Hair Cloning
Hair multiplication or hair cloning is an auspicious new technique under development to counter hair loss. This technique is not used in hair clinics yet. It is being actively researched by pioneering hair restoration physicians, like Dr. Bernstein in conjunction with Columbia University. Dr. Bernstein is Clinical Professor of Dermatology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York. He is recognized worldwide for developing Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE).
In a nutshell, hair cloning means taking one hair follicle from the hair loss-resistant donor area and multiplying it in a laboratory to make several hair follicles. Hair cloning technique is a promising treatment for androgenic alopecia, or common genetic hair loss. It is believed that healthy follicular cells or dermal papillae can be extracted from the subject from areas that are not bald and are not suffering hair loss. Based on this idea, a sample of a person’s germinative hair follicle cells are multiplied (cloned) by various culturing methods outside the body. These dermal papilla cells mature into hair follicles in a process known as follicular neogenesis. Then the newly produced cells are injected back in the bald scalp. The hope is that they will grow new hair follicles and, thus, result to new permanent hair.
As mentioned before, hair cloning is still being experimented. Besides some technical issues still to be resolved, it is a very time-consuming process. Among others, it is due to the fact that a single hair follicle consısts of all three different layers of cells namely endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm. Compared to standard hair transplantation like FUE, it takes more tıme for a hair follicle to be embryologically progressed in a laboratory environment outside the body. Hair cloning challenge needs another ten years of research before it can be commercially available. Therefore, the cost of this laboratory-intensive procedure is expected to exceed conventional hair transplantation when it is introduced. Also, it is not recommended that patients wait for this new technique at this moment in time.
