Dr. Alan Bauman of Boca Raton FL has announced that he is now publicly performing the Follicular Unit Extraction procedure for hair transplant patients; the latest in Hair Transplant surgery techniques…A new trend in Hair Transplantation is beginning to take root, so to speak, in a select group of transplant surgery centers here in the United States. The only published version of this procedure was first announced by Dr. William Rassman of the New Hair Institute, and soon after, Dr. Jones of Ontario Canada announced that his practice would be performing the procedure as well. HairlossTalk met Dr. Alan Bauman at the ISHRS conference in Chicago last month, and today Dr. Bauman has announced to us that he too has begun offering this alternative Hair Transplant procedure to the public.
In a nutshell, Follicular Unit Extraction allows the extraction and transplantation of individual hair follicles without use of a scalpel. Traditional FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation) involves the excision of a strip of hair-bearing skin from the back of the head, from which individual follicles are harvested and then transplanted to the front of the head. Although this method is currently one of the most successful means by which to perform a hair transplant, it can sometimes lead to scarring, and an extensive post-surgery healing period. FUE is a method by which a very small instrument is used to extract the follicle directly from the back of the head, eliminating the need for removing entire portions of skin – – theoretically reducing the healing time, and doing away with the need for stitches.
Dr. Bauman is likely one of the youngest and most progressive transplant surgeons in his field. He has been featured on CNN, and his enthusiasm for being one of the best is obvious. Dr. Bauman has been keeping HairlossTalk apprised of his recent delving into the world of FUE procedures. To date there isn’t much in the way of published statistics surrounding the FUE procedure, such as follicular transection and the percent survival rate of transplanted units. Additionally there is some disagreement among surgeons as to whether or not this method is actually less traumatic or more successful than standard strip incision methods.
We had a chance to talk to Dr. Bauman about his recent decision to begin offering Follicular Unit Extraction to the public. We are happy to be able to share his thoughts with you on this new and somewhat intriguing evolution in the world of hair transplantation:
“I’ve had good success performing the follicular extraction procedure. It is time-consuming and requires serious concentration on my part, but it’s working better than my expectations. I’m very particular about the patients I offer the procedure to, because the numbers of grafts from each harvest are much smaller than my traditional megasessions. My typical follicular-unit micrografting session is about 1800-2000 grafts, whereas my FUE procedures range around 500 grafts each.
Before we perform a full-blown FUE procedure, all patients must undergo a ‘test’ procedure (similar to Rassman’s “fox test”) which entails a few dozen extractions under ‘painless’ local anesthesia using The Wand, which takes about two hours. If the viability of the majority of the grafts extracted can be verified via magnification, the patient can then be scheduled for a ‘standard’ FUE procedure (500 grafts or so), which takes up to 5-6 hours.
Healing from the FUE procedures are rapid, significant post-op discomfort is extremely rare and multiple sessions can be performed in a short time span (patients can undergo sessions several sessions in a single month). Of course, there is no visible scarring in the donor area and no stitches are needed. Patient selection is key as each patient must understand the limitations of the procedure (# grafts/session, shaved donor area, the need for multiple procedures, increased expense, etc.) as well as the benefits (no visible scarring, minimal activity restrictions, decreased downtime, highly aesthetic results, etc.).”
Private, Virtual consultations may also be set up via the same Email address. The convenient and flexible payment plans that Bauman Medical offers to its traditional transplant patients also applies to all FUE procedure patients. Travel options are available that cater to those on a tight budget as well as those interested in the Luxury Travel and Accommodation’s found in their “Therapeutic Travel Packages. (For more information on the Therapeutic Travel Packages, please see the CNN Video Clip above).
