The wait for ‘hair cloning’

• Tuesday October 3, 2006 | Posted in: Plastic Surgery Procedures

  In the thick of advancements about hair loss treatments, to include hair transplantation, hair grafting, and a host of new hair loss drugs came ‘hair cloning’, which actually first made its way in 2004 as a breakthrough cosmetic surgery news.

  Hair Cloning:

  Although that's what it's come to be called, the procedure is not exactly cloning.  Researchers working to perfect the new technique prefer the term “hair multiplication” or “follicular neogenesis.”

  
  The process involves a person's own DNA that's used to replicate and grow hair in a laboratory. The new hair is then transplanted to the patient's scalp.

  In this procedure a sample of hair follicle is obtained from donor and follicle-inducing cells are isolated and multiplied in lab and re-planted into the patient's scalp. By follicle cloning, with one hair-follicle hair specialists can create numerous identical hairs to cover scalp area to any extent, facilitating a dense hair growth.

  At present, 20,000 hairs is the maximum amount that can be discreetly taken from a donor site, but some patients may require up to 60,000 hairs to restore natural density. With follicle cloning, one hair has the potential to create numerous identical hairs to fill in any areas of thinning or balding.

  Relatedly, the website CloneMyHair.com reported about “bioengineering of new hair” --   
  
  

  Recent advances in epithelial stem cell biology have resulted in the isolation of hair follicle stem cells, which generate hair follicles when injected into immunodeficient mice. These isolated hair follicle epithelial stem cells must be combined with 'inductive' dermal cells to produce new hair follicles. The advent of techniques for cultivating inductive dermal cells and competent epithelial stem cells creates the opportunity to bioengineer hair follicles for the treatment of hair loss.

  
  Today, hair cloning is still regarded as an upcoming technology that “could change the pace of cosmetic enhancements.”  Experts at The New York University Medical Center expressed the same optimism: “There is no doubt it will be a tremendous breakthrough".  There have been so many remedies for hair loss that didn't pan out. This is one that really looks like it is going to happen…hair multiplication will be available for hair restoration in three or four years.”

  And few more years the balding among us waits, because although researchers have successfully cloned hairs in lab, they are still unable to sustain the hair growth for more than a growth cycle.  Even, according to Hair Restoration Specialists in Indianapolis, only about seven percent of cloned hair actually survives transplantation.

  Along with our anticipations, we have to consider that there are still potential downsides and questions that need to be answered. For one, this process may be expensive for the consumer. And not any sooner can this technology be widely available in the market because of the painstaking processes and specialized tools involved.

   

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