagnosis of a Jadassohn sebaceous nevus, but to rule out malignant degeneration of a possible pigmented basal cell carcinoma, we performed a biopsy. A report corroborated this diagnosis.
The plan:
Jadasshon sebaceous nevus is a benign congenital hamartoma that is generally associated with benign lesions, and although they are infrequent, it is estimated that 2.5% of cases may appear as malignant tumors.
A hair transplant to cover this lesion is not a therapeutic option, and especially in this particular case that is accompanied by another tumor, whose histopathology concludes as pigmented basal cell carcinoma.
Surgical excision is the definitive treatment.
If you know a victim of a hair transplant done incorrectly by unlicensed technicians in black-market clinics, please let them know about ISHRS Hair Transplant Repair Day, which is on November 11 every year. For details, visit this page.