Patent Publication Number: US-9420866-B1

Title: Hair harvesting apparatus

Description:
This is a divisional application of application Ser. No. 12/780,834 filed on May 14, 2010 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,317,804 which is a divisional application of application Ser. No. 11/531,862 filed on Sep. 14, 2006 now abandoned, the priority of which are claimed. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to hair harvesting apparatus and more particularly to apparatus for extracting single follicular units from a harvesting area of the skin. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Presently, a patch of skin is excised from the rear area of a scalp and the scalp is then sutured. This patch is then dissected under a microscope and hair follicular units are isolated. The process is slow, tedious, exacting and expensive. It would be advantageous to develop a hair graft harvesting technique which would permit the removal of individual hair grafts from a harvesting area of a scalp or hair bearing skin. Not only would such a technique expedite hair graft harvesting and reduce cost, it also would eliminate the surgical procedure of excising a patch of skin and the attending suturing. 
     But the harvesting of individual hair follicular units or grafts has its own problems: 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,625 demonstrates a mechanism for alignment of hair follicles within a follicular unit so that the follicular unit can be extracted, one follicular unit (FU) at a time. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,625 patent sets up a situation where a hollow punch with a sharp or dull cutting edge can be used to remove the follicular unit with reduced damage of cutting or amputating the follicles in the FU with perfect alignment. When a punch is introduced to surround the FU, the hollow tube gathers the hair follicles as it is advanced deeper into the scalp or hair bearing skin (a distance of about 5-7 mm). 
     The anatomy of a follicular unit is not cylindrical in its normal undisturbed state, in vivo. The hairs of the FU grow in groups of one, two, threes, and four hairs. The hairs of the FU exit at the skin surface in close proximity to one another. However, the hairs of the FU sometimes diverge and cone out in the dermal and fatty layer beneath the skin. Hairs of the FU have a maximal divergence at the location of the bulb. 
     The hair follicles are connected to stroma (collagen fibrils) which forms a lattice work of supporting structures, forming a framework holding the hair follicles in place and connecting the hair follicles to the surrounding fat and blood vessels. This fibrous framework is made up of collagen and the nature of the collagen varies from person to person. Some collagen fibrils are elastic and some inelastic. These inherent characteristics of the FU make the extraction of the FU uniquely variable on an individual basis. 
     In some people, the amount of elastic fibrils is disproportionably high in number, while in other individuals it is disproportionably low in numbers. During the coring of an FU, it is theorized that if the number of elastic fibrils is high, the hollow punch easily ‘gathers’ the hair follicles as it is advanced into the deeper fat, probably tearing at the supporting stroma and breaking it apart. In those with a high elastic content, the cutting or breaking of these elastic fibrils occurs easily as the hair follicles advance into the descending hollow punch. 
     In some people, however, the elastic fibrils are few in number and the inelastic fibrils are high so that the hair and the surrounding structures do not easily cut or tear as the hollow punch is advanced. When this happens, the point of greatest weakness may be the hair shafts and the hair shaft is either cut or torn apart, damaging the FU as attempts are made to remove it. 
     The extraction of the follicular unit is a mechanical process and it is heavily influenced by mechanical factors related to the stroma that support each and every hair follicle. The results of these anatomical variations make extraction of each hair follicle variable on an individual and even local (different areas of the skin) basis. Variations in successful extraction of hairs within an FU often produce unacceptable variation in the success of FU Extraction. 
     SUMMARY 
     The invention is based on the realization that the extraction of individual hair follicular units from a harvest area of the hair bearing skin could be improved by a mechanism which assists an advancing hollow punch as it moves into the hair bearing skin around a target follicular unit. Such an assist is provided by applying vibrational energy to the punch as it advances or by cutting the collagen fibrils about the advancing punch preferably by a water jet scalpel controlled to follow an annular path along the annular distal surface of the punch. In one embodiment, a channel is provided in the wall of the punch. A source of water is coupled to the channel and a pump, under the control of the operator, generates a water jet at the distal surface of the punch. The water jet follows a circular path as the punch rotates upon entry into the skin. A punch with a sharp distal end has been found often to result in the extraction of damaged grafts a consequence which is avoided by a dull punch with an auxiliary instrumentation to separate inelastic collagen fibrils which resist extraction. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic representation of a graft extraction punch in accordance with the principles of this invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an enlarged end view of the punch of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a system block diagram for the operation of the punch of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic representation of an alternative graft extraction punch in accordance with the principles of this invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic side view of a punch for extracting hairgrafts from a hair bearing skin in accordance with the principles of this invention.  FIG. 2  is an enlarged view of the distal end of the punch of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic system diagram of apparatus  10  operative for extracting single follicular unit hair grafts from a hair bearing skin in accordance with the principles of this invention. The apparatus comprises a hollow punch  11  of  FIG. 1  with a channel  12  journalled into the wall of the punch exiting at the distal end  13  as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
     A second punch  14  is positioned coaxially with respect to the axis of punch  11 . Punch  14  has a diameter just larger than the footprint made by the hair of a follicular unit exiting the hair bearing skin. Punch  14  has a sharp distal end and punch  11  has a dull distal end. The punches are free to move individually along the common axis but conveniently are coupled to one another. 
