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Dr. Bertram Medical Hair Transplant
眉 髮 醫 學 移 植 中 心 ( 香 港 ) |
( 852 ) 3421-1138
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How We Minimize the Donor Scar ( 1 )
No Graft Wastage
Many patients have been asking about cloning - the multiplication of hair follicles outside the body.
There are still many technical problems to overcome before cloning is widely available. Until then the most reasonable approach is to minimize wastage of hair follicles during the hair transplant procedure.
We are born with a fixed number of hair follicles. No new hair follicle will be formed and every one, once lost, cannot be replaced.
2 Ways that Your Hair Follicles are Wasted ( Without Your Knowing )
- when the roots ( called Dermal Papilla ) are cut or crushed by improper handling
- when a larger than necessary piece of skin is excised, any extra grafts threw away
Hair follicles are very delicate piece of tissue, and can easily be damaged by improper handling. Damaged grafts have a lower chance to survice after transplant. Read More »
The donor area is limited. Careful pre-op planning is mandatory. Only the precise size of strip is excised leaving some for the future. Read More »
Unfortunately many hair transplant centers are not willing to spend more time, resources and staff training to preserve the hair follicles. The reason is obvious - why bother doing something that the patients cannot see?
Open Donor Harvesting - Reduce Graft Transection Technique 1
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Principle :
"See what you cut, cut what you see." Dr. Pathomvanich
Blind technique is still commonly used in strip excision. Patient sits and leans forward. The surgeon stands behind and cut the strip without seeing the hair follicles.
Those experienced adjust blade angles to follow the existing hair. This may work for Caucasian's short roots, but not for Asians' longer ones. Follicle are transected on the course of the blind blade. More blades are used, lesser grafts survive.
We achieve the low 2% transection rate by cutting the graft under direct and magnified vision. |
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Development :
Introduced by Dr Pathomvanich in 1998, Open Donor Harvesting has not enjoyed popularity. It's time-consuming taking an extra 30 minutes We heard one surgeon making this skeptical comment, "No way, I'll miss my coffee break."
So far the technique is mainly used by surgeons who care about scar and final result. |
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Detail of Our Technique :
The patient lies prone and face down
- Our doctor wears a loupes to see what he's cutting
- One assistant pulls the flaps apart to expose the roots
- Another uses suction to keep a bloodless field
- Surgeon cuts carefully to avoid transection
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Using a high power loupe for a clear vision |
See what we are cutting |
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| Cutting blindly can easily kill the roots
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We adjust the blade to save the roots |
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Microscopic Graft Dissection - Reduce Graft Transection Technique 2
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Principle :
In this era of Ultra-Refined FUT, the smallest follicular unit is used for grafting. Important parts of the follicle can easily be transected during cutting. Such grafts will yield suboptimal growth even if survived. The only way to preserve integrity of the follicles is to dissect under magnification. |
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Development :
Although first introduced by Dr Limmer (USA) in 1991, it took 10 years to become the gold standard. We are convinced that the result well worth the investment in equipment and training. |
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Detail of Our Technique :
- We routinely use 10X stereoscopic microscopes
- Back lighting for better visualization
- Cool LED light is used for illumination to avoid over-heat
- Grafts are kept moist all the time to prevent dehydration
- Six assistants cutting grafts to shorten preparation
- Stem-cell containing tissue preserved for better survival
- Sterilized PVC as cutting sheet instead of wooden tongue depressor to avoid contamination
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See what we are cutting |
Close to zero transection |
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