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New
Hair Transplant Technique
By IRENE MAHER
of News Channel 8
Published 09/11/2001
reprinted with permission from Dr. Woods & Dr. Campbell
Australian
Doctors Perfect World’s First Chest-To-Head Hair Transplant
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA -- (INTERNET WIRE) -- 09/10/2001 -- While many balding men
complain of not having enough hair on their head, very few complain about having
too much on their chest. For one man this chest hair turned out to be just what
the doctor ordered.
Dr. Ray Woods, the developer of a new hair replacement technique called The
Woods Technique of Follicular Relocation ™, saw this inequity as an
opportunity to give his patient more hair where he needed it most, on his scalp.
Existing hair transplantation methods require doctors to surgically remove large
swatches of scalp from the back of the head in order to extract the follicles.
Dr. Woods has developed a less invasive technique using microsurgical
instruments to extract individual hair follicles directly from the skin. No
surrounding skin is removed and patients are not left with an ear-to-ear scar
typical of current hair transplantation surgeries.
For some men, these scars and poor results from hair transplantation surgery
often lead to a lifetime of humiliation and regret. This was the case for James,
a 60-year-old man who sought help from Dr. Woods after several previous
unsuccessful surgeries left him scarred and with very little donor hair.
“In most cases we are able to remove sufficient hair from the back and sides
of the head. However, in James’s case there was so much scarring and so little
hair to work with, we decided to try removing some of his chest hair to give him
additional coverage. We extracted 1,200 hairs from his chest and they were
inserted about one inch behind his frontal hairline. We have scheduled
additional procedures to relocate another 2,800 hairs, which will add a
significant amount of coverage and density that would otherwise be
impossible,” explains Dr. Woods.
Dr. Woods and his partner, Dr. Angela Campbell, both former skin cancer
surgeons, started developing the procedure 12 years ago and have been perfecting
and refining it ever since. They were featured on the Australian TV program
“Good Medicine,” first in 1996 and then in 1999, and were shown operating on
several patients including a female patient who had suffered some burns on the
scalp.
“At the time we were on TV in 1996 we were able to remove only 100 follicles
per session since it requires tremendous skill to remove the follicle without
damaging it. Anyone can extract a follicle, however, unless done correctly the
extraction can lead to something called transection, which is permanent damage
to the follicle, thus depleting the donor area. If you have a high transection
rate you might as well go back to traditional strip-harvesting methods,” says
Dr. Woods.
Due to an increase in their skill level as well as enhancements to their
microsurgical instrument, the doctors are currently able to relocate 1,200 hairs
per session. What this means to patients is that there is now hope for people
like James who previously had no options. In addition, people who have never had
a hair transplant now have the ability to have their hairline restored without
having to undergo painful invasive surgery or experience any scarring. The Woods
Technique of Follicular Relocation ™ can be performed on any patient and
requires no special tests or criteria.
“Drs. Woods and Campbell are the innovators and undisputed leaders in this
type of cosmetic surgery,” says Farrel Manne, senior editor of
hairlosshelp.com, a Web site dedicated to educating consumers about hair loss.
“Since we began featuring information about Dr. Woods on our Web site, the
public reaction has been incredible. What makes Dr. Woods and Dr. Campbell
unique is that they never use assistants to complete their work and personally
remove and place every single hair. In addition they are the only cosmetic
surgeons I know who do not require a patient to sign a release form that legally
protects the doctor against lawsuits from surgeries that go wrong. If that
doesn’t demonstrate their level of confidence, then I don’t know what
will,” adds Manne.
Drs. Wood and Campbell are based in Sydney, Australia. After successfully
treating many patients from the U.S. and around the world, Dr. Woods has
announced plans to teach other physicians how to perform their follicular
relocation technique.
“I want every patient in the world to have access to this technology so that
there never again will be a need for us to have to repair someone’s head,”
quips Dr. Woods.
Information and pictures of James, Dr. Woods’ patient, can been seen on
www.hairlosshelp.com and information about Drs. Woods and Campbell is available
through their Web site www.4hair.com.au
The TOP UP CLINIC - Level 12, 183 Macquarie Street - Sydney NSW Australia
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