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A New Surgical Intrument for FUE Procedures

Peachy

Peachy

Member
I saw this interesting article by Dr Feller on SHLN and though it would be worth adding the link here:

Hi Peachy

I`ve added the content here so people aren`t going to read and then comment on here as it would be confusing.

Cheers bm.

Picture at bottom of post.



I would like to announce the unveiling of a new tool designed specifically for the performance of Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) surgery. It is my hope that every doctor already performing FUE surgery, or those who would simply like to start offering this wonderful procedure to their patients, will explore this new tool and perhaps add it to their own clinical practice.

Incorporated into its design are practical solutions to problems that have plagued the FUE industry since it €™s introduction to the Western Hemisphere in 2001. Deleterious forces resulting in graft damage during FUE procedures such as: Torsion, Traction, Compression, Overheating, and Desiccation are addressed and minimized using this new instrument like none other.

This tool also offers the unique combination of LOWERING operator skill level requirements while actually RAISING the quality of each and every extraction. This translates to faster €œramp-up € times for new doctors interested in adding FUE Hair Transplant surgery to their practices; as well as making for easy and near seamless integration into clinics that already offer FUE to their patients.

This device allows not only for greater quality of extraction, but greater speed as well. Much greater. And all without any extra risk to the grafts themselves. The same cannot be said of other FUE tools on the market.

All these unique benefits result in far less fatigue for the doctors, technicians, and patients. It €™s important not to forget this all important (but often ignored) human factor because in the end any €œwork product € will only be as good as the vitality, enthusiasm, and confidence possessed by the doctor and team at the time of the procedure.

The obvious purpose of the tool is to facilitate the FUE procedure for practitioners; but that is only part of a far greater strategy: the sparking of a new and legitimate industry that €™s inclusive of ALL practitioners-novice and veteran alike.

The bigger picture is to elevate the current €œcottage industry € status of FUE to a more mainstream role in hair transplantation; and to forever strip away the mystery, hype, and secrecy with which it has been unnecessarily surrounded by since it €™s inception.

All clinics are welcome to this tool. I will not veil it in secrecy nor will I falsely claim it as the €œmagic wand € of FUE. As a veteran FUE practitioner I could claim this device solely for my own HT clinics and advertise it as such to gain a competitive edge.

However, for this field to grow, the credibility and exposure of the FUE technique must increase, and I can think of no better way to achieve this than offering a device that makes it easier for hundreds or thousands of other doctors to get into the FUE field themselves. Once they get a taste of the success I €™ve had with FUE over the past 7 years, a greater number of doctors will join the FUE ranks. More successful FUE practitioners means greater numbers of satisfied patients, and thus a more popular procedure with ever increasing demand. Everyone wins.

My company, Advanced FUE Tools, Inc. is not just some name I slapped on the door of my current HT practice clinics just to sell a few tools. Rather, it is a well supported and financed group of businessmen, master-machinists, draftsmen, technicians, problem-solvers, thinkers, and attorneys, who have dedicated themselves to the development of this product for years. Like an actual FUE procedure, TEAMWORK is what made this device not only a reality, but a clinically practical and useful one at that.

I €™ve used this tool, or fundamental aspects of it, through various generations of such devices for just about every FUE procedure that I €™ve posted on the web since 2003. This means it has been used and tested for years.

Each component of this device taken in-and-of itself separately, or combined as one device, has a proven €œreal-world € track record. This established pedigree was something I insisted on for years before going public with it. Now is the time for this tool to join the pantheon of practical medical devices that helped form and shape hair transplantation into the enormously successful industry it has become.

I have avoided lengthy technical detail in this write-up as I felt it went beyond the scope of an introduction. Doctors may of course contact me directly if they have any specific questions or concerns.

I will be offering much more information and multi-media about the device in the near future, but wanted to introduce not only the device, but some of the thought and philosophy that made the design and production of this new FUE instrument a reality.

Feller Medical, PC
Great Neck, NY

 

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Shang

Shang

Sheepish Member
He is very much an innovator is Dr feller, will be interesting to see if any other clinics start to use this instrument in the coming months.
 
Sabine-Prohairclinic

Sabine-Prohairclinic

FUE hair transplantation - SMP
Well, this reminds me of the Star Wars laser sword:)

Interesting design, it looks really beautifull.

