HairSite Exclusive! Interview with Dr. Carl Bazan:  Scalp Impregnation Therapy (SIT) & Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)

SCALP IMPREGNATION THERAPY (SIT)
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You are the only doctor who seems to be working with the broadest spectrum of hair restoration techniques that are currently known to the industry. Can you tell us your background and your credentials? 

Dr. Bazan: I am a Surgeon that obtained a Medical Doctor degree and title through the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Guadalajara. My training is in Cosmetic Surgery with a strong emphasis on Hair Restoration. I have a great interest in research. I belong to the Dermatology Association of my locality, and I am the Secretary General of such organization for 2003 trough 2005. I do not belong to "Hair Associations" or any other commercial/professional group.

How is the SIT procedure administered? Are the cultured hair cells delivered to the scalp by means of multiple injection via a needle or through some other means? 

Dr. Bazan:  Via a round tip cannula with a very special design (length, width, openings, material, curvature). Sample harvesting is painless and done somewhat to a 100-FUE donor.

When can we expect SIT to be commercially available to the public?

Dr. Bazan: We do not have that information now. We expect it to be soon. We will have a very interesting announcement in about 9 months.

What will be the cost for a standard SIT procedure? How much hair regrowth can we expect from one standard SIT procedure ?

Dr. Bazan: It is a very expensive technology now. We are working to be able to bring the cost down considerably. If it were to be applied right now, it would cost around 23K to 28K (way too much in my personal view). Growth is expected to be worth the investment (in thousands of follicular families).

There was a rumor last year that you had already performed the SIT procedure on a patient and it worked perfectly, is there any truth to this? Can you relate to us a case study of one of your SIT test patients? For example, what Norwood class was this patient before he received SIT treatment, how long ago did you treat this patient, how many sessions of SIT did he receive, what kind of results and density did he have since the SIT treatments, has he experienced any side effects, did the SIT-generated hair regrowth go through the normal hair cycles and still continue to grow normally ? Can we see patient pictures ?

Dr. Bazan: Such information is not public now.

Does SIT work by rejuvenating existing hair follicles or does it actually create brand new follicles? 

Dr. Bazan: Both. 

What are some of the obstacles ? Is hair direction an issue? What about hair texutre? Do they look as natural as our own hair ? Do they look more natural or less natural than hair transplant? Can a natural and undetectable hairline be created using SIT alone without hair transplantation?

Dr. Bazan: Obstacles are (among classified ones), cost of research, cost of personnel, handling of volunteers, etc. SIT hair is 100% normal hair, by all means.

Are you familiar with other doctors' research? How would you compare your SIT technique with Dr. Gho's HAIRmultiplication and Aderans' Follicular Neogenesis research? Would you consider collaborating with other researchers? 

Dr. Bazan: Unfortunately we are not familiar with other Doctors work on HM/SIT/or cloning. Nobody yet contacted us sharing data. Mostly offers to buy the technology and all data. Many emails advising to stop all research on HM. Our SIT is different from other work. We admire and respect other work. We prefer SIT, it will be faster, safer and more cost effective than plain HM or cloning (is any of those ever happen).

Can you give us a synopsis or summary of the results of your SIT test patients? For example, what percentage of your test patients did not respond to the treatment, what percentage are excellent responders, did a certain age group respond better, etc ??

Dr. Bazan:  All patients respond to impregnation. Different degrees of response reflected different techniques tested. In general 70% are excellent responders. Females do better in general. 

FOLLICULAR UNIT EXTRACTION (FUE)
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Dr. Bazan's 
FUE Hair Transplant Harvesting Video
click below to view 

Can you tell us what kind of extraction device you are currently using for the FUE procedure? 

Dr. Bazan: We use a extracting tool that very gently lifts and cuts the follicular families. We designed it in 4 different sizes (lumen width, extractor controlled depths.)

What instrument or technique do you normally use to transplant the donor hair to the recipient site? 

Dr. Bazan: Round and oblong, controlled depth, titanium (most gold tipped) Bazan-FUE-Extractors. Placing: Round bent needles 21 to 23 gauge. Four magnitudes are carefully observed during placing: direction, depth, angle of exit from skin and orientation.

