The Bald Truth live show 10/29/13 reviews

[Artista]

I know a lot of our members have yet to listen to yesterday's show.
Once you do please feel free to add your point of view here.
For those that had listened in yesterday,,Please give us your review.

I personally was a bit stoked. I feel that Dr Wesley does have a
'Game-Changer' coming our way in the field of 21st century hair restoration techniques. I would like to THANK Spencer Kobren for opening up that conversation on the show..We have a lot more to learn about it. Keep in mind,,Dr Wesley's new Pilofocus method will soon be available. When exactly? Definitely next year but have no idea exactly when.

Cheers to all!

[crafter]

I know a lot of our members have yet to listen to yesterday's show.
Once you do please feel free to add your point of view here.
For those that had listened in yesterday,,Please give us your review.

I personally was a bit stoked. I feel that Dr Wesley does have a
'Game-Changer' coming our way in the field of 21st century hair restoration techniques. I would like to THANK Spencer Kobren for opening up that conversation on the show..We have a lot more to learn about it. Keep in mind,,Dr Wesley's new Pilofocus method will soon be available. When exactly? Definitely next year but have no idea exactly when.

Cheers to all!

what is his technique? can't seem to get a definite answer

[Artista]

Hi Crafter , You can start by reviewing this websites concerning Dr Wesley's new technique.

http://www.pilofocus.com/

https://www.google.ch/patents/US20130096600?dq=pilofocus&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bHZrUoj8J4Sg4gSwhoFw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA

Also read the thread made here-

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?t=12094

It is a long discussion...

[Joker]

I enjoyed Dr. Wesley's presentation and was very impressed with the Piloscope itself. Before the unveil, people kept saying "it's so simple." I did not get that impression. The instrumentation is extraordinarily complex, has gone through multiple iterations, and leverages a variety of pre-existing technologies in its advancement of a novel purpose. Dr. Wesley's descriptions of the various layers of the skin and components of the hair follicle were very in-depth and addressed a lot of the concerns raised on this board re: nerve damage, bleeding, etc.

The presentation we saw was very scant on the details of regeneration. It seems to me, based on statements made by Artista, that there is more information (or data, or pictures) on that topic than has been revealed to the public. I am unclear whether taking out a portion of a follicle's stem cells is sufficient to create a full follicle in the donor as well as the recipient. I am also unclear how Acell (if it is indeed necessary) is applied under the skin. I hope that Artista's assertion that he has witnessed significant regeneration (albeit anecdotal) is true.

I understand why other members of the hair loss community (such as those invested in the ARTAS robot) might resist this advancement. But this technique should - from the standpoint of patients, it truly should - eliminate the use of STRIP and FUE procedures on those who can afford it (except in certain unique circumstances).

This is a big deal. It is unique. It is better, faster and easier than extant alternatives. I honestly wish it would be available tomorrow so that I could get a full procedure done. (I also wish I could be in Artista's position and contribute to the clinical trials.)

[Artista]

Hi Joker. Hey keep in mind that the 20 minute presentation that Spencer played for us last night was originally used for the San Fran' conference and no for the general public. That being said Dr Wesley's 45 minute PowerPoint addressed EVERYTHING related to his new methods.

[Ted]

I haven't seen the presentation but is it really faster and easier than extant alternatives?

And also, as Didi mentioned in another thread, why cant it be used from the outside of the skin?

[crafter]

so does it lead to new hair growth, therefore unlimited donor hair?

[Sogeking]

Okay, well basically if in the donor region the hair follicles that get split regrow later, then you can basically theoretically use whole of the donor region for transplant. Which is definitely good. However this is still not enough to get you a good density when trying to go down more than 2 Norwood scales.

The really important questions are:
1. When Acell is applied, does the hair in donor region regrow strong, thick with good pigmentation?
2. If the first question is yes, can pilofocus be applied to the hair follicle that once already went through the process? (this would be potentially game changing if the answer is yes)
3. Will this new technique demand a bigger price?
4. Clinical trials? It would be cool if we could see them.
5. Last but not the least important. In the future it would be good to show pre-op and post op pictures of both the transplanted area and donor region. Will we see them?

