What percentage of ARTAS transplants fail? (Photo)

Hair transplantation success rate will vary based on method of harvest (manual FUE, Artas, Neograft, etc).  In general, Artas has a higher success rate and more consistent harvest rate than manual FUE due to a whole host of factors.  Patients with failures in hair transplantation can be from the graft harvest aspect or poor recipient bed.  Artas helps improve uptake from the harvest aspect by selecting hairs in proper phase of growth + lower transection rates.  Recipient bed nourishment can be improved by a variety of regenerative factors to get better graft take as well.  In my hair transplantation practice, we combine these two elements in every case to help get more consistent results.  

ARTAS robot only harvests the hair follicles.  The final result depend on the doctor and the team working together to implant the hairs.  The failure rate is more related to the entire process.

Dear jtomkins007,
Thank you for posting this question. The ARTAS Robotic Hair Transplant System actually works best on patients with light skin and straight, dark hair. It’s an optical instrument that uses black and white cameras (for maximum visual contrast for the robot algorithms) to examine each hair follicle individually and use it’s 2-stage surgical punch to extract grafts. There are a limited number of reasons that a hair transplant will fail. In properly selected patients it should never fail. If a patient has scarring alopecia, wound healing problems, or other health issues then he or she may not be the best candidate for a hair transplant. If the patient is healthy and a good candidate, then it works every time. The failures in hair transplant procedures are nearly always due to inexperienced physicians, inexperienced staff, or a combination of both. Workflow efficiency is key in hair transplant surgery, and it’s not simple. I see more and more doctors who have very limited experience with hair restoration surgery, if any at all, acquire an ARTAS system and attempt their very first hair transplant procedure with a complex surgical robot. In my opinion those are the clinics and centers to think twice about. There are many dedicated hair restoration surgery centers in this country, and that’s what you should look for. A physician who has added “ARTAS hair transplant” to their long list of other plastic surgery cosmetic procedures is going to spend the majority of his or her time doing those other cosmetic procedures, and not perform robotic hair transplant every day of the week. It’s common sense that such a physician, who is in their first stages of learning hair transplant surgery could not offer the same quality of service, surgery, or final cosmetic results as a physician whose entire career is focused on hair transplant surgery. That’s what I would look for. An easy litmus test for a hair transplant practice is to ask if they offer both linear strip FUT surgery as well as FUE (ARTAS) surgery. I think it’s a red flag for a practice if they only offer one or the other. Neither method is a panacea. Most doctors who have recently entered the field and started performing hair transplant will not offer the linear strip FUT. Serious hair transplant surgeons offer all of the modern methods of hair restoration surgery, and ones that are new to it typically don’t. Look for a long history of success in the field, and a good number of before and after photos that are that are patients of the doctor you’re seeing. It takes a year or more for final results to fully grow in, and many doctors are showing patients pictures of patients that are “from corporate” or provided by the company that makes whatever hair transplant medical device that have recently acquired to add “hair transplant” to their list of services. I hope this information is helpful to you.Kind Regards,Ken Anderson, MD, FISHRS

The success rate of hair transplant procedures varies based on the method of harvest, such as manual FUE, ARTAS or strip surgery. Generally speaking, ARTAS offers a higher success rate and more consistent harvest rate than any other hair transplant procedure. Hair transplant failures can be caused by a multitude of reasons. ARTAS significantly reduces the risks associated with hair restoration procedures and provides the most consistent results. 

Great question!  First off, success is only partially due to graft growth.  For example you can have 100% graft growth, with grafts placed in inappropriate locations and improper angles and straight lines which will never look good.  Even with the ARTAS robot there is a great deal of variability between centers based on the aesthetic design in the planning phases.  This all said, of course graft growth is important.  We see great success because of our ARTAS protocols for any hair type, but also because we have engineered the procedure to first make the new sites, then start placing the new hairs while we are harvesting them to reduce out of body time.  In fact, by the time we finish harvesting, 90% of the hairs have already been placed.  We also add PRP as well as bio-enhanced holding solution with ATPv to make our procures even more effective.  There are times when patients are not candidates for a hair restoration procedure (ie not enough donor density to meet the recipient demand, or history of a skin/scalp disease that would reject the grafts) so it is crucial to find a practice with vast knowledge about hair conditions.  Then as you mentioned, being a good post-procedure patient is important and we always recommend a few long term strategies to improve long term success after the procedure.  Good luck!

Many things can effect graft survival.  When removing follicles a two handed technique is less dramatic. The adequate size for the recipient side to match the follicles is important as well. If the holes are too small staff members place in the grafts make too many attempts to place the grafts and traumatize the grafts.
Using hypothermasol allows better handling of the grafts outside the body.  It decreases the stress on grafts so make sure you surgeon is using the right holding solutions.  Grafts should be maintained at 4 -8 degrees celsius outside the body and should be immediately replaced once harvested.
Make sure your surgeon makes recipient sites first to minimize the time to replant.   Not all grafts will survive the process but an acceptable rate should be between 90-95 % survival.  Consider Bioenhanced Robotic Hair Restoration for better survival.

When performed correctly, both FUT & FUE will have very high rates of growth. If the quality of grafts is good, and placement technique is good then you should have good growth. If no one checks the grafts during an ARTAS (or other FUE) harvest procedure and there is a high transection rate, if the grafts are left to dry out or they are placed into the scalp in a traumatic fashion or not placed very sparsely; that is when you have poor outcomes.

Artas transplant should not fail if the team is experienced. Failrue often does not have to do with the FUE itself, but rather the absence of good quality control in the hair transplant process