Dr. Bernstein was interviewed by Spencer Kobren of The Bald Truth on the recent breakthrough in hair cloning, using ACell MatriStem®, an extracellular matrix. Listen to the interview here, courtesy Bald Truth and the International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons (IAHRS):

New developments in regenerative medicine, presented at the 18th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society for Hair Restoration (ISHRS) this past week, may have opened the possibility that a patient’s hair can be multiplied in his own scalp.

ACell, Inc., a company based in Columbia, Maryland, has developed and refined an Extracellular Matrix (ECM), a natural biological material that can be implanted at the site of an injury or damaged tissue in order to stimulate a unique healing response. The ECM stimulates the body’s own cells to form new tissue specific to that site (a process referred to as “Auto-cloning”).

The ACell MatriStem devices have had some preliminary success in allowing plucked hairs that were placed into recipient sites on the patient’s scalp to grow. Although this is a major breakthrough, significant work remains in order for hair multiplication to become a practical treatment for hair loss in men and women.

It is also anticipated that the regenerative properties of Extracellular Matrix will facilitate the healing of the incision in the donor area after a hair transplant. We are currently offering ACell to all patients undergoing follicular unit transplant procedures at no additional charge.

We are currently studying the use of ACell for scalp hair multiplication as well as the facilitation of wound healing in follicular unit transplantation procedures. We are also treating select patients outside the studies. If you are interested in participating, please give us a call.

Hair Loss & Replacement For Dummies, written by internationally-respected hair transplant pioneers Dr. William R. Rassman and Dr. Robert M. Bernstein and published in 2008, is one of the best hair loss and hair transplant resources available for the layperson.

Now it is also one of the best resources for the layperson… who owns a Kindle wireless reading device.

Men’s Health has published a new spotlight, called “Hair Health.” The multi-article spotlight is featured on the magazine’s website homepage and covers a wide variety of topics related to men’s hair loss and hair transplantation. Dr. Bernstein was asked to contribute to the series of articles, including an “expert advice” feature which answers five commonly-asked questions about hair loss myths.

GQ Magazine includes a quotation by Dr. Bernstein in their November 2010 issue. In the magazine’s “Manual” section, which outlines the latest style trends for men, there is a two-page article on hair transplant surgery. Dr. Bernstein’s help was recruited in discussing old hair transplant techniques where multiple follicular units were transplanted in “plugs.”

“In the old days, up until the early ’90s, they used to transplant multiple follicular units at once,” says Robert Bernstein, M.D., clinical professor of dermatology at Columbia University, “so what you got were those plugs, which look completely unnatural and gave the surgery a bad reputation.”