You may recall an article in the Jan 12, 1979, issue of JAMA entitled "Fiber Implantation for Pattern Baldness."
The article, complete with photographs, was written by C. William Hanke, MD, and Wilma F. Bergfeld, MD, dermatologists at the Cleveland Clinic. It detailed not only the complete ineffectiveness but some of the dangers of the expensive process of implantation of synthetic "hair" fibers into the heads of 20 patients.
The synthetic fibers may be of several types, but as the Food and Drug Administration (in a March letter to persons who had undergone the process and a subsequent press release) has not distinguished between them, all apparently are equally useless and have equal potential for causing grave infections.
Surely by now, you say, synthetic fiber implantation "clinics" have been closed down by federal or state action. But no. Although this has occurred in some cases, a number are still operating,