HAIR CLONING: A PROMISING CURE FOR HAIR LOSS

Hair follicle cloning or tissue engineering is the procedure wherein hair follicles are manufactured in a laboratory from a donor’s hair follicle. It is appropriate to refer to it as hair multiplication since the follicles are not really cloned. The follicle inducing cells in the harvested hair follicle are separated and multiplied utilizing an appropriate cell culture media. This produces a large number of hair seeds which can then be injected into one area to create brand new hair follicles. The newly multiplied hair cells would then be reimplanted into the scalp.

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In the usual hair follicle transplant, one loses the hair on the good areas of the scalp in order to replace the hair in the bald area. With hair multiplication, a small portion of tissue from the hair follicle is taken. The whole hair follicle is not required to regenerate hair growth.

The follicle left behind in the donor area is still capable of producing hair, even when the major part of the follicle has been removed. The upper part of the follicle can be harvested and then kept in special culture media and the new hair cells produced can then be implanted into the bald areas.

If hair multiplication is possible, there won’t be any limit to the number of hairs that can be cloned. But even with years of research, hair cloning or hair multiplication has yet to be commercially available. Researchers say that considerable work remains to be completed before medical hair cloning becomes clinically viable. Many believe that hair multiplication or hair cloning procedure may be very expensive that only the affluent will be able to afford it. With all the speculations and concerns about hair cloning, it will still take many years away before it can be performed widely. They reckon that it would take five to ten years before this hair losstreatment option can become a reality.