Stem Cells of Hair Follicles Micrografted into a Tissue-Engineered Dermal Template (Integra)

The document reports on a case where a child with postburn alopecia, resulting from a full-thickness flame burn on the scalp, underwent a novel treatment involving the micrografting of autogenous hair follicles into a tissue-engineered dermal regeneration template (Integra®). This procedure aimed to restore the frontal hairline by resecting the scar and immediately reconstructing it with the dermal template, followed by the implantation of minidissected hair follicles. The treatment was observed to be successful, with hair follicles integrating within 21 days and neoepidermis formation around the hair grafts. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the presence of cytokeratins (AE1/AE3) in the cells and neovascularization around the hair grafts, indicated by CD34 and CD105 positivity. However, the study could not definitively conclude that the new epidermis originated from follicular bud stem cells, suggesting the need for further research to confirm this hypothesis.