What Are The Benefits Of Pre-making Recipient Sites For Hair Transplants?

Dr. Bernstein: Once we realized the benefit of pre-making sites, with respect to decreasing bleeding, allowing better visibility and less [graft] popping, we also realized the benefit of allowing the healing process to proceed in advance of transplanting the actual grafts. When a wound is made in the scalp, there are chemotactic and growth factors that migrate into the wound, and they allow the grafts to grow. If incisions are placed before the grafts are placed, it makes for a more fertile bed. We found that if we make the sites a day before the procedure, the sites don’t close up, it’s just as easy to place the grafts, and there is less bleeding and less popping. Most important, the areas are starting to heal, making the recipient sites better to support graft growth. For small cases, we make the sites in the morning before surgery; for medium size cases, around 2000 grafts, we’ll make the sites the day before; and for large cases, we make all the sites on the first day and also place half the grafts, and then on the second day, we place the rest.

• Read more about pre-making recipient sites
• Read Dr. Bernstein's publication on pre-making sites

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