New Technology For Hair Grafts

Posted Friday, September 7, 2007 to PROCEDURES > Hair

Posted by The Original Anti-Aging & Cosmetic Surgery Magazine

Hair Transplants over the years have gone through many drastic changes and huge leaps in technological advances. Sally Waddington explores the Erbium: VAG laser, the latest progression in laser use for Hair Transplants.

Lasers have been used for hair grafts since the late 1960s.A part of the popular micrografting technique, they are used to 'bum' holes into the scalp to make space for the transplanted hair to be placed and shaped into a natural-looking head of hair. The tiny holes vary in size to fit from clumps of six hairs, down to just a single hair. The Erbium: YAG laser (Aesculap-Meditec, Jena, Germany) is the latest development in a range of lasers used for this purpose. It provides great precision - necessary to create the small holes required for transplants. The laser is also capable of setting a specific incision depth and size, maintaining an evenness to the transplant. A study, 'The Future In Hair Transplantation' by Robert M. Bemstein MD, states "the ability of the new Erbium: YAG laser to create uniform recipient sites rapidly, and its ability to create a slit while at the same time removing recipient tissue without causing significant thermal injury to the recipient bed, represents a significant advance." The laser makes the required slits in the scalp, without doing damage to the skin or biological mechanisms that function there.

When hair is grafted into the scalp, there is a reliance on the body's fibrin network, (the 'biological glue') to hold the hair in place. According to the study, with the Erbium: YAG laser, "bald tissue is actually removed, yet there is no bum at the wound edges to compromise the building of the fibrin network, or compromise blood flow that delivers the crucial oxygenation and nutritive flow essential for graft survival."

Bleeding from transplant surgery has, in the past, been a serious problem. However, the bleeding from the Erbium laser is minimal enough to be controlled with only a local anesthetic. Clinical Associate Professor of the Department of Dermatology at Comell University Medical College, Neil Sadek MD, says patients with minimal hair on the scalp have even less bleeding: "If somebody has a very balding scalp, it allows you to make the recipient slit without any bleeding. There is no damage to the surrounding tissue." Post-surgery results are also satisfying. The Erbium: YAG laser reduces inflammation and crusting of the wound site. Growth of the grafted hair, although it varies from patient to patient, starts usually 10 - 12 weeks after surgery.

While laser technology is far from perfection, the advantages of the Erbium: YAG laser are yet another step towards safer, better results. The study by Bemstein concludes: "The Erbium: YAG laser is an important addition for the hair transplant surgeon."

Add Comment

To discourage SPAM, we ask that you type your code (displayed below) in the text box.

Your Code:
Enter Code:	*