Hair Cloning Offers New Treatment to Regain Lustrous Locks




People who suffer from hair loss due to age, diseases, or hormonal imbalances may soon be able to reverse their baldness. A new hair cloning technique, also known as follicular cell implantation, has demonstrated encouraging results in clinical studies on humans. This new hair restoration method was originally designed by the British company Intercytex.


The trial conducted by a British team of researchers and supported by a $ 3.9 million grant from the government is currently underway. Preliminary results show that follicular cell implantation can become a major breakthrough in scientists’ attempts to find a reliable cure for hair loss.

The cellular therapy is a promising field of hair restoration medicine. Potentially, it can provide a balding patient with a never-ending supply of healthy hair cells with the identical genetic structure to replace lost locks. The therapy is showing positive results in individuals who suffer from hair loss due to autoimmune diseases, genetic causes, burns, traumas, or the onset of age. It is estimated that the new hair cloning treatment will be available to bald patients already within a five-year period.

The latest findings of the trial’s second stage were announced at a conference in Rome, which gathered leading transplantation surgeons from all around the world. The scientists carrying out the study suggested that their revolutionary method of treatment could dramatically increase patients’ hair count. The success of the technique has been observed in roughly two-thirds of patients with hair loss within the first six months of treatment. If follicular cell implantation is accompanied by other treatment methods, such as those involving scalp stimulation by means of mechanical or chemical abrasion, the hair restoration success can be as high as four out of every five cases!

This breakthrough treatment involves taking out about a hundred of patient’s dermal papilla cells - the major building blocks required for a successful restoration of hair. The cells are extracted from areas on the back of the patient’s scalp, where locks are usually thick and hair follicles are strong and not damaged. These cells are then placed in a culture where they rapidly reproduce. When their number becomes sufficient for covering the patient’s bald spots, the cells are injected into the frontal parts of the scalp, or any other scalp areas that suffer from hair loss. The implanted dermal papilla cells boost the formation of new, strong and healthy hair follicles that eventually give growth to new hair. The transplanted cells are also capable of rejuvenating weakened hair follicles that are still alive but unable to produce healthy hair.

This new procedure may require numerous micro-injections of artificially-multiplied dermal papilla cells, but the treatment is still less invasive and more comfortable for patients that currently applied methods of surgical hair transplantation.

The formula of the culture which allows hair cells to multiply remains a patented secret of Intercytex.

Robin Makris

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Posted on June 5, 2008 
Filed Under Hair Loss News and Statistics, Hair Loss Treatments

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