harvesting and cutting the grafts to achieve minimal wastage. Those who opt for quick donor harvesting will use blind techniques and that ends up with significant follicular damage, up to 37% transection rate has been reported in medical literature. The damaged hair follicles usually have lower growth rate and, even if they do grow, they are deformed and miniaturized hair.

In 1997 Dr. Damkerng Pathomvanich at the Stough clinic in Bangkok was the first to develop and pioneer the OPEN TECHNIQUE in donor harvesting. Very low transection rate of less than 2% was achieved. This technique was published in the Dermatology Surgery Journal (April 2000) and Hair Forum International Jounal (October 1998). This open method has one of the lowest transection rate when compared to other techniques reported in medical literatures. Minimal transection which means more grafts are available for transplantation and less skin has to be removed thus minimal donor scarring.

For the last 10 years this method has been continuously refined and improved. We now routinely employed 3-4 time magnified loupe plus multiple skin hook to speed up dissection and further decrease the follicular transection rate. We re-named it REFINED OPEN TECHNIQUE. This was presented in the ISHRS Korea Asian Workshop 2008.

FOLLICULAR UNIT TRANSPLANTATION

Hairline design is a combination of science and art. Our doctors will seek your opinion to draw a new hairline most suitable for your facial contour. Sedation will be given orally so that you will be relaxed and calm before local anesthetic is administered. After removing a piece of skin for grafts harvesting, we make very tiny incision at the areas to be transplanted. These slits are oriented in the same direction and angle of your existing hair. We insert the hair in a purposefully random fashion along the hairline to look natural.

In this clinic we do exclusively follicular unit transplantation, nothing bigger. Follicular units (FUs) are the smallest hair groupings naturally occurring in the human scalp. FUs may contain 1-4 hairs. Our team is very meticulous in handling and inserting the grafts into the created slits. The follicular grafts are first contained in special ring holders designed by our clinic to prevent dessication. The holders also assist the transplanters to select the appropriate graft size for insertion. By selecting only skinny 1 hair grafts for the front, and coarse 2 to 3 hair grafts on the back, we can create very natural looking result.

MEGASESSION AND ONE-PASS

Our clinic is specializes in dense to ultra dense packing of follicular unit grafts. With a team of 14 people we have transplanted more than 5,000 grafts in one session.  The modern trend is to transplant the maximum number in a single session to ensure good density coverage. You will look good even after one procedure, and future touch up sessions is optional rather than compulsory.
What is the maximum we can do for you will depend on the quality and density of your donor hair and your budget.  Our average is 3,000 grafts per session. However no job is too small for us and we are happy to transplant a few hundred of grafts depending on your need.


TRICHOPHYTIC CLOSURE

In the majority of our patients the scar is minimal if not invisible because we close the wound by a technique called “Trichophytic closure”. This technique was first described by Dr. M. Marzola (Australia) and Dr. Frechet (France) in 2005. We always keep ourselves up-to-date with the latest technology.
A high power magnifying loupe is used to enhance visibility. The inferior edge of the incision is trimming 1x1 mm to allow the hair stump to grow inside the small incisional scar to hide it. The donor area is then closed by using running absorbable stitches and retention stitches. The addition of retention sutures will enable the surgeon to close without undermining and possible nerve damage, bleeding and follicular transection. All these will result in minimal scar!

The donor strip is then slivered over a tray specially designed by us. This helps to stabilize each strip for easy slivering into narrow segments and minimize transection.  At all time the strip is kept well hydrated in cool saline. The slivered strips are then further dissected under binocular stereoscopic microscopes into follicular unit grafts. We group the 1-hair grafts together to be transplanted in the front as a natural looking hairline. Because of our large team all grafts are re-inserted promptly and never have to sit in a refogerator.

New Device

We are always innovative to improve the technique. Over the years we have inverted our slivering board, graft storage rings, insertion retractors…. Our latest design is a portable laser device than can assist in symmetrical hairline placement in a fraction of minutes. The invention was presented in the ISHRS Korea Asian Workshop May 2008 and Regional Rome Meeting in June 2008. The device is well received by the audience and now in demand for production. An article on the device has been submitted to the Hair Forum International for publication.