Medicine: The Scalpers

Painful "cure"for baldpates

Pat, in his 20s with thinning dark hair, sits in the doctor's chair, his scalp red, scarred, infected. Dermatologist Marvin Lepaw and an aide hover over him. Slowly, methodically, using magnifying glass and tweezers, they pluck out one hair after another. The agonizing scene in Lepaw's Hicksville, N.Y., office is not an isolated incident. Doctors round the country are now trying to undo the dangerous fallout from yet another quack treatment for baldness: the implanting of synthetic fibers into the scalp.

Lured by ads promising a lush head of hair, perhaps 20,000 desperate men and women have spent up to $6,000 apiece at so-called implant clinics. The hair is really thousands of colored strands of polyester or modacrylic fiber, usually in bunches of three to eight strands.* The fibers are threaded into the scalp by needle or forced in by air guns and sometimes anchored below the skin with knots.

Initial patient euphoria is short-lived. Within weeks, the fibers start breaking and falling out. Remaining shafts become centers of inflammation as the body tries to reject the foreign material and invading bacteria. Says a 50-year-old real estate broker who underwent an implant: "Your entire scalp feels spongy, with a layer of pus underneath. The bleeding and itching drive you crazy. You wake up and find the pillow covered with blood." Natural hair may fall out too. Correcting the damage can take years. The fibers must be removed, and antibiotics taken to control infection. Some patients may require scalp removal and skin grafting.

The Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission have launched investigations, and local authorities are cracking down. Some people are suing. Few of the clinics are run by medically qualified skin specialists, but the trade is obviously lucrative. In 1978 Donald Underwood, an osteopath, is said by the New York State attorney general to have earned $1 million from his now shuttered Long Island clinics. Some operators are switching to a new ploy: offering to implant human hair fibers. But dermatologists warn that fibers collected from a number of people can provoke even more serious problems.

One easy solution for baldpates: wear a well-fitted wig.