Category: FUE

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In the News – Restoration Robotics and the Automated Hair Transplant – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

From the article:

A robot that can pluck and move individual hair follicles on a person’s head makes hair transplants look more natural than those performed by humans, a US company claims.

The robot can also perform the procedure twice as fast as human clinicians, with less pain and scarring for the patient, says Restoration Robotics of Mountain View, California.

Read the full text at NewScientist.com – Surgical robot gives hair transplants a natural look

I am well aware of Restoration Robotics. They approached me a year or so ago to obtain rights to use our U.S. Patent to perform such surgery. Dr. Pak was the engineer back in 1998 when he helped me design the first prototype. I am eager to finally see this project get on its way.

I must disclose that if they succeed, I have a financial interest in their success from the license grant.


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I Want a Hair Transplant to Strengthen My Hairline, But I’m Worried It Would Accelerate My Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman. Thank you for this website. I visit every single day and gain some comfort in the support here.

I am a 38 yo male with stong family history on both sides of my family. I started to thin in the front/hairline of my scalp at 22 years old, and started minoxidil immediately. After adding Propecia when it came on the market, I feel have done a good job at slowing down the blading process. My father and only brother were both almost totally bald at my age. I am probably a Norwood 3 – my mid-scalp and crown are still quite thick. My hairline has suffered and is loosing ground slowly every year. Temples are receeding and “widow’s peak” is now almost gone. Watching this happen, as everyone here knows, is devastating. I am contemplating having a consult with Dr. Bernstein for a transplant as he is close to me (NYC), but I am concerned that having a transplant to strengthen my hairline may accelerate my recession and compromise what I do have. I also am not sure whether to opt for FUE or FUT since I beleive around 1000 grafts would do the trick for me at this point. After viewing some of the photos on Dr. Berstein’s website et al., where he strengthens hairlines with approx. 900 or so grafts, the results look so amazing that I want to move forward. Any advice?

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Dr Robert Bernstein is a great doctor who worked with me for over 10 years. If you were contemplating seeing Dr. Bernstein, go see him and he will be able to give you good medical advice after he has examined you. At 38 years old, with the type of hair loss you describe above, a transplant can be a good option (obviously I haven’t seen you so I can’t say for 100%). Follicular unit extraction (FUE) or follicular unit transplantation (FUT or “strip procedure”) will both work, but the likelihood of less surgeries with the strip technique has its advantages.

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Does FUE Produce Higher Hair Counts? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Getting confused here.

I read that the average hair per FU for strip is 2.0. On the other hand I read that average hair per graft for FUE is 2.3 or higher. Is it correct that FUE produces higher hair counts, and if so how come ?

With follicular unit extraction (FUE) you can select how many hairs per graft you want, while with strip harvesting what you get is the average density in the strip. That means that if you want a higher hair count per graft, in theory FUE will give it to you if they are present in the donor area in adequate quantities.

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Harvesting Hair for Transplantation From Other Areas with FUE? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Dr Rassman
Is FUE able to harvest in regions that were considered unaccessible with strips? I think about the temple areas and also the region called the “pigtail”, which in my case seems very dense.

Thanks

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Yes, harvesting the areas you are talking about can work. It is very difficult to do and the yield will probably be less, because hair densities tend to drop on the sides of the head.

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Has Hair Transplantation Technology Plateaued? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dr. Rassman,
Thank you for taking your time to read this. I know that hair transplantation has improved greatly in the past decade. Do you think that the improvments have plateaued or can we expect even better results in the hair transplant community in the future.
Thank you for all you do.

I am hoping that the follicular unit extraction (FUE) technology will be improved from an instrument point of view. I personally believe that this technology has great room for improvement. With regard to strip harvesting, I think that we have only improved in our overall efficiency, not in a better technique. We are all waiting for breakthroughs in hair cloning, hair replication or stem cell work for creating new hair.

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Resuming Activities After FUE – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Good site…I had a strip procedure(5080) Feb./06…Pretty good results…I recently went back for a Fue procedure(1050) to touch up the middle, temple and on a part of the scar from the previous strip…

  1. How long should I wait before working out and running?
  2. How long does it take for the newly implanted grafts to settle in their new home?

Thanks and keep up the great work in helping others..

