Is Hair Cloning An Effective Treatment?

Since the inception of hair restoration surgery, the most common limiting factor in quality of outcome has been the limited donor hair available in people who expected have extreme hair loss. Hair restoration surgery redistributes your hair, so it is more functional at covering the balding area. It adds nothing to the total amount of hair the patient has. For years, many hair restoration surgeons have been carefully following the scientific progress that has been made in tissue culturing, what most people think of as hair cloning.

Cloning is specifically the merging of an egg and a sperm, to form a embryo which progresses to s fetus, and eventually a live birth. What we have been studying is tissue culturing, growing hair follicle dermal papilla cells in a laboratory culture medium, so they can be injected into balding or thinning areas to stimulate regrowth and reversal of the balding process. Is this option effective for treating various types of alopecia, or do its minimal risks outweigh its purported benefits? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what exactly hair cloning involves, if hair cloning is an effective treatment, and if there are any potential risks.

How Does Hair Tissue Culture Work?

Tissue culturing takes healthy hair from the donor area—usually the back or sides of the head—and placing them in a specials culture medium in the laboratory, that encourages them to multiply dramatically. There has been a reliable and reproducible methodology to multiply dermal papilla (DP) cells for the last 4 or 5 years.

Indeed we are comfortable stating that we can now tissue culture enough dermal papilla cells to create about 1000 to 1500 hair from only 8 or 10 hair follicles. What is currently lacking is the knowledge about how to reimplant these DP cells, and get them to consistently grow aesthetically natural looking hair.

Our Tissue Culturing and Tissue Banking partner, HairClone laboratory, in Manchester England, will be starting the reinsertion studies in the Spring of 2023. Because of our experience with Regenera Activa, we are very excited and expect significant progress in the reimplantation techniques in early 2024.

Regenera Activa, Reaffirming PHRC and HairClone’s Strategy for Expanding the Donor Area and delaying Hair Loss in Young Patients.

Regenera is a procedure developed in Italy about 2 years ago, that can be used to relocate DP cells from the DHT resistant donor area to the DHT sensitive, miniaturized balding areas. In this procedure 20 or 30 follicular units are processed in a gentile machine that separates the cells and floats them is a solution that can be injected into areas that are balding with small miniaturized hairs. We know from prior studies in both mice and men that DP cells migrate into and out of the dermal papilla into the surrounding connective tissue. It makes sense that placing these isolated DHT resistant DP cells into the areas of miniaturized hairs, may result in those new DP cells migrating into the miniaturizing dermal papilla, and reversing their miniaturization process

. Indeed this process does seem to work, because we have seem significant improvement in the thinning crowns of men with no other interventions. Since this works, it seems reasonable to assume that tissue cultured DHT resistant dermal papilla cells should have a similar effect.

5 Things You Need To Know About Tissue Culturing Hair Loss Treatment:

A tissue culturing DHT resistant follicular unit dermal papilla cells is a unique pioneering technique that involves using dermal papilla stem-cell therapy to achieve the goal of hair regrowth. In this process, stem cells are taken from the DHT resistant scalp and cultured in a lab. After they have divided sufficiently, they are then returned to the DHT sensitive balding scalp. Scientists believe these cells will encourage the regeneration into healthy follicles capable of regrowing hair. It is an incredibly exciting frontier in science that could open up enormous possibilities for people suffering from many forms of hair loss.

1) Hair Tissue Culturing Is A Very Complex Process:

The creation of hairs keratin strands involves thousands of stem cells activated by the dermal papillae. Although the structure and dimensions are seemingly simple, executing a successful hair follicle outside the body is daunting. Research on this subject has revealed that mimicking the same process in vitro can be difficult due to its delicate nature. As such, scientists have to take quick but calculated steps through trial and error to come closer to successfully replicating hair growth.

2) Miniaturization of Hair Follicles Does Not Affect the Presence of Stem Cells:

Due to genetics and effect of dihydro-testosterone (DHT), the stem cells remain even when hair follicles miniaturize. This means that with the help of donor area tissue culturing, it will be possible to take and multiply stem cells from the DHT resistant scalp and restore lost hair I DHT sensitive salp. Once this treatment is available, anyone dealing with baldness caused by androgenic alopecia can benefit from it without the nuisance of traditional hair transplantation.

3) It Is A Growing Global Interest:

Hair tissue culturing has become a highly sought-after potential solution for baldness, prompting several well-known research agencies to jump on board. Berlin Technical University, Intercytex, RepliCel Life Sciences, Riken Centre for Developmental Biology, and Durham University are just some organizations pushing toward making this concept a reality. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of these institutions, there has been a great deal of progress in the field, and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Hair cloning is a growing global interest with real potential.

4) There Are Certain Risks Involved:

While tissue cultuing is a revolutionary cutting edge concept that could benefit many people, it comes with certain risks and some unknowns. Although tissue culturing is not as invasive as traditional hair transplants, there will be some potential risks associated with this procedure. Young follicular units culture better than older one, so this shall be a procedure for young men in their 20’s and 30’s verses those in their 50’s and 60’s.

