January 12 2009, 10:36 am PT | Posted in: Hair Transplantation
Hi,
Have you heard any recent news on the robotic hair transplant procedure from Restoration Robotics? I had read a while ago they were conduction clinical trials at the end of this year, but haven’t heard anything since.
Do you know if they are accepting volunteers for the clinical trials? If so I’d be interested in participating.
Thanks
The last I heard was that they were moving forward with clinical trials on a limited basis, and a Google search reveals that they were hiring for a clinical trials manager just a few months ago (see job listing). There’s info about the trials in a posting at HairSite, although it is from about 6 months ago. Unfortunately, Restoration Robotics doesn’t have a website, so it’s difficult to find a central location for their current news.
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Balding Forum
The FDA study for Restoration Robotics has begun in the San Francisco Bay Area. I responded to an ad in the San Francisco Chronicle and underwent the surgery last Tuesday. I was told that I was the third person in the program, and that now, of the 18 they need for this particular cohort (I think that’s the right word), they only need two more.
The surgery started about 8:30 a.m. with harvesting from a patch on the back of my head about the size of a playing card. I was given Versed and Valium for pain, but was awake through the procedure (similar to a colonoscopy). I could not tell which side was harvested by the machine and which by the surgeon. The follicles were grafted by one of the technicians into a patch about the size of a motel bar of soap on the top of my head.
For several days my head felt like it had been used as a pinata, but I was given Vicodin to start and can now use ibuprofen. The donor patch no longer hurts, but the grafting area itches (to be expected).
I am returning to the surgeon’s office for follow-up in one week, then six months, then 9 months.