A high-tech solution for a very common problem – by age thirty-five two-thirds of American men will have some degree of hair loss. By the age of 50, 85 percent are a lot thinner on top. A doctor becomes the patient – as he tests out a new robotic hair restoration procedure.
"Well my biggest concern is my hairline." Robert Leonard, D.O., told Ivanhoe.
Normally Dr. Robert Leonard is the one performing hair transplant surgery but this time he is the patient, trying out a new FDA-approved robotic device to restore his hairline.
Under the control of a hair transplant surgeon, the ARTAS system uses a robotic arm and digital imaging. Every 20 milliseconds it re-calculates hair position to achieve the best results from a patient's donor area.
"The robot will line up to each hair follicle each hair shaft either one grouping up to almost four groupings and will punch each one out by a one millimeter punch." Matthew Lopresti, D.O., told Ivanhoe.
Unlike traditional hair transplant surgery the ARTAS robot leaves no linear scar allowing patients to wear their hair shorter at the donor site.
"I just had this technique just done a very short time ago, and my whole hair line was transplanted," said Leonard.
Dr. Lopresti says the ARTAS is more precise, than the traditional surgery – cutting down on time by approximately 25-percent. Under local anesthesia it takes about five to seven hours to perform.
"Most patients do not complain of any discomfort whatsoever especially at night time lying on a pillow versus the traditional method where you do have a line with skin that was taken out with sutures in the back," said Dr. Lopresti.
In about eighteen months Dr. Leonard can expect to see full hair growth.
The procedure costs on average about ten to fifteen thousand dollars. As hair transplants are almost always considered elective procedures, health plans do not normally pay for hair transplantation surgery.
BACKGROUND: No matter what causes baldness, many people decide to undergo hair transplants to regain self-confidence. Primary causes can include ageing, hormone change, and family history, although there are several external factors that can contribute as well. Poor scalp circulation, vitamin deficiencies, dandruff, and excessive hat-wearing have been debunked as possible causes of baldness.
(Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007205.htm, http://www.plasticsurgery.org/cosmetic-procedures/hair-replacement.html)
PROCEDURE: Follicular Unit Transplantations (FUT), or hair transplants, have been around since the 1950's. In a standard FUT, a section of the scalp containing hair (donor area) is removed and divided into several grafts. The donor area is then stitched or stapled back together. Then, small incisions are made in the balding area, and replaced with the grafts from the donor area. Tightness in the scalp is a typical post-op side effect, since the donor area is being pulled and stapled/stitched closed.
(Source: http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/hair-loss/hair-transplants, http://www.artashair.com/choosing-artas/compare-your-options/)
NEW TECHNOLOGY: Since the ARTAS Robotic Hair Procedure harvests individual groupings of hair without the removal of a large section of the scalp, there is almost no scarring in the donor area – no need for stitching or staples. Due to this primary factor, recovery time is drastically reduced. The goal of the ARTAS system is to create the most natural appearance for hair transplants.
(Source: http://www.artashair.com/faqs/)
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Jeff Rogers
Leonard Hair Transplant Associates
1.800.543.0660
Matthew Lopresti, D.O., talks about the new ARTAS® Robotic System — a revolutionary new device in hair restoration.
Today you did a procedure; tell me what you did for Dr. Leonard?
Dr. Lopresti: Today for Dr. Leonard we did a hair transplantation. We did his hairline more on the left than the right. He was a little bit more receded on the left than the right. So we restored his whole hairline as well as doing some transplantation on the back of the crown.
And you did it using robotics tell me how that works.
Dr. Lopresti: Yes, so we did a robotics system today. It's called the ARTAS robotic device. It works on a system of a robot which we control by toggle switch like a remote control if you will. There's a TV where we can see everything that we're doing that's on magnification. As well as also a monitor with the computer that also has controls which the person at the computer can also manipulate the robot for what we need. The robot will lineup to each hair follicle each hair shaft. Either one grouping up to almost 4 groupings and will punch each one out by one millimeter punch typically. And that hair when it lines up punches in and cores that out for us to then extract each individual hair follicle by hand.
