A weekend’s worth of training. Is it enough to learn to do hair transplants?

Consider the plastic surgeon who recently bought a brand new NeoGraft automated hair transplant system that does follicular unit extraction. The surgeon took a weekend seminar and before you new it, he was doing hair transplants. Does NeoGraft work, yes? Is a weekend long enough to become proficient and highly competent? At DiStefano Hair Loss Restoration Centers we have to say an emphatic no.

First, the NeoGraft system does only follicular unit extraction. That means it removes the hair follicles at the back of the head one follicle at a time. By automating the process it can prevent an inexperienced doctor from making mistakes that might occur when extracting each individual follicle manually.

That is all well and good, but the NeoGraft machine doesn’t do anything for making the graft incisions at the donor site so they are at the proper depth and angle. Nor does NeoGraft place the donor hair follicles in the new site incisions. NeoGraft also doesn’t help design the hairline. Learning to do these parts of the procedure take years of training and experience.

Whether done manually or automated the follicular unit extraction procedure is ideal for specific purposes. But in the majority of cases, follicular unit transplant, wherein the donor hair is removed from a small strip of scalp from the back of the head is a better solution for people who wear their hair longer than a buzz cut or need to have a mega session where thousands and thousands of follicles are placed in one sitting. Follicular unit transplant is also less expensive than follicular unit extraction.

Whether the procedure involves manual or automated equipment to do a follicular unit extraction, it is critical to engage a surgeon that knows how to do the extraction procedure as well as the follicular unit transplant procedure. Most important they should be highly experienced at both.