ARTAS:  Robotic No-Incision Hair Restoration

Although this website is really dedicated to facial plastic surgery matters, and I have a separate website, www.hairtx.com, for hair matters, every now and then something major comes up that is worth my mentioning even in a facial blog here.  The ARTAS Robotic hair restoration system is one of those subjects.

In the past, the only way I had to harvest hair has been a linear incision from the back of the head.  With good technique and with healing agents that I use like platelet rich plasma (PRP), I can get very well healed scars that are hard to see.  In women, this approach still makes the most sense.  However, there are a select group of men who do not want an incision and who desire to wear their hair very short of only several millimeters in length.  These individuals would benefit from this robotic system since there is no incision on the back of the head so there would not be a visible line there with this short a hairstyle.

How does this robot do it?  The principals in this company also founded the Da Vinci robotic system that has been used successfully in male prostate surgery and other clinical applications.  The ARTAS system carefully calculates the angle and depth of penetration that are required to harvest each follicular unit (or bunch of 1 to 4 hairs) from the back of the head with a small punch, one painstaking follicular unit at a time.  In the past, this method known as follicular unit extraction (or FUE) was a tedious and oftentimes inaccurate way of harvesting for example with older methods like NEOGRAFT or hand drills.  Now, the ARTAS robot provides unparalleled ability to harvest with greater precision than ever before.  This machine is so big that it has completely taken over my third treatment room!  The one major drawback with this machine is that you must shave your head (we do that for you) down to 1 mm in order for the machine to work.  That is a small price to pay for younger men but is not a great option for older men and women who would not prefer to do that.  Also, the robot is not ideal for African hair that has a natural curl under the skin that prevents an FUE method.

Sam M. Lam, MD, FACS is a board certified plastic surgeon in Dallas, Texas. To schedule a consultation please call (972) 312-8188. Click to to learn more about the FUE hair transplant.

Dr. Sam Lam Interviewed by Medical Spa MD For His Entrepreneurial Work and Facial Cosmetic Surgery Expertise

Dr. Sam Lam was recently interviewed by Medical Spa MD, an online community comprised of over 5,000 physicians and medical providers actively engaged in the field of cosmetic medicine.  During his interview, Dr. Lam was asked questions about topics ranging from his new skin care line and fat grafting techniques, to what prompted him to become a plastic surgeon and entrepreneur, as well as what advice he would give to other plastic surgeons regarding the field of cosmetic medicine.

The interview with Dr. Lam in Medical Spa MD touched on a number of Dr. Lam’s fields of expertise – an easy feat since there are so many to choose from.  As a triple board certified plastic surgeon, an internationally renowned lecturer, an author of five major textbooks, the creator of a skin care line, and owner of the Willow Bend Wellness Center in Dallas, Texas, Dr. Lam had plenty to share.  Add to that the fact that Dr. Lam is an award-winning researcher, an insightful entrepreneur and an accomplished artist and it is no surprise that an interview with Dr. Lam is an interesting read.

Among the topics discussed by Dr. Lam was the impetus behind the creation of his own skin care line, OVA.  The skin care line was developed following two years of research and development after Dr. Lam realized that most skin care products on the market simply didn’t deliver on promised performance.  Dr. Lam sought to create a line of products that not only improved the skin, but also didn’t require too many steps.  As a guy, he said he felt that he had no time for putting creams and other products on all the time and remarked that OVA “is profoundly simple to use.”  It only includes a single morning and a single nighttime product.

Dr. Lam went on to explain that the OVA difference results from the integration of plant stem cells, along with a number of other active ingredients.  Additionally, Dr. Lam explained that he was able to express his passion for design as well as his philanthropic spirit with the introduction of the OVA skin care line.  The artistic scientist designed every element of the product, from the logo and name to the colors and packaging.  He also expressed his passion for stopping human rights violations, and to that end, donates 5% of all profits from the OVA skin care line to support Off the Mat, a non-profit organization that seeks to eradicate sex slavery in India.

In addition to describing the motivation behind, and his involvement in, the introduction of his new skin care line, Dr. Lam also discussed two of his primary areas of expertise:  facial rejuvenation and hair restoration.  In discussing facial rejuvenation, Dr. Lam expressed his belief that fat transfer techniques are the single most important advance in facial rejuvenation during the last decade.  He explained that fat grafting can eliminate the need for more invasive procedures, such as facelifts and browlifts, if done correctly.   But he did caution that the process of fat grafting required a combination of aesthetic sensibility as well as technical skill to create a successful “finished product”.

It is Dr. Lam’s passion for both art and science that has made him a pioneer in facial rejuvenation and fat transfer techniques.  He also credits his continuous involvement with attending and lecturing at conferences with his success as a facial plastic surgeon.  As he explained to Medical Spa MD, he not only shares his own expertise when speaking at conferences around the world, but he also has built up a network of colleagues that have imbued him with a great deal of new information and have shared advances in his field that he might not have otherwise learned about.  As an example, he described his use of platelet rich plasma (PRP) in his hair restoration procedures and explained how this advanced science has revolutionized his hair restoration results.

In addition to discussing specific aspects of Dr. Lam’s medical practice and entrepreneurial endeavors, Medical Spa MD also asked Dr. Lam more general questions that relate to the field of plastic surgery.  For example, he was asked whether he thought that plastic surgery would be eventually replaced in the future by technology.  His response to that?  “I think technology will continue to evolve and be powerful adjuncts to plastic surgery,” explains Dr. Lam.  “I don’t think it will replace it anytime soon.  But who knows?”  When asked what advice he would give to other plastic surgeons considering the use of new cosmetic technologies, his response was “don’t be the first or the last person on the block performing a procedure.”

At the conclusion of the interview, Dr. Lam was asked what he thought the best piece of advice he had ever personally received as a physician was.  His response was short and sweet.  “Don’t be a control freak,” he said.  He went on to explain how his mentor had at first crushed him with this recommendation, but it had turned out to be the best advice he had ever been given during his medical career.

To read the complete interview with Dr. Samuel Lam in Medical Spa MD, visit http://medicalspamd.com/the-blog/2012/5/22/samuel-lam-md-facs-plastic-surgeon-artist-entrepreneur-in-da.html.