We would love to give it a try, why not?

Where can we get this?
 
P

Philb

Member
As another clinic has replied it would only be polite to reciprocate; we have seen this posted on many forums, and received numerous emails; Dr. Bisanga's feelings are it is hard to be totally objective as not in possession of the technical data of the tool, but to take it on face value as it has been marketed then he would not see a reason to utilise it in his procedures.

There has been much talk about the diameter size and mechanical movement aspect of the tool, Dr. Bisanga has been using generally a 0.75 to 0.8 manual punch with great success for years now and has seen the above variants results being used with less than satisfactory results.

That combined with the fact Dr. Bisanga has consistently shown results with his protocol it would not be prudent to change to a technology that has not shown more documented cases than he has, but technology is always good to debate and hopefully it will move patient care forward.
 
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Nervousnelly

Nervousnelly

The Coolest Member
Without knowing the exact details of the technology and more importantly the fact that these hands have not/will not be on the operation end of this tool, maybe I should refrain from comment......ya right you guys know me better.

Certainly technology has so far advanced this industry to a point that with a very skilled, artistic, and ethical physician, HT's can be achieved with essentially the naturalness of native hair. IN saying this however, I would certainly agree with Phil that approach with skeptical optimism is prudent. I am not sure that this has been designed with the patients best interest in mind or more to speed up the surgery itself. This approach didn't seem to work so well for Armani and crew.

I will watch and wait, but not my head yet.

NN
 
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P

Philb

Member
Nervousnelly wrote:
Without knowing the exact details of the technology and more importantly the fact that these hands have not/will not be on the operation end of this tool, maybe I should refrain from comment......ya right you guys know me better.

Certainly technology has so far advanced this industry to a point that with a very skilled, artistic, and ethical physician, HT's can be achieved with essentially the naturalness of native hair. IN saying this however, I would certainly agree with Phil that approach with skeptical optimism is prudent. I am not sure that this has been designed with the patients best interest in mind or more to speed up the surgery itself. This approach didn't seem to work so well for Armani and crew.

I will watch and wait, but not my head yet.

NN

I am not sure where you can stop me on this topic, I am lucky to work with a doc that performs FUE on the majority of his patients, most of the time I sit and watch in awe of his dedication to perfection and frankly worry about his arthritic abilities and strain on his back, but he makes me happy when he can touch his toes!

One aspect of this is sometimes overlooked, a HT is selective surgery, we choose to have it, and that does dot belittle someone's need to want it, but we are entitled to question a new "tool" when to the patient they put their trust in it, results recipient and donor will tell the truth, documented cases, then we cam decide.
 
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Shang

Shang

Sheepish Member
I think I read somewhere that SMG are experimenting with the Feller punch is that correct? If so how is SMG finding it.
 
the B spot

the B spot

Pick your Poison!
Shang wrote:
I think I read somewhere that SMG are experimenting with the Feller punch is that correct? If so how is SMG finding it.
We like it! So far, it is working fine...I expect Dr. Shapiro will write something up on it in the future.

Take Care,
Jason
 
Shang

Shang

Sheepish Member
This tool must be pretty first-rate as I think I read somewhere that Dr Devroye is utilising it also. I was wondering if this actually does speed-up a FUE procedure as a consequence of it reducing the fatigue placed upon the Docs. Moreover, I was wondering if prohair have now utilised the tool.
 
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Prohairclinic

Prohairclinic

Prohairclinic FUE and SMP
Hi, Shang,
We have not used the tool yet. We take a wait and see postition for the time being.
When we looked at the video of the new tool in action presented by dr. Feller we actually saw that it might slow us down. Also there seems to be quite a bit of poking involved in the extraction process and this is not something we would like to happen.
 
north country boy

north country boy

Valued member
if this tool works and does speed up the overall operation then this must mean the price of fue will be going down?
 
Shang

Shang

Sheepish Member
north country boy wrote:
if this tool works and does speed up the overall operation then this must mean the price of fue will be going down?
Good question, time is money, i think yes it should go down, but whether it will or not is anyones guess, probably not. in respect to prohair though they have the most reasonably priced fue procedures out there.
 
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Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
It would be good if prices came down but time will tell.

