I'm thinking about getting an FUE hair transplant, what is the difference between the ARTAS robot and the Neograft?

The NeoGraft device is essentially a hand-held dental drill with a sharp, circular punch, and utilizes a single-stage sharp punch dissection.  A person (usually a technician) uses their vision and their hands in an effort is made to try to extract each graft manually.  Each graft harvest attempt with the NeoGraft device is accompanied by inherent human error that we all posses.  There are several hand held FUE devices on the market, including a 50 cent 1mm dermal biopsy punch.  All have the common thread of being hand held, and entirely dependent on the technician using the hand-held device.  The ARTAS Robotic Hair Transplant system uses 2 stereoscopic cameras, complex computer algorithms, a 6-jointed robotic arm, and 5,000 times per second the computer updates its position as it extracts each hair with robotic efficiency.  The robot is controlled by a surgeon, and eliminates the human error inherent in any FUE procedure using any hand-held FUE device on the market, including the NeoGraft drill.  With robotic efficiency, the ARTAS system decreases the transection of the grafts during their removal from the scalp.  Transection of grafts is a major problem with hand-held devices, and contributes to poor growth, particularly in inexperienced hands.Most importantly, however, the experience of the physician and his or her dedication to the field of hair restoration is critical. The name of a device does not guarantee perfect results, any more than the very best tennis racket with the very best brand name will make you a tennis pro. A surgeon who recently added "NeoGraft" to a laundry list of other cosmetic procedures is most likely not experienced in the hundreds of subtleties and nuances of hair restoration, and that may be evident in the results, which are of course permanent.

The ARTAS robotic restoration procedure and the Neograft tool are both methods that help with the extraction of individual follicles in preparation for a transplant (FUE).  It is important to remember that these are both just tools that the surgeon uses to aid in obtaining the follicles.  The ARTAS machine is a robot that uses computer algorithms, cameras, and a sharp punch to separate the follicle from the surrounding skin one by one.  It is controlled by the surgeon who can make small adjustments based on the quality of the grafts that are being extracted.  The benefit of the robot is that it is precise and does not "get tired."  Therefore it is very accurate.  The Neograft is a handheld tool that is manually used to extract the graft from the donor site.  Think of it as a hand held drill.  The accuracy of the tool is completely dependent on the surgeon using it.  If the surgeon extracts the graft at an imprecise angle the Neograft will not correct for it.  Therefore in comparing the two methods, the ARTAS procedure is much more precise and accurate and yields higher quality grafts.

Artas versus Neograft is a common question in hair transplantation.  Neograft is a handheld manual FUE with suction attached to it.  Based on this design there are several flaws in harvesting hairs including human error, suction injury leading to trauma to the harvested hairs and a host of other potential issues.  Artas is a state of the art robotic system used to help eliminate human mistakes by using stereoscopic cameras, computer algorithms, and continual updates.  The Artas can actually detect which hairs are in the anagen phase of growth while it is extraordinarily difficult with the naked eye.  While there a host nuances to hair transplantation, harvesting issues are nearly eliminated with an Artas.  We have abandoned the use of manual FUEs and other devices due to consistently lower hair graft rates.  Even a 10% difference, which seems slight, can make a huge impact on your final result.