P.S. The ability of hair follicle regeneration with Acell in question have already been studied but we never saw significant results, actually they were pretty minor. That is the part that I am somewhat suspicious of.
However I am rooting for this. I really am.
For all of those who are thinking about HT, it might be prudent to wait for several more months and see what will come out of it. Even if it doesn't pan out, they can always do an HT.


Okay unrelated question to the technique, when will we get further information about this?

[Dan26]

Artista, will this save a lot of time for doctors?

ie would for eg 2000 grafts using pilo be quicker to do than traditional FUE?

this is a solid step forward IMO, but still those destined for nw6 are screwed, i think thats why many get caught up in the donor regeneration and hope for that

if i was middle aged with nw3-4 i get a scarless fue for sure

[FearTheLoss]

The regeneration aspect of this is obviously what everyone is hoping for. Although, scarless surgery is clearly a major advancement as well.


Dr. Nigam has even stated he is interested in using Dr. Wesley's custom tool for his invivo doubling. I'm sure he recognizes that this tool allows a much more precise cut. That being said I'm assuming that Dr. Wesley is basically doing the same thing as Nigam to get regeneration? Going under the follicle and taking part of it while leaving enough to regrow, therefore, multiplying hair..

This would be a major step forward in the industry if proved true, I guess it would even be called a cure by surgery as a patient could have relatively unlimited donor hair...and in the United States in a years time! Hopefully this pans out!

[Dan26]

Well thing about Nigam is he just doesn't do acell he nukes your head with all kinds of growth factors, so it would be especially interesting to see him use the instrument but his own approach towards regeneration

[Joker]

I haven't seen the presentation but is it really faster and easier than extant alternatives?

And also, as Didi mentioned in another thread, why cant it be used from the outside of the skin?

To expound upon this point, after viewing the presentation, I would say yes. The first time a doctor uses the Pilofocus, I do not believe it will be fast or easy. However, over time, I believe it will be both faster and easier than FUE and FUT. The reason for this is the pretty intense amount of automation that the Pilofocus provides (it actually looks like a video game of sorts).

Dr. Wesley showed a video of how many grafts could be extracted in 30 seconds (with the William Tell Overture being played in the background, of course). I don't know the exact count, but he certainly pushed the "extract" button quite a few times.

From a patient perspective, recovery from a Pilofocus procedure should be much faster than FUT due to the smaller incision. It is also faster than FUE because none of the extractions are ever visible.

[Alih]

Where can I see the show ???

[QUOTE=Artista;154722]Hi Crafter , You can start by reviewing this websites concerning Dr Wesley's new technique.

http://www.pilofocus.com/

https://www.google.ch/patents/US20130096600?dq=pilofocus&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bHZrUoj8J4Sg4gSwhoFw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA

Also read the thread made here-

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?t=12094

It is a long discussion...[/QUOTE
]

[PaddyBateman]

If Pilofocus comes to market, it is just something that Dr Wesley will be offering, or will it be something other Dr's of choice are allowed to then use if they purchase / study the procedure etc?

So if its available in 2014 in USA, when could it be available in Europe

[James7]

If Pilofocus comes to market, it is just something that Dr Wesley will be offering, or will it be something other Dr's of choice are allowed to then use if they purchase / study the procedure etc?

So if its available in 2014 in USA, when could it be available in Europe

http://http://www.pilofocus.com/media-news.html

On this page of the Pilofocus website it says :
'PiloFocus’ direct market is the over 1000 registered members of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) that perform HRS procedures worldwide.'

This means that it is certainly open to all ISHRS Doctors/Surgeons, who decide to learn the technique and get the tools & licensing.

So to answer your question, when is it available in Europe:
My suggestion in my slightly lenghty post 'summary of treaments' here,
http://http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/...ad.php?t=14579

is that you contact your prefered chosen doctor and enquire about Pilofocus scarless surgery directly yourself and ask if & when they might offer it.

The result being (if enough people do that), that the doctors will think 'all my new customers request scarless surgery now' and it will and prompt them to learn the technique hopefully