ARTAS Question (Auto-stop after reaching graft count?)

[thinning85]

I had an ARTAS procedure performed in early June. The IAHRS surgeon conducting the consultation stated he felt it would take 2,500 grafts to fully address my areas of concern -- frontal hairline and vertex. I paid my deposit, scheduled the surgery, and planned my travel.

Following the second day of my procedure, the physician indicated that the cost estimate would be higher than previously quoted due to the ARTAS robot extracting an additional 300+ grafts. When I asked how this could happen, he said that the ARTAS lacks the ability to stop at a precise graft count and that it can only be programmed to extract from a region of the head believed to contain an approximate amount of hair.

In my post-op drug induced haze, it didn't occur to me that if the machine can count grafts accurately enough to realize it extracted an extra 300, then it should realize when /have the ability to stop once reaching a specified limit. Did I get ripped off?

tl;dr version: Can the ARTAS be programmed to stop extracting after it reaches a certain graft count?

[Gregory Turowski, MD]

I think you must have misunderstood there is not such thing as programming the number of harvests the surgeon can always stop the process, there is no set limit with the ARTAS robot
Dr Gregory Turowski

[thinning85]

I think you must have misunderstood there is not such thing as programming the number of harvests the surgeon can always stop the process, there is no set limit with the ARTAS robot
Dr Gregory Turowski

Thanks for your response, Dr. Torowski. Although it is somewhat comforting to realize that my surgeon did not have the ability to program the machine to stop at a certain point, it's also a little concerning that he did not manually stop the process once we had reached the amount of grafts that were covered by the price he quoted me. This was an expensive lesson to learn.

[Spex]

To my knowledge - The ARTAS extracts FU however are they all usable FU's - no. It could perform / attempt 20 extractions and no usable FU's extracted.

This is why an experienced physician is vital alongside the ARTAS to monitor the process as it happens.

Despite the number of FU extractions shown on the computer tally they are not all viable FU to actually reuse.

Therefore until the graft count is done after extract process by the techs under magnification its impossible to give patient an exact amount.

This is why your amount will be over and no I don't think you've been had by any stretch.

If an IAHRS dr you will have been in good ethical hands in my opinion.


Regards
Spex