Can Grafts Fall Out After A Hair Transplant?

While hair transplant grafts can fall out within the first few days after a hair transplant, this is extremely rare. More often, patients will mistake the hair that normally falls out after a transplant for the graft itself. This is because the hair has a little bulb at the bottom of it, but that's not the follicle; it's just the root sheath, so it is nothing to be concerned about.

How Is Robotic FUE Different At Bernstein Medical?

Robotic FUE at Bernstein Medical is distinguished in that we produce high quality grafts, faster healing times, and better cosmetic results.

How Young Is Too Young To Have A Hair Transplant?

At Bernstein Medical we generally do not perform hair transplants in patients younger than 25 because it is too difficult to determine if their donor area is stable.

How is the ARTAS Robot Used During a Hair Transplant Procedure?

The follicular unit extraction (FUE) hair transplant procedure consists of four steps: 1) separation of follicular units from the surrounding tissue, 2) removal of follicular units from the scalp, 3) creation of recipient sites, and 4) placement of follicular units into these recipient sites. The first step is performed by the ARTAS System -- the part of the FUE hair transplant which requires the greatest precision and that is most subject to human error.

FUT Hair Transplant Procedure Part 2: Strip Harvesting

In Part 2 of our two-video series on FUT, Dr. Bernstein walks us through preparing the hair transplant patient’s donor area before harvesting the donor strip. The donor area is shaved and injections of anesthetic are administered. Dr. Bernstein then incises the donor area so he can remove the thin strip of skin containing the follicular units that form the basis of the hair transplant procedure. After removal, the strip is placed into a dish containing Ringer’s Lactate at room temperature before going to the dissecting table. From there, we see the painstaking process of dissecting out the individual follicular unit grafts for later placement into balding areas of the scalp. Dissected grafts are held in a special chilled biologic solution to maximize graft survival.

FUT Hair Transplant Procedure Part 1: Consultation

In Part 1 of our two-video series on Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), Dr. Bernstein is seen in consultation with a patient in preparation of his hair transplant procedure. In FUT, follicular unit grafts are harvested from the back and sides of the scalp through a long, thin donor strip. Dr. Bernstein reviews with the patient the target number of grafts to be harvested and how he arrived at that number. Next, he goes over the aesthetic plan for the transplant and how the patient will be able to groom his hair when the transplant has matured. Sedatives are administered and the patient’s vital signs and blood oxygen are recorded.

Robotic Hair Transplant Procedure Part 3: Graft Harvesting

In Part 3 of our three-video series on FUE hair transplants, Dr. Bernstein narrates as he and his team of assistants prepares the patient for graft harvesting by the ARTAS Robot for FUE. This includes positioning an apparatus called a tensioner on the donor area, administering tumescent fluid to the dermis, programming the robot for the specific procedure and aligning the robotic arm over the donor area.

As the robotic extraction commences, Dr. Bernstein discusses the reason why the robot is tasked with extracting only 2-, 3- and 4-hair follicular units while avoiding the smallest 1-hair grouping. He also discusses the robot’s 2-step extraction procedure in which a 0.9mm sharp punch is used to score the skin and that is followed immediately by a 1.1-mm rotating blunt punch to dissect the deeper portion of the grafts from the surrounding skin.

Watch as Dr. Bernstein describes the actions of the robot as it uses its specially designed image-guided sensors to select the next graft, position itself to follow the angle of the hair, then use the 2-step technique to dissect out the follicular units.

After the robot performs the extraction, Dr. Bernstein’s team uses special forceps to remove the follicular units from the scalp and place them first in Ringer’s Lactate and then in chilled HyperThermosol-ATP a medium designed to prolong the life of the grafts after they have been removed from the scalp.

Transplant

Robotic Hair Transplant Procedure Part 2b: Robotic Recipient Site Creation

Dr. Robert M. Bernstein and the team at Restoration Robotics, Inc., have used the Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration facility, in New York City, to demonstrate a test of the new recipient site creation capability of the ARTAS Robotic Hair Transplant System.

At the 2nd ARTAS User Group Meeting in February 2014, Dr. Bernstein introduced hardware and software technology by which the ARTAS Robotic System can create recipient sites in an FUE hair transplant. The addition of the recipient site creation capability to the robot, which until now was used solely to extract follicular units, brings the system closer to performing all critical aspects of a hair transplant procedure.

In using the updated ARTAS robot, the doctor takes photographs of the patient which are fed into the robot’s computer system. The ARTAS™ Hair Studio converts the photos into a 3-D model of the patient. This model can be manipulated and saved for use in the patient’s procedure. The physician then designs the recipient site incisions in order to create the most natural looking hair transplant. During the procedure, the robot uses its guidance technology to avoid existing hairs while creating up to 1,500 recipient sites per hour. The automation of recipient site creation improves a procedure that, with manual tools, can be physically demanding and prone to human error.

The final step of a robotic hair transplant will be the automated insertion of follicular units into recipient sites created by the ARTAS. This step is likely 2 or more years away from use in a hair restoration clinic.

Robotic Hair Transplant Procedure Part 2a: Manual Recipient Site Creation

In Part 2 of our three-video series on FUE hair transplantation, Dr. Bernstein describes the recipient site creation process in detail. He explains why, in FUE procedures, the recipient sites are created before the follicular unit grafts are extracted from the donor area. “Pre-making” recipient sites is a key improvement to the FUE procedure that Dr. Bernstein was the first to describe in medical literature. It is beneficial in several ways, the most important of which include reducing the overall time grafts are out of the body and creating a “fertile bed” for the follicular unit grafts. Both of these processes contribute to increased graft survival.

Robotic Hair Transplant Procedure Part 1: Donor Area Preparation

In Part 1 of our three-video series on Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) at Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration, Dr. Bernstein walks us through the preparation of the patient’s donor area for an FUE hair transplant. This includes shaving the hair in the donor area to 1-mm in length and administering anesthetic for the robotic hair transplant procedure.

Study: Graft Anchoring in Hair Transplant Surgery

This study determined exactly how long it takes after a hair transplant for the grafts to be securely anchored in the recipient area, so that they cannot be dislodged. This information is important in guiding the patient's post-op care after a hair restoration procedure. The study also showed that preventing the formation of crusts following a hair transplant would shorten the time patients are at risk of dislodging grafts. It would also allow them to return to their normal hair care routines more rapidly.

Diffuse Patterned & Unpatterned Hair Loss Treatment

Both diffuse patterned (DPA) & unpatterned (DUPA) hair loss can be treated with medication, but only DPA can be corrected with surgical hair restoration.