The world of
hair transplants is about to be revolutionized thanks to the developments of the
Artas Corporation. With their latest innovation hair follicles can be harvested
at a much quicker pace through the use of image-guided robotics. The advantages
of this are multiple not to mention safer with the elimination of technicians
who previously performed the procedure manually. Artas claims the new technology
is capable of replacing the current “gold standard” of strip harvesting.
This is definitely a plus because that type of harvesting requires the use of
sutures and bandages which can be associated with infection.
The Artas system essentially
utilizes a dual camera set-up with memory to photograph the extraction areas
from multiple angles. This allows the doctor to precisely choose or ignore what
follicles they desire to extract whether it be singular or multiple units. Once
this has been done the areas that were previously shaved are now available for a
customized or automated extraction. The robotic arm then begins to make multiple
1 mm punches for the removal of the specifically targeted follicular units. One
of the advantages of this is the time it takes to perform a full transplant
procedure can be substantially reduced.
A word to the
wise though is this breakthrough is still in the investigational stages but
should be commercially available by 2012.
