2391 grafts Female with ACell by Dr Cooley

[Dr. Jerry Cooley]

This woman in her 70's is fairly typical of older females with hairloss. There is diffuse alopecia throughout her scalp except for a band of slightly denser hair in the lower border of her back and sides. Normally she would not be considered a good candidate for a hair transplant. We harvested the maximal amount we could, which yielded 2391 grafts with 4304 hairs to the entire frontal 2/3ds of her scalp (<25 grafts per cm2). ACell MatriStem was used on the grafts. She is shown at 7 months. This is better than I normally expect and I attribute this to the use of the ACell. Her donor hair is shown with comparison to a male with excellent quality donor hair. She is thrilled and scheduled another procedure. I believe that the benefits of ACell are most apparent on those patients with below average hair characteristics and low density grafting.

[haircut]

Dr. Cooley,

 

Is the ACell MatriStem that you refer to the cloning technique that you have been working with or the graft additive?

 

There are many of us with limited remaining donor area that are anxious to hear more about your ACell work :-)

[Blake Bloxham]

Dr. Cooley,

 

Thank you for presenting this case. The work looks quite refined, and the transformation is impressive, especially considering the circumstances.

 

However, I was had a few questions regarding the use of ACell during this procedure: when you say that ACell was used on her grafts, does this mean you used the ACell Matristem "plucking" technique, where only half (essentially) of the follicle is removed, treated with ACell, and then implanted -allowing the ACell to regrow of the entire follicle in the recipient area? Or did you perform follicular unit transplantation on the patient and treat the follicular unit grafts with ACell before implanting them?

 

Thank you! Like haircut said, we're all very eager to watch ACell progress, so please, keep us updated with cases as frequently as possible!

 

Nicely done.

[Dr. Jerry Cooley]

Dr. Cooley,

 

Thank you for presenting this case. The work looks quite refined, and the transformation is impressive, especially considering the circumstances.

 

However, I was had a few questions regarding the use of ACell during this procedure: when you say that ACell was used on her grafts, does this mean you used the ACell Matristem "plucking" technique, where only half (essentially) of the follicle is removed, treated with ACell, and then implanted -allowing the ACell to regrow of the entire follicle in the recipient area? Or did you perform follicular unit transplantation on the patient and treat the follicular unit grafts with ACell before implanting them?

 

Thank you! Like haircut said, we're all very eager to watch ACell progress, so please, keep us updated with cases as frequently as possible!

 

Nicely done.

 

Sorry for the confusion. This was a standard FUT strip procedure, in which we coated the FU grafts with ACell. In fact I did do about 50 plucked hairs to the frontal core, which are growing, but did not mention it because its hard to document these compared to the standard grafts. I'm accumulating the hair duplication (formerly known as 'autocloning') cases for presentation later this year when I can give a more accurate summary of my findings. In this case, neither all plucked or FUE would have been appropriate as the thin band of good hair would have been thinned to the point of creating a cosmetic problem in the months after the procedure. A strip on the other hand allowed her to easily hide the incision. I think that each procedure will have a place in the hair surgeon's armamentarium.

 

Dr Cooley

[haircut]

Dr. Cooley,

 

Thank you for the explanation. I know that many of us are looking forward to your ACell hair duplication 'autocloning' findings later this year.

[kathie47]

That looks great. Can't wait to hear more!

[bonkerstonker]

A few Drs have been using acell for quite some time now, i may be wrong but if acell was what it was cracked up to be i'm sure one of the Drs using it would be bursting to tell us all but they all say the same they're still waiting to see or collecting results. No offence Dr Cooley :rolleyes:

[haircut]

Dr. Cooley is by far the ACell expert in the HT field. Most credible doctors side with caution when dealing with something new.

 

Honestly, ACell has not been around all that long compared to other HT technologies. Dr. Cooley has been working with ACell for about 20 months or so and Dr. Rassman has been working with ACell since about last October of last year . There are a couple of other HT doctors working with ACell as well.

 

I believe that it will be at least a couple more years before we know the full extent of ACells capabilities.

[bonkerstonker]

Haircut i agree but what i mean is it's such an amazing achievement if it works that i'd of been jumping and raving around the room if i'd of seen just 1 case of it working after 8 months to a year so i don't know how the Drs are keeping it so quiet if it works.

 

There's more doctors using it than you think, Obviously it would take a few years to check it all properly ie side effects etc but i'm talking about does it actually work?

 

Much respect to Dr Cooley for even trying it though it's worth a shot even if it doesn't work out.

Edited April 2, 2011 by TakingThePlunge

[haircut]

ACell is an amazing achievement. I just don't think that it is mature enough for doctors to be raving about it just yet. My guess is that we will hear much more about it in the next 24 months.

 

I personally know several doctors that are using it but it is not public knowledge yet. As such, I chose not to mention them.

 

This will be exciting for all of us!