Prosthesis (i.e. – artificial body members) – parts thereof – or ai – Implantable prosthesis – Hair or skin
Patent
1997-02-05
1998-09-01
Prebilic, Paul B.
Prosthesis (i.e., artificial body members), parts thereof, or ai
Implantable prosthesis
Hair or skin
623 11, 427 21, 427 224, A61F 210
Patent
active
058005455
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This application is a national stage 35 USC 371 application of PCT/JP96/01501 filed Jun. 4, 1996.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an artificial hair which is suitable for direct implantation into the human skin, and to a process for producing the same.
BACKGROUND ART
There are many conventionally proposed artificial hairs adapted for direct implantation into human skin. Some of these artificial hairs put into practical use include those having a loop-shaped hair root part developed by one of the present inventors (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 8770/91 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,368).
FIG. 2 shows a skin section immediately after implantation of the artificial hair developed by the present inventors. The artificial hair is formed of a monofilament 1 of a polyester fiber and has a loop-shaped hair root part formed at its base. If an implanting needle is brought into engagement with the loop-shaped root part 2 to hold the artificial hair, and stuck into the skin, the loop of the root part 2 is deeply implanted so as to come into contact with the deepest portion of a subcutaneous tissue 6, i.e., the galea 7. A hook 13 prevents the implanted artificial hair from falling out. In FIG. 2, reference character 3 designates the horny layer of the skin; reference character 4 designates the skin epidermis; and reference character 5 designates the corium layer.
The human skin tissue has the ability, if the foreign matter is inserted into the human skin tissue to form a fibrous connective tissue, to isolate such foreign matter from the subcutaneous tissue 6. As for the implantation of artificial hair, after a given period of time has elapsed after such implantation, fibrous connective tissue 8 is produced within and outside the root part 2, as shown in FIG. 3. The fibrous connective tissue 8 would soon become fused to the galea 7, which is firm connective tissue located at the deepest portion of the head skin, to rigidly fix the loop-shaped root part 2 to the galea 7 by such fibrous connective tissue 8, whereby the artificial hair becomes firmly fixed to the head skin.
However, the epidermis 4, which is flat immediately after implantation as shown in FIG. 2, often then begins to grow downwardly to the middle of the corium layer 5 along the length of the artificial hair in an area where the artificial hair passes through the epidermis 4, and ultimately in some cases, a large hair infundibulum 9 may be formed, as shown in FIG. 3. This phenomenon is called down-growth, and causes a problem that the skin around the implanted artificial hair appears to be depressed, whereby secreted sebum collects in the hair infundibulum 9 and becomes oxidized into a black color, resulting in an unattractive appearance.
On the other hand, there is an artificial hair conventionally proposed and known for a long time, wherein a material assimilatable to the human skin tissue is deposited around the artificial hair to be implanted, thereby enhancing the success rate of the hair implantation (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,292). This prior art describes the use of a synthetic human body alternative substance, which may be a reticulated urethane foam synthetic material deposited on a surface of a root part of the artificial hair, or hydrogel of polyacrylic acid or polyvinyl alcohol applied to the surface of the root part. The thin layer or film of synthetic human body alternative substance is assimilated into the subcutaneous tissue to fix the artificial hair.
In the artificial hair described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,292, the assimilation of the artificial hair to the subcutaneous tissue is achieved by the thin layer or film of the synthetic human body alternative substance. However, the artificial hair and the thin layer or film of the human body alternative substance are merely physically bonded each other and, hence, the human body tissue still discerns the artificial hair as a foreign matter. Thus, the artificial hair often becomes discharged by a foreign matter reaction and easily falls out, and a down-growth similar to that
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Ikada Yoshito
Yamada Shiro
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