HEALTHY TRUTH: Robot to cure baldness?
As you start to age, whether you're man or woman, you will lose hair - but there's a new technology being hailed for halting baldness.
Peter Falconer, 34, started losing his hair eight years ago.
"It was gradual for me, but you know over the last couple of years its more noticeable, looking at photos and things like that," Falconer told 7News.
He was among the first Australian patients to try a new robotic technology treating baldness.
"So basically you can comb through this now without really anybody being aware of where the hair was taken from so that's an outstanding result."
The ARTAS robot used digital mapping to harvest thousands of healthy hair follicles from the back of Peter's head, which were transplanted into the thinning area.
"The patient is positioned head down so we can get to the back of the scalp, this area of the scalp here is the donor area of the scalp these are the healthy hairs," dermatologist Dr Russell Knudsen said.
"The bald areas are traditionally at the top of the scalp, the healthy areas in the back of the scalp."
Until now, male pattern hair loss has been treated through medication or surgical procedures involving donor hair strips or manual extraction of hair follicles.
"The advantage of the robot is speed, accuracy and lack of fatigue, because the robot will run all day without getting physically tired, whereas doctors who perform this surgery frequently get very tired doing the technique," Dr Knudsen said.
Hair restoration surgery is becoming more popular in Australia - doubling in the past decade to almost 4,000 procedures a year.
The robotic treatment will set you back around $12,000 - but 10 weeks after surgery, Peter could not be happier.
"I suppose men sort of look at sometimes getting procedures done as not very manly, but I'm ecstatic about mine so I'm happy," Falconer said.
Photo: 7News
About two-thirds of men will experience hair loss by the time they are 35.
By the time they turn 50, 85 percent of men and 50 percent of women will experience noticible hair loss.
As we're all living longer, we are more likely to experience baldness, but given new technological advances, living with the condition is now optional.
*Next in The Healthy Truth series: Why more Aussie men are getting plastic surgery. Tomorrow night on 7News at 6pm
