PRESIDENT'S LETTER

The Italian Society of Hair Restoration Surgery with the XIII International Congress of Capri 2010 has pursued a 16 years long history of success now witnessed first by the numbers: 140 participants from 23 different countries. A faculty composed of international opinion-leaders surgeons. The Congress dealt with controversial topics of great current, placing them under the light of a more practical and immediate approach, pointing out clearly what works and what instead does not work.

The Congress had a progressive structure, starting from research it has focused on those points that in the next few years will be the ones of agreement between studies of growth factors and clinical practice.

The second part, developed under the auspices of Sitra (Italian Society of Trichologists), wanted to be a strong stimulus to the understanding of a multidisciplinary approach to the problem of hair loss. It was strongly emphasized how the proposals should be redefined in order to understand better safe scalable and effective treatments.

On Saturday we kept the proven surgical structure, which was divided into two sessions. Advanced approaches to technical standards first and then, the FUE session. The Congress demystified the idea of competing techniques but, on the other hand, it showed clearly the lines of development of both approaches.

Throughout the conference a wide space was left to debate and interact directly with faculty in order to clarify doubts, raise questions or seek insights on specific topics of surgical technique.

The Congress was enriched with some sessions that might be called "Congress Gems" represented by tattooing techniques, meaning advanced camouflage techniques that are rapidly expanding, and interesting pharmacological relations to score once again the contribution of related disciplines that can actually give a hand in the improvement of therapeutic formulations and methods of application of the drugs themselves.

Take part in this meeting was, according to all participants, an exceptional experience, and what has been said is in fact only the appearance of an official congress who was lived in every moment and that by means of personal exchanges between participants and moments of cultural study will surely bring important results.

Capri, the most international Italian small island, between the Piazzetta, fashion outlets and its unknown corners, formed the ideal setting for this exceptional learning experience.

During the Congress short interviews were made with many members of the faculty and other leaders about topics of great interest such as cloning and the use of stem cells, the PRP, the new drug products and FUE technique. These brief extracts will be put online on the official ISHR website and especially on the Congress website mid-July.

Come back to visit ISHR and the Congress site for all the news!

Piero Tesauro
President ISHR