Matristem and Repair

[Waterloo]

I have read good things about Matristem and wound healing, with an emphasis on diminished scarring. Many past and present forum posters received hair transplants using older methods, including 3-4mm plugs. For any number of reasons, many of those men have expressed a desire to remove those plugs and not proceed with further hair transplantation. Considering the recipient area only, the risk for this excison only procedure was scarring from the punch outs and a 20-25% regrowth of hair at the excision site, despite the removal of the plugs. The reason for the regrowth, according to Dr. Vogel, et al, was that a 3mm punch is used to remove an original 4mm plug, because of contraction, so the round scarring is removed, for cosmetic reasons, but 20% of the follicle remains because a 4mm punch, to get it all, would create a greater scar. Additionally, punch outs over 2mm require suturing, for cosmetic reasons, which creates scalp tension, so a limited number of plugs are excised in a staged manner, often requiring 3 or more procedures, 2 months apart. This is a drawn out proceedure with a lengthy down time.

 

With the use of Matristem (ACell) would it be possible to now excise original 4mm plugs, with 4mm punches to get the entire follicle, and leave the wounds to heal openly (With Matristem powder or sheets) with a better than expected cosmetic and complete result than the old staged method using sutures? With open (Secondary Healing) many of these excisions could be done in one procedure since scalp tension would no longer be an issue. I believe that Dr. Cooley may have suggested that suturing may neutralize the benefits of Matristem in wound healing, so open healing may be the preferred technique anyway.

 

I would like comments from both forum members and doctors on this topic.

 

Thanks for your time

Waterloo