Hello,
If hair multiplication becomes reality one day, can it still be performed on hair where strip transplantation has been done before? Thanks. Regards !

The way the research is going, hair follicular units that have intact stem cells will be taken out of the scalp from the permanent zone. One hair will make many hairs and therefore, as long as you have some donor hair left, hair multiplication, when it is available, will be able to be done on people who had previous hair transplants. Just don’t hold your breath for the technology to come about anytime soon.

Dear Dr.,

Now that Intercytex have moved into Phase II trials has aderans given up on their research for hair multiplication? Are they still pursuing with their version of the treatment? If so, do you know the status of their development? I thought you may have heard from ome of your contacts at the IHRS meeting in October. Many thanks for a very informative blog.

From attending the ISHRS conference last month and also being present at the Aderans presentation, there is nothing groundbreaking to report here. Aderans is continuing on with their research.

Dr. Rassman,

Thanks for taking time out from your busy schedule to help answer our questions.

I was quite interested in one of your blog entries about Hair multiplication and the process that is involved with it. You mentioned a failed experiment by Dr. Unger where the new injected hair did not settle in well. For all of us looking for the answer to hair loss, i am sure safety is the most important.

My question is that if Intercytex has completed phase I (safety trails) this means that they have overcome one major obstacle that should be put to rest.

If not, that does Dr. Unger have any more comments?

Thanks once again for your time and work.

Just because phase I trials were completed, it does not necessarily mean the technology is valid. Phase II and phase III still need to be completed, then followed by FDA trials. Based on the Intercytex presentation at the ISHRS meeting I attended last month in San Diego, phase II trials should be completed by the end of 2008.

Personally, I would not hold my breath.

I have been reading many articles on Intercytex recently suggesting that a ‘baldness cure’ is on the way. I am aware that it may be a fair few years away until it becomes a possibilty, but I had a technical question that might be of interest. I know that the company’s aim is to inject hair inducing cells into the skin. This sounds great in theory, but how would they create a crown, seeing that hair in that region of the scalp grows in different directions? How do you think problems such as that could be overcome?

Over a decade ago, Dr. Walter Unger reported that a group in England was successful in cloning hair in mice. The mice then had the hair injected into the skin and as the hair grew, all of the mice died from massive infection. It was as you said, the direction of the hair went every way possible and the bacteria in the vicinity went wild, causing infection and abscess formation, eventually killing the poor mice. According to that report, the research was abandoned. I will see him this week and ask him for a follow-up of that problem, hopefully getting information to give you are more focused answer to your question.

I’ve heard stem cell treatments can regrow hair. Is this correct. And can you give details please.

“In fact, many of the experiments that are successful in producing some hair, also produce other organ tissues like bone and muscle.” This quote came from an article you published. It says many experiments are successful in producing hair. Where and when can we get this treatment? Thank you.

Cloning, new drugs and stem cells are no where near for the treatment of hair loss. This article from 2004, despite the misleading title, does summarize where we might be down the road — Hair Cloning Nears Reality as Baldness Cure.

I wanted to know if there have been additional advancements in somatic (adult) stem cell hair restoration, aside from the constantly echoed article from 2004 regarding Stem cell Hair Growth by the U. of PA.

“It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect. So I vetoed it,” US President George W. Bush said of the research that involves tiny human embryos.

Hair cloning may not involve human embryos and it likely will not have any moral boundaries, but from my understanding it has not progressed to a point where you will directly benefit from it. All attempts to push human hair stem cells to invoke a new hair are inconsistent. I hear yields in the 10% range for successful hair product this way, which is much better than the 1% of olden days, but a long way for a replicable process.