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Hair Transplant Surgery Using World's most Advanced Video microscope "MANTIS" |
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Since Vision Engineering
launched its Mantis stereo viewing system, over 100,000 units
have been installed for industrial, medical, research, educational
and other applications. Among the more fascinating of these
is hair transplant surgery - an expanding biomedical sector
where Mantis has become the favoured tool of world's best H.T.S.
For centuries, scientists and medical researchers have sought
a remedy for male baldness. Many have claimed to offer the
definitive answer, but perhaps one of the most enduring approaches
remains the hair transplant - a process that uses the patient's
own hair by transplanting it from another area of the head.
Hair transplant surgery has evolved significantly during its
lifetime to become a fast, realistic and relatively stress-free
process. |
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| Modern hair transplant
operation transfers around 1500-3000 grafts ( 3000- 7000 hair), each
containing between 1 and 4 hairs, to the treated area of the
head. The grafts are taken from a donor strip removed from the
back of the patient's head. The strip is typically between 9mm
and 12mm wide and 15 - 20cm or more in length, depending on how many
donor grafts are required. When the strip is removed, the resulting
scar is closed and becomes imperceptible to all but the most
detailed examination. |
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| "The next phase
of the operation requires great care and accuracy, and that's
where the Mantis stereo viewer comes in", . The donor strip
is slivered to create micrografts of 1 and 2 hairs, or minigrafts
of 3 or 4 hairs. "When cutting the donor strip into slivers
in order to create the grafts for transplanting, we have to
take care to isolate the exact number of hairs required for
each graft. We must also avoid transecting the graft - that
is, cutting through the root of the hair below the skin surface.
Because we are working with individual hair follicles, this
is difficult to accomplish with the naked eye". Our clinic is equipped with 2 Mantis stereo magnifying
video microscopic. |
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Around the world, Mantis is a popular solution
to low magnification viewing requirements for tasks such
as dental manufacture, sample handling and dissection, inspection
& quality checking tasks, and many other applications.
The eyepieceless instrument provides a true stereo image
with user-selectable magnification from 2x to 10x, and can
be used by operators wearing spectacles or contact lenses.
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Mantis produces a high-resolution
image and offers considerably greater freedom of head movement
than a traditional microscope or bench magnifier. The apparent
distance to the magnified image of the subject is identical
to the actual distance to the subject on the bench. Therefore,
when operators switch their view between the two, no refocusing
of the eyes is required, permitting easy hand-to-eye co-ordination
and reducing eyestrain. Similarly, with the stereo viewer and
the head movement freedom, operators work efficiently in comfortable
ambient light and do not need to cope with differences in brightness
between subject and image.
This combination of ergonomic
design to permit optimal posture and optical performance to
deliver high clarity images allow Mantis operators to work
effectively and comfortably for extended periods - useful
attributes for technicians separating follicular units during
hair transplant surgery. |
| After the donor strip
of hair has been successfully removed, Dr. Nasir will prepare
the patient's scalp to accept the grafts, while a team usually
consisting of 5-7 technicians creates the range of micrografts
and minigrafts specified during the primary consultation. Preparing
the scalp requires considerable surgical skill to achieve high
quality of result. |
| Away from the site of
Dr.Nasir's work, the technicians painstakingly sliver the donor
strip. "Completing the treatment can take anything from
3 hours to over 10 hours, depending on factors such as the number
of grafts required of the hair type," . "This can
be quite fatiguing, especially when we are dealing with grey
or 'salt & pepper' hair colours, for example. These are
the more difficult to see and can appear transparent under the
surgery lighting." He explains that to make these hairs
more visible, and thus easier to process accurately, many techniques
have been tried. "We looked for new equipment that would
help us do this better and a magnifying viewer was consistently
the best solution. We now operate two Mantis instruments, supplied
by Vision Engineering." |
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| Mantis has become popular
throughout the hair transplant industry, having been specified
by several of the world's top clinics. Depth perception, illumination
and colour rendition are important for easy, fast and accurate
handling of grafts. "Hands-free operation is, of course,
vital", . Previously, we used magnifying glasses at 2x
magnification, but Mantis gives a superior image and is far
more comfortable to use." Although Vision Engineering offers
mantis with a versatile selection of accessories to facilitate
a range of applications, the base configuration has proved optimal
for the Hair Surgery. |
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| Once created, the grafts
are placed in a petri dish, ready for the surgeon to transplant.
In keeping with the way hair naturally grows, the patient's
front hairline is usually constructed using single-hair micrografts,
while larger areas are covered with the minigrafts containing
up to four hairs. "Look at your own hair, or that of your
colleagues," . "You can identify single follicles
at the hairline, but further back the follicles are more tightly
grouped. We recreate these patterns in the transplanting process."
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