As for how good the tool is,we will have to wait for doctors feedback and patient results.
 

Spex

Member
Animation describing Dr. Feller's unique FUE method



There are several ways to perform FUE, but I have found this particular method to be the best for me. It's easy to learn and perform and reduces the level of trauma to the graft better than any other FUE technique that I am aware of. I invite all doctors and patients to view the animation and then to view the video clip of this technique being used on an actual patient.

When you look at the animation or the actual surgery, here's what's happening.
Our motorized FUE instrument with propriatery punch design (available to any doctor) is used to cut or "score" down about 75% the length of the graft. Then the instrument is removed and a fine forcepts is used to grasp the partially freed graft and to pull it up gently. It can't be pulled out completely because the bottom part of the graft is still afixed to the deep layer of skin. Intead of simply squeezing the graft harder and then pulling the graft free violently to break the remaining tissue, we simply insert a thin needle down and poke holes in the tissue while it is "tented". This way we use almost no extra traction force on the graft to break it free.

Imagine grabing a plastic shopping bag and trying to rip it apart with your hands. It's pretty tough. But now try and do the same thing, but this time ask someone to poke a few holes in the bag while you have the bag under slight tension between your hands. The bag will instantly rip apart at the point where the perforations were made with FAR greater ease. That's the concept at work here.


Click to see technique and tools used on actual patient:
http://www.fellermedicaldata.com/vid...OnlineDemo.wmv


FUEperforation.gif



 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
north country boy wrote:
if this tool works and does speed up the overall operation then this must mean the price of fue will be going down?



Will this be the case for the above question.

I have a few questiond Spex,if you or Dr Feller would be kind enough to answer them.



1. Dr Feller wrote Quote- This device allows not only for greater quality of extraction, but greater speed as well. Much greater. And all without any extra risk to the grafts themselves. The same cannot be said of other FUE tools on the market.

I recently watched a Youtube video of Dr Devroye using a powered punch and it looked good,also his fue results dont look compromised at all.

Have you studied/used this device?



2. Dr Feller wrote-Quote

Our motorized FUE instrument with propriatery punch design (available to any doctor) is used to cut or "score" down about 75% the length of the graft. Then the instrument is removed and a fine forcepts is used to grasp the partially freed graft and to pull it up gently. It can't be pulled out completely because the bottom part of the graft is still afixed to the deep layer of skin. Intead of simply squeezing the graft harder and then pulling the graft free violently to break the remaining tissue, we simply insert a thin needle down and poke holes in the tissue while it is "tented". This way we use almost no extra traction force on the graft to break it free.

I dont quite understand how the transection can be less if you only score down 75% of the graft,my reasoning is i`ve read that fue docs will go down approximately 90%,just above the bulb,this leaves minimal tissue holding the graft in place,therefor not much force is required to extract the graft,thus minimising transection.In the video demonstration it appears the punch goes down 90%.

If you have 15% tissue above the bulb still intact,will this not cause you to use more force when lifting /pulling the graft up,thus more risk of the graft snapping above the bulb or are you saying that the 75% you go down the shaft stops just above the bulb thus the bulb is the remaining 25%.

How is this overcome if my 15% theory is correct?



3. What is the optimum speed the punch works at?

I ask this as its battery operated and i cant see a power gage to let the user know when the battery is losing power.When a powered tool starts to lose power,usually it wont operate to its fullest potential

ie A cordless power drill wont penetrate a surface as efficiently as a fully charged unit once its power level drops to a certain point.



4. What is the life of the battery used before it needs replacing?

Thanks bm.





 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Dr Devroye using a powered fue punch.

[flash=425,344]http://www.youtube.com/v/phB1soY4tbY&hl=en&fs=1[/flash]
 
the B spot

the B spot

Pick your Poison!
bigmac--did you happen to get the size of the punch? It looks like a 1.1-1.2mm ---(inner diameter)---be good to clarify this.

I noticed a lot of tissue on the extracted grafts which lends itself to larger punches.

Take Care,
Jason
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Sorry Jason

Only the video posted,you would need to ask Dr Devroye for additional info.

bm.
 
Prohairclinic

Prohairclinic

Prohairclinic FUE and SMP
From looking at the video it does not look like dr. Fellers FUE tool.
 
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