     Punch  11  is secured to a positioning device  30  for aligning punch  11  with a target hair graft for extraction. The positioning device is operative under the control of a controller which conveniently comprises a computer  31 . An imaging device such as an optical fiber  32  is positioned to capture the image of target grafts as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,625, issued Jun. 3, 2003 and also in co-pending patent application Hair Extraction Device and Method for its Use filed Aug. 3, 2006. The image is displayed on monitor  34  of computer  31 . 
     The positioning device is positioned to move punch  11  about the surface of a hair bearing skin  35  as indicated in  FIG. 1 . An operator observes an image on monitor  34  and selects a target graft. Both punch  11  and punch  14  are now properly positioned for excising a hair graft. The operator activates the positioning assembly to advance punch  14  to penetrate or score the skin at the target site. Punch  14  is then withdrawn. The operator then activates the positioning device to move punch  11  into the hair bearing skin and to rotate punch  11  as it advances. The advance of the punch  11  may be controlled to be limited to a depth of approximately 7 mm by the position of a shoulder  36  positioned to abut the hair bearing skin surface when the maximum penetration is reached. The rotation of the advancing punch  11  is indicated by curved arrow  37  in  FIG. 3 . This rotation may be cycled or oscillated in the clockwise and counter-clockwise direction for optimal effect, conveniently controlled by the controller ( 31 ). 
     Channel  12  in punch  11  is connected to fluid source  40  to supply fluid to the channel. The pressure, pulse frequency and pulse duration are determined by pump  41  also conveniently controlled by the controller  31 . The number of rotations or oscillations of the punch  11  also is controlled by the controller  31 . The diameter of the punch  11  is selected to be slightly larger than a follicular unit which is approximately 0.7 mm and the diameter of the channel  12  typically ranges 120 microns or less 
     In operation, advancing punch  11  with micro water jet stream under a pressure of up/to (but not limited to) 150 bar with or without pulsations rotating along the perimeter of the punch  11  may be sufficient to achieve successful dissection and extraction of the most resistant grafts in a single rotation. 
     The punch  11 , with an inner diameter of approximately 0.8 mm to 1.0 mm, typically has a dull distal end but it may also have a sharp cutting edge. In either case, a micro water jet increases the success rate of undamaged graft extraction. 
     The fluid employed may be normal saline water. But other fluids such as lactated ringer&#39;s solution may be used. 
       FIG. 4  shows an alternative embodiment where a vibratory device is attached to a punch and activated as the punch is (rotationally) advanced about a target follicular unit. Specifically,  FIG. 4  shows a punch  50  illustratively with a shoulder  51  with a vibratory transducer  52  coupled to the punch. In the embodiment of  FIG. 4 , the vibratory transducer  52  is activated when an operator activates a positioning assembly for advancing the punch  50  into the hair bearing skin at a target graft. The vibration of the punch  50  produces successful extraction of undamaged grafts and may be implemented by an ultrasonic micro-vibration device such as those used in electric tooth brushes or those used in dental offices. Controller  53  controls the vibratory transducer  52 . 
     In an embodiment where a hollow punch (as punch  14  of  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) with a sharp distal end is positioned within hollow punch  11  and moveable along the center axis of the punch  11 , controller  31  is adapted to move punch  14  into the scalp or skin in a manner to pierce the skin and to then withdraw the punch  14 . The punch  14  may be fixed to the interior wall of another hollow punch  11  by attachment arms or by a nest of telescoping tubes operative to move punch  14  along the z axis when hollow punch  11  is positioned at a target graft. The telescoping tubes may be operative to move punch  14  along the coaxial path in response to the rotation of the outermost cylinder of the nest. The rotation of the outermost cylinder is produced conveniently by a belt (not shown) coupled to a reversible motor under the control of the controller such as  31  of  FIG. 3 . 
     In embodiments where punch  11  has a sharp distal end, punch  14  may not be necessary. In such embodiments punch  11  is rotated or oscillated relatively slowly to allow the fluid jet to cut the soft tissue surrounding a target graft to lessen the damage which typically is caused by the sharp cutting edge. 
     What has been described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of this invention and various modifications thereof may be generated by those skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the invention as encompassed by the following claims: For example, the rotation of the punch may be achieved by a worm gear, a belt arrangement, manual rotation, or a mechanical attachment. The shoulder  36  may be adjustable along the coaxial path of the punch and pre-positioned prior or even during a set of extraction procedures. Also, the imaging instrumentation may be implemented by a high power video camera, computer assisted visual system, or direct visualization along with or instead of the optical fiber illustrated.