Dr. Arocha has been showing his ultra refined and large sessions of follicular units on this forum as a recommended physician for well over a year. Given these many impressive results, it came as no surprise when visiting his clinic to see that his technique and procedure are truly ultra refined.

However, I wanted to see it for myself and verify this before considering him for membership in the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. In my opinion he and his experienced staff have shown that they meet the demanding criteria and standards for membership in the Coalition. See Coalition standards at http://www.hairlosslearningcen...ership-standards.asp

Dr. Arocha’s beautiful office studio is part art studio and part clinic, combining his interest in medicine with his talent for painting. This synergy is evident in his patient’s final results, which are typically very natural.

Like so many patients I encounter during my clinic visits, the patient during the day of my visit did most of his research on the Hair Transplant Network. I enjoyed speaking with him and found him to be very well informed about hair transplantation. But what do you expect from someone who’s a regular on this community :-)

This patient in his early 40’s wanted to restore and strengthen his hairline. To meet his goal of restoring a dense and natural hairline, Dr. Arocha and his staff intended to transplant approximately 3,000 follicular unit grafts.

I really liked Dr. Arocha’s donor removal technique. He first scored the surface of the patient's scalp with a single blade rather than cutting all the way down past the base of the follicles, which can result in transecting (severing) the underlying follicles. Once the scoring incisions were done, he used his forceps to gently separate the follicles in the donor strip away from the underlying donor area. This minimized the chance of transecting the precious donor follicles along the edge of the donor strip.

Dr. Arocha also only took out one section of donor tissue at any given time so as to minimize the time the donor tissue and follicles were out of the body. Then when the medical techs were completing the trimming of a donor section a new section would be removed for trimming. Ultimately the donor tissue in total measured 1.2cm wide by 22cm in length.

Dr. Arocha closed the donor area by first using internal sutures to pull the subcutaneous tissues beneath the skin together. This greatly reduces the tension on the surface of the skin so it can be sutured together under minimal tension. Thus there is less tension and pulling on the external skin level sutures, which reduces the chances of stretching and scaring along the donor scar. The sutures are also more comfortable for the patients than either staples or single layer closure.

While doing such a double layer closure takes more time, I think it is optimal for the patient’s healing and comfort. If I were to do another surgery, I personally would request a double layer closure.

Dr. Arocha also performs the trichophytic closure technique when he expects the surgery to be the patient’s last procedure. He also took care to only shave the donor area that was removed so that the patient’s hair right above the suture line could easily cover it.

Three of Dr. Arocha’s medical techs – Craig (9 years experience), Maria (10 years experience) and Lourdes (8 years experience) trimmed the donor tissue into follicular unit grafts, while Dr. Arocha made all the incisions for the grafts. He used the smallest incision that would accommodate the tiny grafts, while varying the angle and direction to replicate a natural hair direction.

The final graft and hair count was 572 one hair grafts, 984 two hair grafts, 921 three hair grafts, 391 four hair grafts and 187 five hair grafts – for a total of 3,055 grafts comprised of 7,802 hairs.

In addition to performing a truly ultra refined top notch hair transplant procedure, I was impressed by Dr. Arocha’s friendly “bedside manner” and sense of humor. In my opinion, Dr. Arocha and his experienced staff have achieved the skill, experience and ultra refined procedure that puts their clinic on a world class standing.

To learn more about Dr. Arocha, visit his profile/recommendation at http://www.hairtransplantnetwo...Doctors.asp?DrID=636

Having seen dozens of Dr. Arocha's results on our forum since he's been recommended and having the opportunity to speak with him on the phone and in person about his technique, philosophy, and experience, it's not surprising to hear that Dr. Arocha is dedicated to patient care and his work, ultra refined.

Given what we've seen and learned about Dr. Arocha over the course of time, I agree that he meets our high standards for the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

Pat, thanks for providing a thorough and detailed account of your visitation with Dr. Arocha.

Best wishes,

Bill (Falceros)

very nice, clean work. thanks for exposing another talented ht surgeon pat!

I'm a big fan of Dr. Arocha's work. It seems to be subtle and very realistic. I also really appreciate his contributions to this forum by consistently answering member questions. My only gripe is that his photo documentation does not appear as good as most of the other physicians. However, I recognize that he is not here for his photography skills, so I won't hold it against him.

Is anyone else surprised at the number of 5 hair grafts that patient had?

quote:

Originally posted by miked:
Is anyone else surprised at the number of 5 hair grafts that patient had?

Good catch - I missed that! About 20% of the grafts were 4 & 5 hair grafts, which begins to feel like Mini & Micro grafts (although I'm sure there's rationale behind it, such as improved density?) I'd be interested to see how this looks when fully grown out.

M&M

Thanks Pat, Bill, hairthere , and TC17 for your kind words. Thanks to miked and M&M for taking the time to read and post. M&M, at Arocha Hair Restoration we perform exclusively ultra-refined follicular unit transplantation. Follicular units are the naturally occurring hair groups that hair is found in the scalp. They range from 1-5 hairs per grouping or follicular unit. About half the follicular units are usually 1 and 2 hair units, the remaining are 3,4, and 5 hair units. The more 3,4, and 5 hair follicular units the thicker the hair, that is why you can see why the patient’s hair is so thick in the donor area.Mini / micro grafts contain more than one follicular unit. Some hair restoration surgeons use them, but we do not. When I desire to increase density, I prefer to employ FUF, or follicular unit family or simply DFU( double follicular unit pairing). I prefer to do it this way because it produces the most natural and undetectable results.

That's some nice work doc..beautifull clinic too. You just made it in my top ten...Keep up the good work

Just a thought from the peanut gallery...

Dr Arocha - I want to congratulate you on becoming a member of the coalition. You are quickly on your way to becoming recognized as one of the "elites" and it's well deserved.

Pat's description of your friendly “bedside manner” and sense of humor is right on. It's a pleasure coming by your office, visiting with you and your staff.

I can personally attest to your clean work with regards to your donor removal technique, the double layer closure and the "smallest incision that would accommodate the tiny grafts, while varying the angle and direction to replicate a natural hair direction." That's exactly how my procedure went.

My recovery time was fast and the work was clean. The way my hairs are growing out look very natural with my hair type.

I've said this before and I'll just repeat it again here. Pat clearly mentions some of Dr. Arocha's strengths but I just want to reiterate on top of that, that in my opinion Dr. Arocha is especially an elite when it comes to creating a natural look for the particular patient he is working on regardless of hair type or ethnicity. Dr. Arocha's HT's don't look generic. He has an artist's eye for giving a person the fuller head of hair they were meant to have, as if they had never lost it in the first place.

That's elite.

Anyway, congrats and thanks Doc!

Maxhair

Thanks kaounis and maxhair,

Your felicitations predated the announcement but now I am officially in the Coalition. I am honor to accept and feel a great deal of appreciation to the Docs and members of the community who supported me. Thank you all. In appreciation we are offering $4./FU for any procedure booked in May for the rest of May 2009.

Congrats Dr. Arocha!

Thanks Leeson,

I appreciate all your kind comments. Happy growing!