Category: Hair Cloning

Dr Rassman

I feel I might be facing a dilemma with regards to my slightly receded hairline. I’ve seen my GP and he said it seems to be in the early stages or recession and to start using rogaine (I suppose i’m not yet a norwood 2). However, I’ve read that such things as HM or the acell/follica treatments may be available before I’m middle aged (i’m 25 now).

Would you consider it a good idea to use rogaine or wait and see the test photos from Follica which I understand might be released in September. It seems to me that if the newer “one shot” treatments work out then I’ll have wasted time/money and exposed my body to hormone affecting drugs (something I’m not keen on doing)

Thank you for your time.

The longer you wait to do something about your hair loss, the more hair that is going to be lost. I would highly doubt that Follica will have something available to you this year or any time soon. You should realize that you are playing a game of Russian roulette with each hair follicle. If you’ve already started to recede, then what are you going to wait for? Follica has much promise, but your hair will not wait on the promises.

You can learn more about Follica from an article published in Scientific American over a year ago, Bye-Bye Comb-Overs? Hair Follicles Found Able to Regenerate, or at their simple site, FollicaBio.com.

Dr. Rassman,

Fist let me say I love this blog and think you are do a wonderful thing by informing people about the many dynamics of hair loss.

I noticed you mentioned and have recently posted about hair cloning as a future treatment for hair loss. I was wondering, let’s say in the next 5 years, there is a big break through with hair cloning and it becomes widely available as a safe treatment for hair loss. What then will happen to hair transplants? Wouldn’t that be bad for the NHI or would your practice just shift to hair cloning and stop doing transplants?

The specialty of today’s hair transplant surgeons can become tomorrow’s hair cloners. Who else would be sitting at the cutting edge and wanting to make the market happen?

When the flying car becomes commonplace like everyone has been wishing/hoping for 50+ years, I’m sure the major automakers will be right there at the forefront. As the industry evolves, those that blazed trails aren’t likely to just disappear.

Is this for real? They’re claiming hair cloning is going to happen in a few years.

Dr Batra’s Clinic to Promote Hair Cloning in India

I wish them luck. Of course, we are all waiting for the hair cloning or hair replication solution, but as the article suggests, it will take a few years yet. The article is confusing because on one hand there is a suggestion that the solution is available now and then they talk about the future. To be clear, it is not available now and there is yet to be any fully proven method.

Doctor Rassman,hi again. I am a frequent reader of your blog and once again I say thanks for keeping such an interesting and useful source of great information. My question is in regards to Intercytex and Follica. I keep reading about these companies and it is hard not to get excited about the possibilities described there even though actual products/treatments may take a while (if ever) to come out. Anyways, my question is which company (between those two) do you find more promising? I know this will be just a guess or opinion, but I would certainly appreciate your feedback! Thanks a lot!

Your guess is as good as mine. We never really know all of the facts and much of what is known appears to be for public relations purposes. At this point, I don’t really have an opinion when pitting one against the other.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

Hi Dr Rassman,

I think your readers will be interested in the following patent. This was filed by Intercytex on September 27, 2007. I would like your comments on this invention, as well as their claims that they have produced “proto-hairs” in vitro, which may then be implanted into the scalp.

Description of WO2007109223

Here is an excerpt:
“We have for the first time produced such proto-hairs in vitro. A proto-hair may be considered as a part-formed follicle. It can be identified and isolated at a stage of development between the dermal papilla cell stage and the fully formed follicle stage. A proto-hair has a structure which develops from the dermal papilla cell but is no longer a dermal papilla cell as such. The structure of the proto-hair is also not that of a follicle, but it can be seen to have elements of follicle-like structure. A proto-hair is capable of further development. It can develop into a mature hair follicle in a suitable in vitro culture. It can also develop into a mature hair follicle if implanted into a recipient : this means that an in vitro produced proto-hair can subsequently produce a mature hair follicle in vivo.”

At the recent International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) meeting, a paper was presented by Intercytex and it discussed the proto-hairs. This is an exciting development, but there is still a long way from producing these hair precursors to a clinically, reproducible process for creating hair where none existed. There have been other breakthroughs in the past that produced hair from stem cells, but these have failed to produce mature hair organs. We must be patient and see what comes down the pike.