When scalp skin is contained in reconstruction of
microtia, the hair growth on the reconstructed auricle causes aesthetic problems. Several techniques to deal with hairline, such as skin graft, skin flap,
tissue expander and electroepilation, have been reported, but there are few reports using
laser hair removal for
microtia patients. We performed presurgical
laser therapy in five patients. The low regions of hairlines in unilateral
microtia children were irradiated by two kinds of
laser systems for 1 year before the
transplantation of costal cartilage. When hair growth was seen after the
surgery, laser irradiations were performed. Video-microscopic and histological studies were examined to check the rates of
epilation and skin
injuries. There were no conspicuous hairs on the reconstructed ears and no side effects such as skin injury,
folliculitis and
deformity of cartilage. Video-microscopic examination revealed that terminal hair was rarely observed after irradiation, although the amount of vellus hair after irradiation was the same as that before irradiation. Histological examination showed that
atrophy or
hyperplasia of epidermis and dermis were not observed. Although patients had to undergo
laser epilation from four to seven times because of a hair cycle, the
laser epilation is less invasive and safer than other
surgical procedures to reconstruct non-haired helix.