Dr. Shoji Okuda (1886-1962): The Great Pioneer of Punch Graft Hair Transplantation

Dr. Shoji Okuda, a Japanese physician, was a pioneer in the field of hair restoration surgery, having reported the punch graft hair transplantation technique in 1939, which was 20 years before Dr. Norman Orentreich, who is widely recognized as the "father" of hair restoration surgery. Okuda's work, which included 30 long-term follow-up cases of punch grafting for conditions such as alopecia areata, leprosy, cicatricial alopecia, and female pubic atrichosis or hypotrichosis, was initially overlooked due to language barriers and the outbreak of World War II. It was not until 1970 that Dr. H.C. Friederich acknowledged Okuda's contributions, coining the term Okuda-Orentreich technique. Despite Dr. Orentreich's significant contributions, including the application of punch graft for androgenetic alopecia and the concept of donor dominance, the authors of the letter to the editor argue that Dr. Okuda's originality and precedence should also be respectfully appreciated, and he should be considered "another father" of hair restoration surgery. Additionally, Dr. Franz Krusius was mentioned as another pioneer for his work on eyelash transplantation in 1914.