What are Golden Hand Standards?

The Golden Hand Standards are a quality standard practiced by Dr. Gokhan Gur to minimize the possibility of graft damage during hair transplant procedures.

These standards also ensure that the donor area does not have any scarring and it stays healthy and robust for possible future hair transplant procedures if needed by patients.

Furthermore, the standards enable a homogeneous and meticulous extraction from the donor area which results in a natural look in the donor area.

FUE Grafts

Intact graft: This term refers to the entire structure of healthy terminal hair follicles, including intact structures of infundibulum, isthmus and bulbar structures, that have not suffered any trauma during the process of extraction.

The 4 graft are “INTACT” a.k.a. undamaged grafts.

Partially transected graft: This term refers to a graft that contains one or more follicles that have been transversely cut but still contains intact follicles.

The 2 grafts are “PARTIALLY TRANSECTED” a.k.a partially damaged grafts.

Completely transected graft: This term refers to the amputation of all the follicles within a graft that there are no intact follicles in the extracted tissue.

And the ones on the left side are “COMPLETELY TRANSECTED” a.k.a completely damaged grafts. From these two grafts, the one on the left side has also got the matrix part -surrounding the follicular unit- damaged. And the one on the right side could be considered as “INTACT” by an inexperienced eye. However, the matrix of the graft might have been separated from the follicul. This type of “intact-looking-but-once-implanted-will-not-grow” grafts can only be assessed and recognized by an experienced and vigilant eye.

Golden Hand Standards vs. Transection Rate of Grafts

Our total transection rate at Gur Hair Transplant is as little as 5-10 grafts for every 3000 grafts, or in other term this rate is ignorable.

Our partial transection rate at Gur Hair Transplantis less than 10%.

During the collection process if we come across with any graft with a damaged matrix, these grafts ARE NOT included in the overall graft number.

Conclusion

The Golden Hand Standards practiced by Dr. Gokhan Gur are of significant importance due to the reasons mentioned above. And with these standards, we are able to minimize the graft loss rate during all our procedures. Finally, these standards lay out the foundation for our limitation to not performing a hair implant operation over 3000 - 3500 grafts per day.

The main objective of the Golden Hand Standards is to achieve a natural looking and high quality result. Trying to implant more than 3000 - 3500 grafts a day in one session would steer us away from these standards.

(Displayed in the images the donor area of a patient whom was performed a hair implant procedure using the Golden Hand Standards: Before the procedure, 1 day after and 8 months after. 3000 grafts were extracted homogeneously from the area ensuring the donor area is healthy and without scars, patches or holes.)

Before FUE Surgery

1 Day After FUE Surgery

6 Months After FUE Surgery

 

Incisions smaller than 1mm diameter during channel opening procedure:

The intact (undamaged) grafts collected following the Golden Hand Standards MUST be placed in correct-size channels that are exact fit to the diameters of grafts. This is the number one rule in achieving natural-looking result of a hair transplant operation.

The channel opening in the right angle and depth is a crucial procedure as the channels are considered the incubator area for the grafts, and the survival of the follicular units depend on them.

If the grafts are inserted into channels with bigger diameters, then they cannot adapt to their new environment and this would cause dents and further holes in the scalp and hair roots.

Likewise, if the grafts are forced to be transported into smaller size channels, then the grafts would get damaged, which causes reduced growth rate and lower density in the recipient area. 

Therefore, the grafts MUST be transplanted in the channels that are opened in the right dimension, without leaving any scars and by ensuring a natural look and high density. Transporting the grafts, which are harvested by using 0,8 and 0,9mm size punch, into the incisions that are smaller than 1mm diameter is the most important aspect of achieving total aesthetic quality in FUE hair transplant operations.

The final step to achieving the Golden Hand Standards is this procedure of opening the channels in the recipient area with incisions under 1mm diameter.