Hair Cloning

Hair cloning is definitely going to make people happy who are looking for hair restoration and do not have donor hair grafts. This is going to be the revolutionary technique as it doesn’t involve in extracting the hair cells from the donor area and planting on the required area. So the people who do not have even a little donor area will be able to get new hairs.

What is Hair Cloning?

Lot of men now a days are experiencing male pattern baldness or androgenic alopecia. Hair cloning is going to be the prominent solution for this problem. As name suggests, this technique involves cloning (replication) of hair cells in a laboratory and then placing those hair cells on the required area of the patient. A single hair cell can be replicated for unlimited numbers and hence serve as a permanent cure for baldness.

The main thing however is that the study on this technique is still going on and it’s not full proof yet. It still needs some improvements as people have some questions related to it. But looking at the speed by which the researchers are working on it, this surgery may become successful all over the world within some years. The most important thing will be its commercial viability. But till then, it’s the hair transplant that will keep on helping the people. Across the world hair transplant has been done successfully. Some of the affordable destinations are India, Thailand and Turkey. Hair transplant cost in Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai is very affordable when compared to other countries.

How Hair Cloning Works?

Every hair follicle on our scalp contains multiple number of cells which are responsible for production of hairs. In the process of hair cloning, some of these hair cells are taken from healthy areas and then stimulated to generate number of hairs in a petri dish. The hairs generated in this petri dish are then transplanted on the head of the patient.

How it evolved?

In 2011 the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine found that bald scalp and non-bald scalp had same number of stem cells. So it was about the number of progenitor cells that was depleted from bald scalp. That means even though the stem cell were present at bald scalp, they were not activated.

In 2013 Durham University came out with some new findings when scientists tried cloning in 3D system instead of 2D system. 

They dissected the healthy dermal papillae from hair transplant and cultured it in a petri dish. Within 30 hours they observed that the papillae was able to generate 3000 papilla cells. They injected the cloned cells on foreskin as it is difficult to grow hairs on foreskin. The human skin samples were then grafted on rats and after 2 months they found that papillae cells were able to transform themselves into a brand new hair follicle.

Here is the video that will makes it easy for us to understand what developments have happened in hair restoration and how hair cloning is the next solution for baldness.

Research is still going on and within some years the researchers will be able to conclude on the feasibility of this technique.

Are you eligible?

Every healthy person who is experiencing excessive hair fall or baldness is good to go for hair cloning. Hair transplant (follicular unit extraction) is also a solution but hair cloning will benefit those who do not have any hair grafts on their own head.

How hair cloning is different from hair transplant (FUE)?

As we know that in hair transplant using FUE, the donor hairs are extracted from the scalp which is rich in hairs and then implanted on the bald scalp. The stem cells present in that area then grows the hair follicle and hence start producing new hairs. Whereas in hair cloning technique, a germinative cell is multiplied in hundreds outside the body and then those cells are implanted on the scalp. The person having high baldness level may not have any donor area and therefore FUE will not be feasible for him/her. Hair cloning will be helpful here as it just need a small amount of graft which is not necessary to be of the patient’s.

What are the challenges?

The study is yet to confirm that the cultured hairs which are transferred to the scalp will grow again or not once they fall. Even if they grow, will they look natural? Researchers are looking to confirm that the hairs generated, grows uniformly. If the hairs are ununiformed then they might look different from other hairs and may also look artificial.

The cost involved in the entire surgery may also create hurdles in making it a commercially viable for everyone. Some other researchers are also concerned about the quality of new hairs.

Any allergic reaction after the transplant to the donor hairs is another concern for the researchers. It’s not confirmed that how the donor cells will react to the transplanted hairs. Generally they adapt themselves in any new environment but it is still not ensured about that.

How will the Hair Cloning be beneficial?

This will be most beneficial for the people having no donor hairs. The hair transplant done using FUE does require donor hairs and hence the people with no donor hairs are not able to get their hairs transplanted. Hair cloning helps those people too and ample amount of hair grafts can be used.

The time taken in this procedure also reduces as the need to extract the number of grafts from the donor area reduces. There are already replicated cells available that can be transplanted. As only small part of graft need to be extracted, it will just leave a very small scar after the extraction.

The solution will be permanent with possible chances of natural and healthy hairs. The time and effort spent on the surgery will be less and hence the cost of the surgery may also be less and viable for everyone in need.

At the end it’s the science that is going to help us. Researchers will keep on doing the hard work to make the life of human being easy.