New procedure for fighting hair loss

February 28, 2011

It is called Neograft.

It uses vacuum technology instead of cutting and because of that, it is said to be less painful and less invasive than traditional hair transplants.

36-year old Jack Strong first noticed he was losing his hair three years ago after seeing some pictures that revealed a receding hairline.

"Right away you start looking at your family tree...I learned it was my mother's father," Jack said.

Jack says he tried over the counter remedies to chase his hairline and when those didn't work -

"I kind of had nowhere to go except put on the trusty baseball cap. I would suffer through those days and I knew this was not going to get any better; I better do something," Jack said.

So Jack turned to plastic surgeon Dr. Paul Glat who performs a less invasive hair transplant procedure.

"Neograft is a really a revolutionary new way to do hair restoration; hair transplantation," Dr. Glat said.

The technology works like a vacuum. First, the patient is numbed and the donor area of the head is shaved. A wand then pierces the skin and sucks out hair follicles, one to four at a time.

The follicle is misted with sterilize saline, then immediately transplanted back into the balding areas by compressed air. The procedure is less painful and less time consuming for patients than traditional hair transplants.

"The older technique is where we used to cut a strip of hair or scalp out from the back and stitch that up," Glat said.

But with Neograft, there is no cutting and no scars.

Action News was there for Jack's second procedure to fill in more of his hairline.

His first, he says, was a trial to see if it worked.

"It looked really thick up top in places that I had it done," Jack said.

Doctor Glat says results take about three months.

"What happens is once the graft takes, the actual hair will fall out over the first couple of weeks, but the root of the hair is now there. It is like planting a bulb almost," Glat said.

And he says by 6 months, it's long enough to blend with the other hair.

Neograft is not just for men, it's for women, too.

"We have actually even been doing eyebrow plantations which are great, they work really well for people who've plucked or shaved their eyebrows and they don't grow back," Glat said.

As for Jack, he is excited to have a full head of hair for a big event coming up.

"I'm getting married in May," Jack said.

And as we said, that was Jack's second Neograft procedure. We will check in with him again in three months to see the results this time. We'll post those online.

Neograft costs a bit more than the traditional procedure. It ranges from about $6,000 to $8,000. The results are permanent, but if you start to lose your hair elsewhere, you may need to return for more fill-ins.

LINK: http://www.drglat.com/pages/hair-restoration

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