HAIR TRANSPLANT FORUM

What are the benefits of Dr Cole's new power extractor?

1. Anyone who has had a HT knows what a time-consuming process it is for the doctor, which is why costs have had to be on the high side when compared to other cosmetic procedures. The extractor, one would think, will affect that equation. Will it allow the doctor to lower the cost of hair transplants, since the time to extract the donor hair has been decreased?

2. Has there been any evidence that the extractor has resulted in an increase in the number of damaged donor FUs, or perhaps a decrease?

I would say that the primary benefits of the power extractor are the unparalleled speed and safety with which Dr. Cole can extract follicular units. The average transection rate is below 3.7% and a less than one hair per one hundred difference in Dr. Cole's manual transection rate (which is already extremely low for the industry). Preserving patients' limited graft supply is extremely important to him and he would never compromise graft survival for the sake of completing procedures faster.

Regarding the cost issue, I think this innovation definitely will contribute to a reduction in prices eventually but that will take some time. We're hopeful that this device will increase both standards and competition in the FUE market, leading to universal graft price reductions, without compromising patient results.

I cannot address RickH's questions directly, but I can offer a patient's perspective of the benefits of Dr. Cole's power extraction device. The following comes from a post I made in the main forum...

I am a patient of Dr Cole's who had a CIT procedure done 2 years ago (November 2009), and a second procedure done 2 days ago. In 2009 Dr. Cole was not yet using his PCID device, but rather punching each follicular group manually with a standard FUE punch. This week however he used the PCID device for my procedure. From my perspective, there are 2 significant differences:

1) Increased Comfort - Even though you are heavily numbed in the donor site areas, a standard FUE punch still creates a noticeable amount of pressure and it can jostle your head a little bit. That can be aggravating after a full day of punching. The PCID device however is smooth as silk and you can't feel the punching at all. No pressure, no jostling! Simply awesome.

2) SPEED - The PCID allowed Dr. Cole to work MUCH faster. To give you an idea just how much faster, in 2009 I had ~2000 grafts done, and it was a two day visit. This week I again had ~2000 grafts done, and it only took one day. That's huge! Anything that leads to less time in the chair is a huge bonus for the patient!