Your procedure day begins early in the morning and you can expect the procedure to take most of the day (6-8 hours depending on the number of grafts created). Grab a bite to eat and come on into Dr. Pearce’s office at the designated time.
Step 1 – Once in the office, you will be required to shave your head to a length of 3 mm. (Shaving/trimming the hair allows the Artas iX robot to more easily find the hairs it needs for transplantation.) Working together with Dr. Pearce, and based on a number of factors including head shape and age, your new hairline will be meticulously drawn out to your preferred look.
Step 2 – After the hair line is agreed upon, you will then sit in a comfortable chair face down, the scalp is cleansed/sterilized with chlorhexidine, numbing medication (lidocaine) is injected into the posterior scalp where the Artas iX robot will be removing the hairs, and then Dr. Pearce will map out your hair follicles into a computerized system that helps the aritifical intelligence of the Artas iX robot to smoothly and quickly remove multiple hairs in a cohesive and rapid sequential order. Numbing medication is given as often as possible and needed to keep you comfortable throughout the procedure. The initial hair harvesting from the back of the head takes approximately 2-3 hours depending on the number of follicles to be removed.
Step 3 – Once the hair follicles are removed from the back of the head, you will be given a break in order to eat and rest while the hair transplant technicians and Dr. Pearce are busy at work organizing the freshly harvested hair follicles into 1-,2-,3-, and 4- follicle groups. This is important in order to place the single hair follicles into the front of the hairline to give you a natural appearance to the restored hair.
Step 4 – Once the hair follicles are organized, you will be brought into a separate room where the front of the head will be cleansed and anesthetized using lidocaine. Small holes (1mm) will be punched into the scalp using a solid core needle and the harvested follicles will be inserted into these areas. Once completed, the scalp is bandaged and your hair transplant is complete!
