Bay Area hair restoration surgeon, Sara
Wasserbauer, M.D., is leading a research study involving the
recently FDA approved robotic hair transplant technology. One of
only two sites, Dr. Wasserbauer is studying how effective the
interactive image-guided robotic system is at removing and
implanting hair grafts on a scalp.
The Restoration Robotics™ ARTAS System is an interactive, computer
assisted technique utilizing image-guided robotics to enhance the
quality of hair follicle harvesting. Operated under the direction of
a physician, ARTAS has the potential to solve most of the technical
challenges inherent in the manual follicular unit extraction (FUE)
techniques.
During the two-year study, Dr. Wasserbauer has been collecting data
on the effectiveness of the ARTAS technology by itself and compared
to manual hair transplantation techniques. Entering the final stage
of the research, Dr. Wasserbauer will be examining the rate of hair
growth in patients nine months after having their ARTAS System hair
transplant.
“It’s quite amazing to think how far technology has come,” said Dr.
Wasserbauer. “The use of robotics is already used in many fields of
medicine - especially in surgical procedures. I’ve been very excited
about this particular study and am enjoying being part of the
research team to determine the pros and cons of using robotics in
hair restoration.”
So far, Wasserbauer has found several benefits of using the robotics
technology for follicular unit extraction, including:
-Shorter healing times due to minimal wound size with each graft
-Less invasive surgery
-Hair transplant completed in five hours, compared to eight to ten
manual hours
-Less labor intensive for the surgeon
The ARTAS System combines several features including an interactive,
image-guided robotic arm, special imaging technologies, small dermal
punches and a computer interface. After the System is positioned
over the patient's donor area of the scalp, ARTAS is capable of
identifying and harvesting individual follicular units. The
follicular units are stored until they are implanted into the
patient's recipient area using the latest manual techniques.
The Restoration Robotics study will end this month and Dr.
Wasserbauer will report her findings and study results at the annual
meeting of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery.
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