If you are tired of that bald spot, but don’t want to walk through life with a bad toupee, there’s hope. NeoGraft can change how you look at those bald spots popping up on your skull. It’s a form of hair transplant surgery, but it’s different than any other type on the market. NeoGraft offers a natural hair line. The transplanted hair looks, moves, and grows just like your natural hair, because it is your natural hair.
Hair Transplants
Transplanting hair from one part of a person’s head to another has been around for a long time. Early attempts simply took strips of hair-producing skin and stitched them to the balding areas. This often looked fake because people had a patch of thick hair in a patch of thinning or balding scalp.
Later attempts moved on to using punches. These are basically small, round knives that the transplant doctor pushed into the scalp of the transplant patient, removing a small plug of healthy hair-growing skin. The doctor then punched a hole in the balding area and placed the hair plug in the desired place.
Unfortunately, even after the hair grew back, hair plugs often ended up looking just like their names. People ended up with perfectly round spots of healthy hair in the middle of shiny skin. Thankfully, those days of hair plugs creating a polka-dot appearance on a transplant’s skull are gone.
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)
In more recent years, doctors have moved on to a process called Follicular Unit Extraction, or FUE. This method removes the hair one follicle at a time, using punches less than a millimeter in diameter. The doctor then transplants each individual follicle in the new area. This gives the doctor greater control, placing each hair in a natural configuration.
However, this method is limited by the skill of the doctor. Some doctors can quickly harvest the follicles with little fuss. Others are less adept. This can mean the difference between a quick procedure and one that takes a long time. It can mean the difference between a high percentage of usable hair grafts and many dead hair follicles. Unfortunately, new patients can’t tell if their doctor is adept until after they have had the procedure.
NeoGraft
NeoGraft makes the FUE process far more uniform and natural. The NeoGraft machine includes a special, pneumatic harvesting punch. The doctor uses this punch to choose each hair follicle individually and then push the end of the pneumatic tube into the anesthetized scalp of the patient. After the hair follicle is cut, a suction tube pulls the graft up a tube and into a waiting chamber that keeps the graft cool and moist. The device drastically speeds up the process of harvesting usable hair grafts.
Grafting
NeoGraft also speeds up the process of grafting the new hair into place. The pneumatic punch removes the perfect size hole in the balding area, and the pneumatic tube carries the unwanted skin away. Then the graft is placed in the hole, ready to grow new hair.
What You Should Expect
First of all, don’t plan on keeping the procedure a secret. Before any grafting begins, the doctor must shave the graft harvesting area. This makes it easy to see each hair follicle, but other people will likely see that you have had the procedure. The procedure also involves some risk and pain. Though it is minimally invasive, the NeoGraft punch does cut into the skin, which leaves the area open to infection. In addition, bleeding and soreness are part of the procedure. Many patients complain of headaches, especially in the graft harvesting or the graft placement areas.
Is NeoGraft Right for You?
The only one who knows whether you are a candidate for NeoGraft is your doctor. You must meet a wide range of criteria to qualify for a NeoGraft FUE procedure, so contact Dr. Bopp, and make an appointment to see if NeoGraft is right for you.