Caution: Neograft Method for FUE Could Result in Poor Yield

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FUE is defined as a hair transplant technique in which a small round punch is used to extract follicular units (with groupings of 1, 2, 3 and 4 hairs) from a patient's bald and resistant areas. These grafts are then transplanted into a patient's balding area. There are many machines and devices currently in the market that are used to perform the type f hair restoration surgery called Follicular Unit Extraction - FUE. Neograft is one of such devices..

 

FUE is skill dependent and requires precision and personal responsibility on the part of the physician for the integrity of each graft extracted.  Any departure from these tenets risks the integrity of the graft and the procedure as a whole. Attempts to speed the process without observing these tenets are done at the risk of failure. For instance

 

The following are areas of concern have been expressed regarding the use of the Neograft machine, which s one of many other FUE tools in the market:

 

The use of air suction to transport the grafts from the cutting end to the receptacle poses a potential threat to the survival of the graft. The most common cause of graft death in any type of hair transplant is air drying. For that reason, the use of a method that literally air dries the graft (by vacuuming) even for a few seconds is potentially deleterious to the grafts.The air suction method would potentially strip the graft of some of the tissue surrounding it. This tissue serves as a protective buffer from inclement elements like air, dryness and trauma. Removing this buffer is potentially deleterious to the survival of the graft

 

As the graft is forced by suction forces through a tube that leads to the receptacle, it is banged numerous times against the wall of the tube. The resulting trauma could be harmful to the graft.

 

Any process that is based on air used in pushing grafts into the balding area again introduces the potential for deleterious drying forces and may harm the survival of the FUE process.

The net result is a graft that has been through many tribulations. It has been subjected to deleterious air drying forces, stripped of some of its protective tissue coating and banged up.  A successful FUE technique requires babying of the grafts from extraction to insertion. The process thus, requires a very delicate approach. Both Drs Rassman and Dr Sanusi Umar have written in their blogs of already receiving reports of poor results from the Neograft. Dr Robert Bernstein MD also cautions about the use of the Neograft for FUE and its potential for impacting on graft survival negatively. Experienced FUE doctors often stress the need for doctors wanting to add FUE to their hair restoration armamentarium to undergo training and take time to develop the subtle touches necessary for a successful and more consistent FUE result. Prospective FUE patients should request to know which tool is being used, the person performing the actual procedure as well as their experience with the tool and their qualifications.  They should insist on seeing examples of FUE work by that provider using the proposed tool.