DR. GRECO INDICATES ON HIS WEB SITE THAT HE USES COMPOUND MICROSCOPES AND AT LEAST 7 TECHS. AND TAKES ABOUT 6 HOURS TO GET IT RIGHT.(1500 FU MEGASESSION)

Jebster,

Doing large sessions of all follicular units is a team effort.

The more techs working the quicker grafts can be prepared and transplanted. This helps reduce the amount of time the grafts are out of the body. This can be one variable in determining the rate of successful growth.

One of the reasons some clinics do not do large sessions of all follicular units is because it is hard to train and employee several techs. A large well trained staff is one indicator of a surgeons commitment to doing quality hair transplant work.

Thanks for reading this post. But it's your posts that make this discussion group real and vital. Please jump into the discussion. Just pick a topic and click the reply button.

[This message was edited by Pat - Publisher of this site on January 31, 2002 at 04:59 PM.]

A large session is something that I will not allow on my head. After a few hours, the doctor(s) involved will feel exhausted, and that's bound to affect the quality of the work involved. I would rather split a large session into two more manageable sessions.

I am kind of guessing that I will need about 500 follicles(?), but that is merely a guess. I have sent an email to a doctor in Brazil (I found his name on this site somewhere) asking him for a remote evaluation over the Internet. I'll see if I can get the same from Dr. Ray Woods, whom I am really looking forward to talking to as soon as they can call me back. Given the time difference between here and their country, I might have to call them in the evening, which is ok. I'll ask him for some type of preliminary evaluation over the Internet. I can get very high resolutions pictures of my head from several different angles. An experienced doctor is bound to have a pretty good idea of what it would take to fix my v-shaped hair.

quote:

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A large session is something that I will not allow on my head. After a few hours, the doctor(s) involved will feel exhausted, and that's bound to affect the quality of the work involved. I would rather split a large session into two more manageable sessions.

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The doctor is often not involved in every single step of the process. The techs do a lot of the work. In a big session, there are enough techs for them to rotate in shifts. This "time factor" which you object to, is not one of the big issues, in my opinion. We all work 8 hour days, some of us even longer. I don't see why you think working more than a few hours on a patient will affect a doctor's judgement or skills, and the patient's outcome. Hey, not that I'm going to argue with the concept of a 4-hour workday!

I hate to tell you this, but Dr. Woods' method is a slow and methodical process. It might take him 8 or 10 hours to do a session of 500 grafts, and there are no techs. Don't get me wrong, I think Woods is an excellent choice, not just for you but for everyone. I'm just saying that this "time limit" you have is not reflective of how things really work, and it's not a factor in any way, in my opinion. It's meaningless.

I think you should instead be thinking about the long-term effects of getting a hair transplant right now, when you may not really need one. I already brought those issues up in your other thread, so I won't bore everyone else with them again.

The issue of the number staffers needed to perform an excellent HT is a crutial one. The procedures today are easier and better for the patient but more labor intensive for the doctor. The average to good tech can cut or plant about 250 grafts in one hour. The average 1200 graft session should take about 4 hours from start to finish with one doc and 3 techs. The issue of how many grafts can or should be placed on the scalp should not really be judged in terms of the required time for the procedure but rather the question should be asked like this...How many grafts can be placed safely in a given area so that they will give me the fullest appearance and have the maximum blood supply to grow succesfully ? It is a mistake to be limiting the number of grafts because of time issues. A well honed HT team should be able to provide the maximum number of grafts to do the job in a reasonable time period. After all, as a patient you will be waiting 8 or so months to see the result, and paying a considerable price, and we know it takes a lot of hair to make a difference...so do not ask for smaller numbers and more frequent sessions...ask for large safe sessions performed expediciously.
Dr. James Vogel

WWW.4HAIR.COM.AU

GNX...

The readers of this discussion must be aware that different hair transplant surgeons have different practice policies and techniques. The overwhelming number do larger sessions seperated by 6-8 months and use skilled technicians. There are a variety of reasons for this. Obviously though, in some practices no technicians are required.
Dr. Vogel
Baltimore