Comprehensive Prevention for Edema after Hair Transplantation: A Multicenter Study of 1167 Patients

Background: Postoperative edema is the most common complication of hair transplantation. Although triamcinolone tumescent solution (TTS) has been shown to effectively reduce edema, a minority of patients may still experience severe edema. This study aims to explore optimized procedures and conduct a systematic analysis comparing TTS with our comprehensive prevention (CP) for preventing postoperative edema. Methods: A prospective multicenter study was designed. Patients from four centers were divided into two groups. Different from TTS group, the CP group adopted a modified tumescent anesthetic solution, injected it into the subcutaneous tissue layer, and eliminated excess solution after site creation. Follow-up evaluated the degree of edema, patient satisfaction, and complications. Results: The study involved 1167 patients underwent hair transplantation. In the TTS group, 8.94% of patients experienced edema, including 1.4% with severe periorbital edema. By contrast, in the CP group, only 2.66% of patients experienced edema (P<0.0001), and no case of severe edema were observed. Additionally, the CP group significantly reduced the ecchymosis (P<0.0001) and demonstrated higher patient satisfaction (P<0.05). Conclusions: The CP procedure has demonstrated superior efficacy compared to TTS in preventing postoperative edema, ecchymosis, and improving patient satisfaction with hair transplantation.