WEDNESDAY, Sept. 25, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The robotic hair technology ARTAS is effective and safe for follicular unit (FU) selection and hair harvesting for the treatment of male pattern baldness (AGA), according to a study published online Sept. 19 in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology.
Yifei Zhu and colleagues from the Shanghai Institute of Dermatology, Fudan University, compared the efficacy and safety of the ARTAS system with follicular unit excision (FUE) in treating male androgenetic alopecia. The study enrolled 13 Chinese male patients aged 25 to 35 years with Norwood-Hamilton II to IV androgenetic alopecia. Each patient’s donor site was randomly divided into left and right, with one undergoing ARTAS and the other FUE. The yield, cut rate, and discard rate of hair FU on both sides were compared.
The researchers found that the total yield in the ARTAS side was lower than the FUE side (82.05 percent vs. 90.03 percent), but the difference was not significant. The total rejection rate was significantly higher in the ARTAS side (10.71 percent vs. 5.46 percent), and the total amputation rate was lower but not significant (13.17 percent vs. 13.96 percent). No significant differences were found in patient satisfaction. No side effects or complications were reported during or after all procedures.
“Although yield rates are lower with ARTAS (not statistically significant), amputation rates are lower,” the authors wrote, “clinically meaning that hair follicles successfully harvested with ARTAS are likely to be of higher quality compared with those harvested with FUE.”
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