A: Yes, as long as the scar is not thickened, cloned hair should grow just as normally transplanted hair would and would be a great way to address any residual scarring from the procedure.

Although hair can be transplanted into widened scars, hair does not grow well in thick scars – this would apply to hair restoration procedures performed via traditional means as well as those using cloned hair.

MatriStem MicroMatrix, a product of regenerative medicine, ACell, Inc., is a wound healing powder that promotes healing and tissue growth and has now proven to help regenerate hair in the donor and recipient regions of hair transplant patients. While intended to heal ulcers and burns, Gary Hitzig, M.D. and Jerry Cooley, M.D., have found that its properties offer a broader scope of treatment, including hair cloning. “We’ve made amazing breakthroughs using MatriStem as a hair cloning tool,” said Dr. Hitzig. “We’ve been able to multiply the number of hair follicles growing in the recipient area, and as an added benefit are seeing faster hair growth. This new hair cloning technique also makes hair transplantation surgery less invasive.”

Is this new technique really a breakthrough in hair cloning? And if so, when can we start cloning hair?

A: To the best of my knowledge, the claims made for hair cloning in the article are totally unfounded. The “healing powder” MatriStem, although promising for wound healing, has not yet been shown to grow hair.

For more on the topic, visit our Hair Cloning section, our page on experimental Hair Cloning Methods, and more cloning posts on the Hair Transplant Blog.

A: Many scientists feel that adult stem cells house the answer to cloning (regeneration) of hair follicles. One of the problems of hair cloning, however, is that the cells, once duplicated, “forget” that they are hair follicle cells.

It has recently been discovered that the Lgr5 gene, located in stem cells, appears to contain the “global marker” present in all adult hair follicles. If Lgr5 gene is the “calling card” of the cell, it may carry the cell lineage and shoulder the responsibility of signaling to surrounding stem cells what they are actually supposed to do as they multiply.

Recent experiments have shown that these Lgr5 cells maintain the cells ability to differentiate as hair follicles after many generations of being multiplied in the test tube and, therefore, have the potential of serving as the building blocks of entire new hair follicles. The successful exploitation of this gene would eliminate a major barrier to cloning hair.

Reference
Haegebarth A, Clevers H: Wnt signaling, lgr5, and stem cells in the intestine and skin. Am J Pathol. 2009 Mar; 174(3):715-21.

For more on how hair cloning works, visit the Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration page on hair cloning.

A: Yes, the Webinar was titled “Hair Transplant Today” and it covered new concepts in the diagnosis of hair loss, the follicular unit hair transplant procedure, follicular unit extraction, hair cloning, and other aspects of hair transplantation.

View the complete “Hair Transplant Today” webinar at Blip.tv or watch the video below (8 minutes, 8 seconds):

A: It is far better to keep your own hair. Keeping your own hair will generally look fuller than a hair transplant, since a hair transplant just re-distributes existing hair (until hair cloning techniques are available).

The medications (i.e. finasteride and minoxidil) are relatively cheap if you get the generic forms.