New York pioneer of robotic hair transplant procedures and founder of Bernstein Medical - Center for Hair Restoration, Dr. Robert M. Bernstein introduced "recipient site creation" capabilities of the next generation ARTAS Robotic System to physicians at the Restoration Robotics ARTAS User Group Meeting.
With this development, the ARTAS Robotic System is one step away from performing every critical aspect of surgical hair transplant procedures.
The ARTAS System harvests intact follicular unit grafts from the permanent area in back of the patient's scalp using precise robotic technology. This is the most difficult aspect of a follicular unit extraction hair transplant - the newer type of hair restoration procedure that avoids a linear scar in the back of the scalp.
Now that site creation can also be done robotically, only one step remains - graft placement. The doctor first draws a hairline and other markings directly onto the patient's scalp to delineate the surgical plan. Next, multiple photographs are taken and fed into software, called the ARTAS Hair Studio, which converts the images into a 3-D model of the actual patient. This computer model can be manipulated and saved for the patient's procedure.
Using the ARTAS Hair Studio software, the physician then specifies the angle, direction, density, and randomness of the recipient site incisions to create the most natural look. During the procedure, the robot uses image-guided technology to avoid existing hairs while it creates up to 1,500 recipient sites per hour. In performing recipient site creation, the robot automates a process that can be physically demanding and prone to human error.
