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We're often asked how robotic FUE is different at Bernstein Medical compared to other clinics and, first of all, it's important to remember that the robotic part of FUE, of follicular unit extraction is only one small part of the procedure. The extraction and implementation is actually a four step procedure. So, the robot only does the scoring, only separates the follicular unit from the surrounding tissue. The follicular still then has to be removed. This is done manually. The recipient sites have to be made and then the grafts have to be placed.
What we do is, because we're very skilled in microscopic dissection, we'll take each follicular unit that comes out of the back of the scalp, examine it under a microscope, trim it to make sure there are no hair fragments, count it to make sure that we're only putting single hair follicular units at the frontal hair line, and then sort them and place them into the scalp. It also allows us to very accurately count the number of hairs and the number of intact grafts.
The actual robot that we use at Bernstein Medical is also different than robots used at other clinics. First of all, we don't use a one millimeter punch. The robot, as we had discussed, has a two step procedure. One is that the cutting instrument and then the dissecting part. So, the traditional robot has a one millimeter cutting tool for the sharp instrument and then the blunt dissection is done with a 1.2 millimeters. This is a little bit larger than what's traditionally done in FUE. Our robot has a 0.9 millimeter punch and then the dissecting part of it is 1.1 millimeters. So, the average size of the dissection is about one millimeter, which we've found to be ideal with the handheld system. So, we're using a little bit smaller punch and we find that we get, essentially, the same amount of hair, but the wounding is significantly less and the healing is quicker.
The other thing that we do is we have the program software to eliminate one hair follicular units. When the robot scans over the follicular units, it will only go for the two, three, and four hair units and the reason why we do this is because it doesn't make sense to make an incision, a one millimeter hole, just to remove a single hair. Because our microscopic dissection is so good, we can take a larger follicular unit, a two, three, or four hair follicular unit, and generate the one hair follicular units under the microscope with careful dissection and use those for areas like the hairline, without having to produce an extra hole in the back of the scalp and, when you add the elimination of these one hair holes and add that to using the small spot size, the 0.9 millimeter punch, that really makes a significant difference in the amount of wounding to the donor area, both in how quickly the sites heal and also the overall appearance of the donor area.
What we do is, because we're very skilled in microscopic dissection, we'll take each follicular unit that comes out of the back of the scalp, examine it under a microscope, trim it to make sure there are no hair fragments, count it to make sure that we're only putting single hair follicular units at the frontal hair line, and then sort them and place them into the scalp. It also allows us to very accurately count the number of hairs and the number of intact grafts.
The actual robot that we use at Bernstein Medical is also different than robots used at other clinics. First of all, we don't use a one millimeter punch. The robot, as we had discussed, has a two step procedure. One is that the cutting instrument and then the dissecting part. So, the traditional robot has a one millimeter cutting tool for the sharp instrument and then the blunt dissection is done with a 1.2 millimeters. This is a little bit larger than what's traditionally done in FUE. Our robot has a 0.9 millimeter punch and then the dissecting part of it is 1.1 millimeters. So, the average size of the dissection is about one millimeter, which we've found to be ideal with the handheld system. So, we're using a little bit smaller punch and we find that we get, essentially, the same amount of hair, but the wounding is significantly less and the healing is quicker.
The other thing that we do is we have the program software to eliminate one hair follicular units. When the robot scans over the follicular units, it will only go for the two, three, and four hair units and the reason why we do this is because it doesn't make sense to make an incision, a one millimeter hole, just to remove a single hair. Because our microscopic dissection is so good, we can take a larger follicular unit, a two, three, or four hair follicular unit, and generate the one hair follicular units under the microscope with careful dissection and use those for areas like the hairline, without having to produce an extra hole in the back of the scalp and, when you add the elimination of these one hair holes and add that to using the small spot size, the 0.9 millimeter punch, that really makes a significant difference in the amount of wounding to the donor area, both in how quickly the sites heal and also the overall appearance of the donor area.
Here Is How a Meticulous Hair Transplant Procedure Is Performed Using Robotics
Dr. Robert Bernstein explains how a FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) is performed using microscopes and a robot to ensure the best and most natural results.
