NeoGraft – Hair Transplantation

There are a number of "proven" hair transplantation methods. On this clip, our hair expert, Dr. Robert Leonard, talks about NeoGraft, one of the proven transplantation methods for hair loss treatment.

DR. ROBERT LEONARD: Hello, I’m Dr. Robert Leonard. I’m Founder and Chief Surgeon of Leonard Hair Transplant Associates. MS. HOPE MURPHY: My name is Hope Murphy, and I live in Coventry, Rhode Island. DR. ROBERT LEONARD: Today I’m actually doing a technique called NeoGraft, which is an automated follicular unit extraction technique that’s working beautifully for our patients. I’m the only doctor in New England using the NeoGraft device. MS. HOPE MURPHY: I decided to use this procedure after talking with Dr. Leonard, and he suggested that it would be a very easy fix, and I wouldn’t feel so self-conscious when I parted my hair or the wind blew my hair away from my face because it wouldn’t look like I had bald spots. DR. ROBERT LEONARD: What makes the NeoGraft procedure particularly appearing to patients is that there’s no surgical scar afterwards. So patients were able to wear a very short haircut, and many men in particular want to have a very short haircut. With a traditional transplant, there’s a scar that would be otherwise visible. As far as women are concerned, it’s minimally invasive. The NeoGraft is a minimally-invasive procedure. I’m not using any scalpel. I’m actually removing individual grafts, which is much more appealing for the patient. The downtime is almost none, and discomfort is minimal. What we do initially is we shave an area in the back of the head, locally anesthetize it, and then I inject some fluid to make the skin nice and firm. In doing so, then, we’re able to harvest the follicular units with very little transception, which is the goal of the procedure. The NeoGraft machine—I have a very small instrument that’s 0.8 to 1 millimeter in size, and this is the individual punch that we’ll actually utilize. It’s already been numbed, and now I’m going to just put a little bit more fluid to make it nice and firm back here, and we’ll be able to harvest the grafts without any difficulty. Does this pinch at all? MS. HOPE MURPHY: No. DR. ROBERT LEONARD: Some pressure. And then with the NeoGraft procedure actually is is a follicular unit extraction, which we’ve been doing for a number of years, and we’re able to automate it with this particular device. So what I do is I get the punch to encircle a follicular unit graft, and I turn it on and go inward. And then the graft will come out, and it’s actually sucked up into the machine. MS. HOPE MURPHY: I wasn’t scared, and after he started it didn’t affect me either. I was very comfortable. DR. ROBERT LEONARD: I’ve been specializing in hair restoration surgery for more than 24 years now, and I pride myself to be on the cutting edge of new technology. There’s both an art and a science of medicine, and the art of medicine is bedside manner; it’s deciding along with the patient what his or her needs are, and hopefully being able to provide them with what they’re looking for. MS. HOPE MURPHY: Go see Dr. Leonard. Talk to him. Let him give you the confidence and the knowledge so that you can make a decision because you will not be sorry. If you’re a candidate, you will not be sorry. It does so much for your self-esteem. You feel better about yourself.