Thank you for the compliment. Where is your doctor? He/she should’ve supplied the answers to your questions as a matter of routine. These are the most basic of questions that should have been explained to you before your surgery.

To answer your questions:

  1. You can generally resume exercise after one week and you can run a marathon without difficulty (not to say that hair transplants will help you run better, but you get the idea). I always restrict heavy lifting, weights (under 40 lbs with proper lifting techniques), sit-ups, and pull-ups.
  2. Most grafts are relatively secure after a day or two.

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I Had Poor Results After a Transplant 11 Months Ago — What Can I Suggest to My Doctor? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello Dr Rassman,
i had a hair transplant surgery,(strip method of 2400grafts approx)from a well reputable doctor about 11 months ago with relatively poor results in the crown area. what can i do in my case, what can i suggest to my doctor? my doctor would make the final assets at the 12th-14th month he told me. (what usaualy happens in cases like mine?)
Thank you

Failure to grow can happen, even if everything is done right. Assuming that your doctor and his/her team did it all right and you did not grow the hair, you should sit down with your doctor for a frank discussion of the problem. His/her experience should produce a good interchange with the risks of failure amongst the possible outcomes. In the hands of an inexperienced team, failure rates might be much higher. On the rare occasions that I have seen failures of the transplants to grow, I have offered to repeat them at my cost. Sometimes it grows just fine the second time, yet sometimes it does not grow even on the second round. I generally wait a year to determine what the results will probably be.

The profession has called the failure of a hair transplant to grow, the “X” (unknown) factor. This distinguishes the cause from the “H” (human) factor, which reflects defects in either the surgeon’s control or the transplant surgeon’s team. Some of the causes of “H” factor include trauma to the grafts caused by drying (leaving the grafts exposed to air for more than 30 seconds at a time), or rough handling, or a switch of the solutions used in error from saline or Ringer’s solution to distilled water (slop in protocols and process of the team).

Failures in follicular unit extraction (FUE), in particular, reflect many elements of damage caused by the extraction process which have been defined by me and some other experts at various medical meetings. Lack of required skills in FUE is the most common cause of graft growth failures. Some of the causes of failure to grow may reflect autoimmune diseases such as diffuse alopecia areata, which has no real physical presentation for an easy diagnosis other than a series of biopsies to look at the scalp under the microscope.

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Does FUE Destroy Follicles? Does FUT Traumatize the Scalp? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

i wonder what size instrument you use and do you do FUE and not FUT as a preference. i am over 50, auburn curly hair, very fine, i think miniaturized; loss on top and front. i read one article which tells me FUE is not reliable and destroys follicles; then i read another which says FUT traumatizes the scalp; i am stuck! which is safest and produces good results? can cortisone injections cure pattern loss in women? thanks

Actually, you are correct about the follicular unit extraction (FUE). Please see the post titled, What Doctors Don’t Want You to Know About FUE. As you see, there are always the pros and cons of any type of surgery, but you must weigh these out before making a decision.

I do not agree that FUT (strip procedure) traumatizes the scalp, though. FUT is considered a minor outpatient surgery.

Cortisone injections are sometimes used by doctors for female hair loss, but in my opinion it generally does little to help hair loss.

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Best Surgeons for FUE in the US? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello,

I apologise if this question has been asked and answered previously, but who would you recommend as the more accomplished surgeons performing FUE in the US. Kind regards

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There are a handful of hair transplant surgeons who claim expertise in follicular unit extraction (FUE) in the U.S. You should visit the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) for a listing of qualified surgeons and there is a sub-group from this list that do this procedure. Some good hair transplant doctors do not do this procedure, by choice. At NHI, we created the FUE technique and published it in medical journals. There are a few doctors with publication credentials, but many claim expertise. Unfortunately, I have heard about many failures by some of the doctors who claim expertise so you need to do the research yourself and meet with the surgeons on your list (who claim FUE expertise). Ask to meet some of their patients so that you know what the surgeon is capable of doing. I realize this may not be the answer you are looking for, but there is some work required on your part to assure yourself of a good result. Even for me, sorting out the doctors who can perform successful FUE procedures is very difficult as there are so many who claim such expertise and just can’t cut it.

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