ACell, a Current Review of Applications in Hair Transplant Surgery

[Gary Hitzig MD]

Two Answers

I believe the injection procedure costs between $2-3000 when utilizing a large amount of ACell and of course depending on the size of the area to be treated. Each case is individualized.

Dr. Rassman passed me in Boston at the meetings after my presentation several times, looked at me but never stopped to talk. Dr. Limmer made a point of sitting with me and discussing it along with several other well known practitioners. Dr. Rassman has never contacted me then or since. I believe he had a very brief general phone conversation with Dr. Cooley. I guess he doesn't need any further guidance for his "Clinical Study"

[KeepHoping]

Hitzig

With the amount of cloning that goes on with the implementation of the Acell/PRP/Needling could you estimate that 500 grafts looks more like a transplant of 1000 grafts or more? There are claims that it's 3 hairs to every 1 implanted, is this empirical data or documented hair counts? I feel like if you are really getting so much more hair than is actually transplanted it's time for me to take the plunge, I'm going to wait to see the pictures and the results that come over the next few months but I'm hoping this new type of procedure comes to fruition sooner than anticipated. Thanks for working so hard and responding to these posts. I want to tell you hair loss is extremely difficult to deal with as I'm sure you know and I myself and I assume many others are immensely grateful for your work.

[ejj]

I met Dr Rassman about ten years ago. At the time he was very enthusiastic about larger transplant sessions , he showed me a patient in surgery who was having a session of about 3000 grafts .Not many Drs could do this back then , however Dr Rassman` embraced` the technology / procedure and offered it to his patients to limit the amount of procedures they may need .

I would find it strange being the type of Dr that he is , that he would dismiss any new technology that could be of benefit to his patients .

Perhaps he feels that the long term results of (acell /plucking remain`unknown ` and is taking a cautious approach .
Regards

Ejj

[Bakez]

Lets be honest, at the moment we have no proof from Dr Hitzig.

If anyone has learnt anything about hairloss, it is that you should treat pretty much everything as utter BS until you see it with your own eyes.

Dont believe it until your see it.

[rapunzal]

Disunity

Thank you Dr Hitzig for taking the time to respond.

It confirms what I can see as an outsider looking in. The HT industry as it currently stands is very fragmented, disorganised and because of this will be too slow to adapt come the change in business conditions in the hair multiplication era possibly 2014-15. Im sure the industry and hair loss sufferers appreciates the work that yourself and Dr Cooley have done regarding the auto cloning concept as well as what Dr Rassman and Dr Bernstien are doing to prove the concept actually works, however I would be suprised if you guys alone without large R&D budgets would be able to develop it as a stong alternative product in the short time that remains. You need a coordinated approach with the collective assistance from many clinics to chip in some time and effort to help build a successful product. Lets face it, keloid scar repairs is not going to be a clinics "killer" product that keeps the business in the black.

Does every clinic need to reinvent the wheel ?
If the concept is proved, who will be working towards making the extraction process of plucked hair cost and time efficent, less labour intensive, high yields, high density, etc and finally developing the standards that allow every clinic to replicate the process 100% of the time. If clinics are doing this indepedently possibly someone might have a product ready for marekt in 2020 which should have been ready by 2013.

Clinics are already well aware that HM developers already have a strategy to distribute their HM devices outside the tradition hair restortion channels, that alone should be an industry warning sign. As they say in politics, "Disunity is Death".

Cheers

[Bakez]

Why doesnt Dr Hitzig ring these doctors up if they are using his methods incorrectly?

[HairRobinHood]

Why doesnt Dr Hitzig ring these doctors up if they are using his methods incorrectly?

Why didn't Bill Gates call the MAC producers and told them that they're doing something wrong?

[rapunzal]

Vision

Why doesnt Dr Hitzig ring these doctors up if they are using his methods incorrectly?

I believe the issue goes a lot deeper than whether or not a doctor is following the correct procedure for a trial because it will all amount to zero in the end if nobody in the industry has belief or vision that this technology can produce a viable alternative product thats stacks up to products over the horizon.

If there are visionaries in the industry that do believe that there is potential, now would probably be a good time to consider playing a leadership role and bring some of the like minded surgeons together for a discussion. More will be achieved as a collective than as individuals.