How do you feel about body hair transplantation? Have you done any body hair transplantation on your patients? Will you consider extracting donor hair from the legs and thighs of the patients and transplant to their scalps?

Dr. Bazan: Body hair is great for FUE. We respect some areas and restrict donor from those few areas (such as tibial, eyebrow, moustache, etc). Chest, arms, back, nape, beard, etc are just fine (with some restrictions).

On average, how many FUE grafts can you give the patient in one session? 

Dr. Bazan:  On average we can do 500 to 600. Technically we can do (and have done) up to 870 FUE´s in one session. Some sessions are designed with more ergonomic logistics, low number of FUE´s (150 to 400) and longer rest periods for the patient.

Will you eventually limit the practice of strip transplant or even abandon strip transplant entirely and just focus on FUE and other less invasive procedures?

Dr. Bazan: Yes, eventually. We still do some thin-strip surgeries because a surprisingly high number of patients prefer a strip over so many FUE hours, some are not prepared to afford FUE cost, In a personal view FUE are better for most patients (but not all).

Is your FUE technique your own invention or did you collaborate with other doctors to come up with this technique? 

Dr. Bazan: Our particular way to do FUE is indeed our invention. As a matter of fact we call it EUFF actually, but refer to it as FUE to be able to communicate with the hair restoration cyber communities. I say because my father (Dr. Hactor Bazan, senior) collaborates with me in order to make advancements (in FUE, SIT and all my other projects).

Can we see FUE's patient pictures? 

Dr. Bazan:  Yes, they will be posted soon. We still have a legal imaging-release wording issue to overcome.

the end

The above interview does NOT constitute an endorsement 
by HairSite. Readers are advised to do thorough research
before proceeding with any hair restoration procedures.  

All coverage on Dr. Bazan's research

Nov 10, 2004
Dr. Carl Bazan's Scalp Impregnation Therapy & Hair Multiplication November 2004 Update.

Jun 14 - Jun 20, 2004
Followed up questions answered by Dr. Carl Bazan about his hair multiplication experiments.

May 17 - May 23, 2004
Part II of our continuing coverage on the world's most anticipated news in surgical hair restoration advancements - Dr. Carl Bazan to introduce Hair Multiplication in 2004.

Jan 12 - Jan 18, 2004
Hair Multiplication: Worldwide premiere coverage. First ever Hair Multiplication photo in the world featured in HairSite. 

Jan 05 - Jan 11, 2004
Hair Multiplication: Worldwide premiere coverage. The world's most anticipated news in surgical hair restoration advancements - Dr. Carl Bazan to introduce Hair Multiplication in 2004. 

Nov 10 - Nov 16, 2003
Hair Multiplication & Hair Transplant: Interview with Dr. Bazan: Scalp Impregnation Therapy & Follicular Unit Extraction hair transplant. 

Nov 03 - Nov 09, 2003
Hair Transplant: Dr. Bazan's FUE harvesting video now available on HairSite. 

Jun 30 - Jul 06, 2003
Hair Multiplication: Preview of upcoming news or announcement by Dr. Carl Bazan on Scalp Impregnation Therapy (S.I.T).

Jan 20 - Jan 26, 2003
Hair Transplant: Dr. Carl Bazan's Stripless FUE  Hair Transplantation Workshop now accepting new patients. 

Dec 23 - Dec 29, 2002
Dr. Bazan's stripless FUE hair transplantation workshop: offering tremendous cost savings for patients interested in excision free hair transplantation. 

Sep 23 - Sep 29, 2002
Dr. Bazan's S.I.T Disclosure: Dr. Bazan disclosed information about his Scalp Impregnation Therapy (S.I.T) research, a new development in hair restoration research that may rival Dr. Gho's HAIRmultiplication procedure. 

If you have any follow up questions for Dr. Bazan, 
please post in the following forums
HAIR MULTIPLICATION FORUM
HAIR TRANSPLANT FORUM