About Talizi Hair Transplantation Clinic

The Talizi Hair Transplantation Clinic was founded in Tbilisi in 1998. The director of the clinic is an experienced surgeon, member of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS), author of 22 research works and creator of 6 related inventions, Dr. Akaki Tsilosani. Other leading surgeons at the clinic are member of the ISHRS and author of 11 research works Vaja Vadachkoria, Marie Gugava and Eka Kandiashvili. They all work side by side with experienced assistants, technicians and nurses.

The Talizi clinic practices the newest technology used in hair grafting, known as Follicular Unit Transplantation. Until the end of 20th century hair was being transplanted in the form of so called large grafts. The method was invented by Japanese doctor S. Okuda and American dermatologist N. Orentreich in 1939-1952, and implies taking large skin islets, so called grafts (4 mm in diameter) from occipital area and implanting them in bald spots. As a result, in new location hair grows in a bush-like pattern (“toothbrush”, “doll's head” effect). To correct this cosmetically unacceptable result, American surgeon E. Marrit attempted to transplant hair not in the form of skin islets, but as individual hair roots (follicles). This method was called micrografting. Nowadays it is employed in majority of world hair transplantation clinics. Donor tissue taken from occipital area under 2-to-4-fold magnification is being divided into thinnest transplants – so called monografts (tissue containing 1 hair follicle) and micrografts (tissue containing 2 to 3 follicles). In 2 or 3 months after implanting micrografts healthy hair starts to grow in bald areas, which is very hard to be distinguished from surrounding hair. Survival of transplanted hair reaches almost 100%.

Transplantated hair survival reaches almost 100%

In 1995-2000 American scientists R. Bernstein and W. Rossman have developed so called Concept of Follicular Units Transplantation (see "What is hair transplantation"). Using this method hair is transplanted in the form of individual follicular units, in other words in exactly its naturally occurring form. This method creates the maximum impression of naturalness, minimizes follicular loss during the operation and most importantly, hair transplanted in this manner has almost 100% survivability (100 hairs grow from 100 transplanted follicles). However, this method requires the use of complicated techniques for harvesting donor material and the preparation of this material under special stereomicroscopes by 5-8 experienced assistants simultaneously. This is a very time-consuming process and Talizi was one of the first hair transplantation clinics in the entire Eastern Hemisphere that employs the Follicular Unit Transplantation method.

Compression and container methods developed at our clinic between 1998-2001 have enabled us to prevent the dehydration of follicles, reduce blood loss and shorten procedure times, all of which makes transplantation much easier for the patient. Due to these achievements and the high degree of professionalism amongst our staff, large sessions are now being performed in a very short time.

The Talizi clinic is one of only a few where 3,000 or more grafts can be transplanted during one operation if needed. Today our staff can carry out transplantations involving 3,000-4,000 grafts (8,000-10,000 hairs) during a single 3-4 hour procedure which is perfectly sufficient for covering a bald area of any size.

In 2007 we performed a transplantation of a record amount on a patient from Korea - 6,100 grafts (12,000 hairs), and in November 2008 another operation of 6,200 grafts for a patient from Armenia.

Since 2002 the Talizi clinic has employed our own special methods for anesthesia, developed by Akaki Tsilosani, which make the slow process of hair transplantation virtually painless. Furthermore, the very process of introducing local anesthetic solutions and the postoperative period are also painless, as the anesthesia lasts for more than 8 hours. This new anesthetic is non-toxic, harmless for patients of any age, has no side effects or anaphylactic and allergic reactions. Most importantly, the use of these new methods of anesthesia has eliminated postoperative edema of the face which in the past was bothersome for all patients. This has not only made the postoperative rehabilitation of our patients much easier, but has also resulted in improved microcirculation and a speeding-up of the entire healing process. Our patients are able to wash their head and go back to work on the 2nd day after the operation and perform any kind of physical activity after just one week.

Since 2003, every operation at Talizi has been performed using a digital information system for registering the number of created recipient sites, as developed through the leadership of Akaki Tsilosani. This system automatically counts (without input from surgeon or assistants) the number of recipient sites and follicular units, and the result is displayed on the monitor for both patient and surgeon. This unique system used exclusively at the Talizi clinic reduces the number of personnel required and gives exact objective information regarding the number of transplanted grafts.

For 2004 on a basis of long investigations carried out under the leadership of A. Tsilosani, “Talizi” has accepted concepts of ideal donor closure (on the base of trixophitic closure) and maximal density of transplanted hairs (so called lack of compression):

1) Following donor area closure our patients do not have to go through the unpleasant process of suture removal. There is virtually no scarring in the donor area, meaning that the area from which the grafts were taken will be invisible to other people (including the patient's hairdresser).

2) Our clinic can achieve almost natural hair density in small recipient areas. Using very fine miniature instruments it is now possible to transplant up to 100 follicular units per square cm, producing up to 200 hairs. This is considered to be an ideal density for hair transplantation (see "Scientific Publications" and see pic.).

Implementation of the Follicular Unit Extraction method (FUE Procedure) allows us to perform mega sessions (up to 3000-3500 grafts) without the use of incisions and sutures. This method can be used to restore eyebrows (see pic.) and eyelashes (see pic.) after traumas and burns, and also to take hair from the body in case of poor donor supply in occipital area (see BHT method).

Talizi is one of the world leaders amongst hair transplantation clinics. Our branches and consultation centers are located in Ukraine,
Kazakhstan, Ireland, India, Lithuania and South Korea. We have patients from many different countries (Republic of Korea, USA, Canada, Australia, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Russia, Lithuania, Ireland, Turkey, Iran, Israel, UK, etc.).

Based on our 14 years of experience and use of the most up-to-date technology we can truly claim that hair transplantation at Talizi is completely painless and has guaranteed results, without any complications or side effects. Hair transplantation does not require any preparation on the part of the patient, nor any further treatment after surgery.