And then where does that follicle go?
Dr. Lopresti: After the team extracts those one by one by hand then I come in and made all these and incisions like I described, also the hairline for Dr. Leonard, also in the back of the crown and then the team comes in and plants those hair groupings one by one.
And what does it look like when you're planting them? Is it a smaller hair and then it grows or what happens once they're planted?
Dr. Lopresti: Yes, so we stay within the natural guidelines of our own natural hair so that it looks very natural. So it looks as if a transplant was not done. Once those hairs are placed it looks like a small slit of an incision only for about five or seven days the top of head were we planted those looks like a rash for five to seven days. After that it cleans up goes way putting you back to almost what you looked like before the transplant. There are little grafts there of the hair that we placed though that then start to grow but most if not all of them follow in about three weeks. From that point forward at about three months little stubbles start to come through the skin and it starts to grow ¼ inch per month. So the whole process really takes from start to finish eighteen months or a year and a half.
To see what the results look like?
Dr. Lopresti: To see what the results look like and for all of the hairs to grow through the skin because they don't all grow through the skin at the exact same time.
What's the difference; how does a robotic work compared to if you did this the traditional way?
Dr. Lopresti: Right, so the ARTAS is a robotic device that allows individuals that decide to have more of a hair length option, different hairstyles different haircuts to wear their hair very short. Even down to almost a buzz or a high military style haircut where a linear scar which is the traditional method, that scar would be from side to side a linear scar which would be noticeable if you ever decided to wear a haircut or a hairstyle that's short. As to the ARTAS robotic device there's not a lot of that to be obviously seen.
What does it do that you don't see it?
Dr. Lopresti: So the traditional linear method where you have a scar that runs from side to side typically, it could be a couple of inches, maybe a little bit more around six inches long. There is scar tissue because once you ever cut into the skin it never goes back completely normal. So that would be seen as a white line, typically about the width of a pen line if you draw on a piece of paper. As to with the ARTAS, is it comes in a punches out these small little holes so small one millimeter in size when they contracts down and heal their really about the size of a pen dot, or a pen dot. So that's not noticeable as where a straight line would be visibly noticeable.
Why couldn't a human do it themselves the way the ARTAS does it or would that be impossible because it's not as precise or it would take too long or what are the benefits of doing it robotically?
Dr. Lopresti: No and it's a great question. So with the ARTAS robotic device we also have another device called the neo-graft. And that's also almost on the same lines as the ARTAS robotic device where we are still using a small one millimeter punch. But in that sense with neo-graft we're actually doing them by hand. So in that case versus ARTAS we are doing things by hand as I said, were punching them out one by one individually into the machine that then sucks that hair graft out. So in theory they're both about the same however, the neo-graft relies on human technique and also human fatigue. So eyes get tired, hands get tired and we as humans can make mistakes in that sense where we fatigue out. As to the ARTAS robotic device it lines up with laser precision and the robot doesn't get tired. So the robot versus the neo-graft allows a non-fatigue state as well as also a more accurate, precise harvest.
And the results are the same?
Dr. Lopresti: The results when we harvest what we need to harvest and then transplant would be the same one way or another but the results should be the same.
Does the robotic system allow you to do more in less time?
Dr. Lopresti: It does, and that's another benefit of doing the robot versus doing them by hand. The robot can harvest almost up to in some cases, up to around nine hundred harvest at times per hour as to whereby hand you may be doing a couple of hundred.
What would be a typical length of time and how much would you harvest for just something that was one of the average hair transplants?
Dr. Lopresti: So most of the people that decide to go through the ARTAS robotic device, they're looking at restoring their hairline just to about right before the pre-crown, right before that circle in the back. The average person may get anywhere between twelve hundred to may be sixteen hundred harvest attempts so that's a typical average. And then a typical case may take anywhere from up to eight hours to ten hours from start to finish when you walk in the door and walk out of the door. But you're not harvesting with the robot all of that time but within that time it involves the robot also doing its job but we also have to prep you as to where we have to shave the back of your head. We have to numb the area, the robot has to harvest under our control and then you also get a break where you have lunch in between and then also then implanting everything back in after we make all the incisions throughout the whole top of the head.