For stem cells to work they need to be implanted at the proper depth and angle into the scalp, which could lead to some minor infection or scarring. Additionally, since this is a new procedure with limited research available, many questions still need to be answered before it can be widely utilized and accepted as an effective solution for hair loss.

5) Hair Tissue Culturing Is An Exciting Possibility, and Banking Your Follicles for the future is here now:

Despite the potential risks, tissue culturing is an exciting possibility that could revolutionize how we treat hair loss. While further research is still needed, this groundbreaking technology has the potential to offer permanent solutions for those suffering from baldness or thinning hair. With current research leading us closer and closer to realizing this goal, it won’t be long before hair tissue culturing becomes a reality. To that end PHRC and HairClone has started Tissue Banking young men’s hair follicles. Younger follicles are easier to culture, tissue banking stops time for the tissue, so younger follicles can be saved for future use. Men with extensive hair loss in their family history, Norwood Class 6 and 7, should seriously consider banking 100 to 150 follicles for future use. Patients should exercise caution when considering this procedure. With the right guidance and care, hair tissue culturing could be a viable solution for many people suffering from hair loss or thinning hair.

What Are The Benefits Of Hair Cloning?

The primary benefit of hair cloning is that it may offer a permanent solution for hair loss. With the ability to clone existing healthy follicles, scientists hope to replicate natural hair growth without requiring invasive surgical procedures such as traditional hair transplants. Additionally, since stem cells remain even when miniaturized hair follicles are present, it could offer a way to restore lost hair without any personal risks.

Finally, since tissue cultured hair DP cells actually will add hair to the DHT resistant donor area, even those destined to extreme class 6 and 7 hair loss should be able to have excellent total coverage.

How Much Does Hair Cloning Cost?

Hair transplants can permanently solve male and female pattern baldness, but they invariably come with a price tag of from $3,000 to more than $12,000, all depending on your unique situation. Unfortunately, insurance companies rarely offer this procedure for patients hoping to regain full hair coverage. The cost of hair cloning is still largely unknown as the technology is still in its early stages. Thus, estimating how much this procedure might cost when it becomes widely available for public use is difficult.

Is Hair Cloning Permanent?

Hair cloning has not been proven as a permanent solution for baldness or thinning hair. While replicating healthy follicles is becoming increasingly advanced and successful, additional research needs to be conducted to determine its long-term effectiveness as a treatment option. There are still certain risks associated with this procedure that must be considered. Ultimately, the goal is to provide a safe and effective way for those suffering from hair loss to regrow their hair permanently. Until then further research needs to be conducted before we can accurately answer this question.

Is Hair Tissue Culturing An Effective Treatment?

Is hair cloning, tissue culturing an effective treatment for patients with alopecia? It’s a valid question and one that merits further exploration. Alopecia is the medical term for hair loss, that all hair loss. There are many problems that can cause hair loss, especially in women. Men however, nearly all (99%) have male androgenetic alopecia or male pattern hair loss. While research is still ongoing, the fact that Regenera therapy has been successful, tissue culturing is very promising. More evidence concerning tissue culturing is needed to prove its effectiveness, and wide-scale use can only be recommended once further studies are conducted.

Interestingly, the process of tissue culturing hair follicle stem cells also has the potential for many applications beyond treating male pattern hair loss. The Pluripotent nature of hair follicle stem cells, i.e. hair follicle stem cells can differentiate into tissues other than hair follicles. University of California researches have cultured peripheral nerve, cardiac muscle, fibrous connective tissue and bone from hair follicle pluripotent stem cells. Hair follicles may be an exciting source of tissues to effect healing and restoration of fuction of cariac muscle or peripheral nerve.

Are There Potential Side Effects To Hair Cloning?

Yes, hair tissue culturing has potential risks that need to be considered. The procedure is still in its infancy, and although few are expected, physicians have yet to understand if there are any long-term side effects.

Although very rare, the risk of infection is always present when dealing with any minor surgical procedure. Patients must consult a qualified doctor before hair cloning and discuss potential risks or concerns.
Are you interested in hair cloning treatment?

Hair tissue culturing has been an area of significant research for many recent years, and it still has a long way to go before it is widely accepted as reliable and effective hair loss treatment. The technology is still very new and ambitious—given the many potential medical applications—which is why many people are excited to see what the future holds for this innovative procedure.

Ultimately, whether or not hair cloning effectively treats hair loss will depend on the results of future studies and continuing clinical trials. It’s up to us to weigh the current research available and decide hair hair tissue culturing is truly an effective treatment worth further exploration.

Stuck and don’t know where to get started? Is hair cloning an effective treatment for your unique situation? Our hair restoration specialists in Houston will be more than happy to give a free hair transplant consultation to you or to assist you with your questions for free.