[KeepHoping]

Plucked Hair

When performing a plucked hair transplant with Acell, is it typical to see higher hair counts than the amount of hairs moved as well as with traditional transplantation methods?

[gmonasco]

Why didn't Bill Gates call the MAC producers and told them that they're doing something wrong?

Because Bill Gates had a vested interest in beating Apple. That scenario doesn't apply here.

[Gary Hitzig MD]

Thank You

Doubt is always constructive. Although I believe that most know what I say is anything but BS (as was stated by Bakez), and I believe we have demonstrated enough (Dr. Cooley and Myself) to validate this. People will always believe the cup is half empty rather than half full. It is not my job to call up everyone who is attempting to use ACell to make sure they understand it, but rather for those who wish to study it to contact those who have more experience with it. I enjoy talking with most of you, but the conversation needs to be constructive and discussion oriented, not accusitory.
Perhaps Bakez has some ties to Dr. Rassman. It would be better to inquire than attack.
Attack is not the venue I intend to follow.

[Westonci]

Doubt is always constructive. Although I believe that most know what I say is anything but BS (as was stated by Bakez), and I believe we have demonstrated enough (Dr. Cooley and Myself) to validate this. People will always believe the cup is half empty rather than half full. It is not my job to call up everyone who is attempting to use ACell to make sure they understand it, but rather for those who wish to study it to contact those who have more experience with it. I enjoy talking with most of you, but the conversation needs to be constructive and discussion oriented, not accusitory.
Perhaps Bakez has some ties to Dr. Rassman. It would be better to inquire than attack.
Attack is not the venue I intend to follow.

Im seriously thinking of flying over to Long Island to get the Acell + Arterial Blood/PRP by Dr. Hitzig.

Im just waiting to see the pictures before I make any further plans

[rapunzal]

Paradigm Shift

Dr. Rassman passed me in Boston at the meetings after my presentation several times, looked at me but never stopped to talk. Dr. Limmer made a point of sitting with me and discussing it along with several other well known practitioners. Dr. Rassman has never contacted me then or since. I believe he had a very brief general phone conversation with Dr. Cooley. I guess he doesn't need any further guidance for his "Clinical Study"

How about this for a novel idea ? Clinics that intend to conduct various trials could publish in a public forum how they intend to undertake the trials, what protocols they will use, procedures, goals, etc, etc. Why ? so that every clinic that wants to be involved doesnt simply duplicate another clinics work which is a wasted effort. If one clinic is doing a trial one way, perhaps another clinic can then opt to use a slightly different protocol. At the end results will be published and the better approach debated and adopted. Why should two clinics build two identical roads from point A to B when one could commence building a road from B to C.

Perhaps this mindset is just too forward thinking in a non transparent industry that is still too busy thinking about how to improve a trichophytic closure.

[SilverSurfer]

Rapunzal,
It is weird how you have been trying to shift the topic over and over again focusing on what interests you the most. Are you somehow related to this industry and are looking to find out how the ACell and autoplucking etc works but have been hesitant of contacting Dr Hitzig and Dr Cooley? Because if you are, you would be better off giving them a call instead of ranting about the future of the HT industry, distribution channels for HM possibilities, making a blog for 'clinics' to post their procedures, protocols, etc etc.(In other words, please I want to know how it works, tell me tell me but I am afraid of asking)

We are all here interested in asking Dr Hitzig questions about these new procedures and their benefits, if you are good. If your interest is economical or otherwise, please be straight forward and honest about your intentions.
'How about this for a novel idea?'

[SilverSurfer]

Dr Hitzig

Dr Hitzig,
Thanks for the advances you and Dr Cooley have made possible in the field. I am very interested in the autoplucking technique since my donnor was depleted and compromised by a pseudo FUE clinic. I would like to fill in my hairline (it has a gap of a bout 1.5 cm by 15 cm or 22 sq cm) and some of the space between the midscalp and frontal third(about 10 sq cm) Do you think something like this would be possible through the autoplucking technique? What about trying to fill in some of the bald areas in my donnor also?
Again thanks for everything.