How much time does the robot save you for a procedure?
Dr. Lopresti: In the past if we did not have the robot we would be able to do one procedure that would take all day long as to where this is cutting down time by maybe at least twenty-five two almost fifty percent.
So it could be anywhere from half the time so if it took eight hours you could do four to six?
Dr. Lopresti: Correct.
What's the difference between what the robotics does compared to traditionally how you do it by hand?
Dr. Lopresti: So by hand there are a few different techniques. We can do one, the traditional method which is where we end up taking out a piece of skin that would leave you with a linear scar in the back. The ARTAS robotic device where we punch them out individually by one millimeter hole punches, we take those out throughout the head randomly in the back and that allows those hairs to then shrink down, or those wounds to help to shrink down, so that it's not visibly noticeable. That is by the ARTAS robotic device. We do have other devices where we also do that by hand where we're also taking a small one millimeter punch except it's by human hand so there is a fatigue role portion of that as well as also eye fatigue and like I said hand fatigue.
And the robotic is faster and more precise or what would you say about the robotic compared to the traditional?
Dr. Lopresti: The traditional method of doing the one millimeter punch is to put that in comparison to the robot the outcome is going to be the same. However, time the robot will cut that down from anywhere between twenty five to fifty percent more saving, time-saving; and the robot itself also does not fatigue. So the robot is a lot faster in addition. You can get up to almost nine hundred harvest attempts for doing hair and an hour versus by hand you're only looking at maybe a couple of hundred.
What's the cost of robotics, is it a different pricing?
Dr. Lopresti: It is. So a safe range is between ten to fifteen thousand dollars for a robotic procedure, and that's based upon the amount of time in the room. A traditional strip method is around four to five hours depending on the size of the procedure. So if somebody is skin bald it might be closer to five or someone having a little bit done on the front closer to four. With the robotic device it can be anywhere between five hours to eight hours depending on the size of the hair loss, the procedure, how much hair loss somebody has.
So an average procedure would – with the robotic would cost somebody how much?
Dr. Lopresti: Between ten and fifteen thousand dollars.
What with traditional?
Dr. Lopresti: I would say between five and eight. That's a safe range, or five and nine around there.
So it's cheaper for the traditional because you're paying for the robotic part of it?
Dr. Lopresti: It's-- yes it's just based on upon the time in the room. Using that device and the time spent in the room. So the actual surgical center -- the fee for that procedure is based upon the time that room is being used.
How long before we will start to see the growth?
Dr. Lopresti: Starting to see initial growth, like I said, after we make all those incisions, place the hair grafts in place most if not all of them fall out at that time but they all don't have to all fall out so some may start to grow right from initial placement. On average you start to see more so around the three-month mark. You start to see some stumbles coming through the skin that are very, very short but by about six months is when you notice a cosmetic difference. Meaning combing it, styling it, you may have the ability to cut it a little bit better. But like I said it takes about eighteen months, a year and a half everything will be fully said and done. But I think for also what you are asking the benefits of doing one versus the other pain is one thing, the ARTAS robotic device most patients do not complain of any discomfort whatsoever. Especially at night time lying on a pillow as to where versus the traditional method where you do have a line that was of skin that was taken out with sutures in the back those tend to be a little bit more uncomfortable. Versus the robot where you make small little tiny punctures it is less invasive therefore most patients complain of less pain so they have more of an ability to recuperate faster.
Somebody looking at it will say it costs more money, but the benefits are that there's less pain for a person.
Dr. Lopresti: Yeah, benefits less pain, it's less invasive, you heal a lot faster and it also again, gives everybody that decides to do this much more of a variety of options for hairstyle.
This information is intended for additional research purposes only. It is not to be used as a prescription or advice from Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. or any medical professional interviewed. Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. assumes no responsibility for the depth or accuracy of physician statements. Procedures or medicines apply to different people and medical factors; always consult your physician on medical matters.