Years Later, Is Hair Cloning Any Closer?
Dear Dr,
I remember first coming to your site back in 2006 when I first started noticing that I was thinning. I was obviously upset by this, but was excited about the possibility of hair cloning being 5-10 years away. The idea that you could get all your hair back was very appealing. Now 4 years have passed and I feel frustrated that very little has advanced in this field. I have seen the likes of Aderans, Intercytex, Histogen and Follica all make statements that they are on track to solve the problem, but no one seems any closer.
Do you think we are ever going to see this come to fruition or is it too difficult to crack? Also, what other potential ‘cures’ are being developed? Surely if someone achieves this they will become a billionaire. There is obviously lots of incentive. If you believe we see a ‘cure’ when do you think this will be. By cure I mean someone with extensive baldness being able to get all their hair back.
As I’ve said many times before (which is usually met with much criticism by some readers that think they know better), I wouldn’t hold my breath. We all want to wait for the next breakthrough, the next best thing, the next version, etc.
The idea of being able to clone hair for infinite supply is tantalizing, but I have not seen anything remotely close on the horizon. Based on press releases, some of these companies seem to be making small steps here and there, but we’re a long way off before seeing successful hair cloning available to the public. I do hope it would be in my lifetime, because my business will sky rocket! I mean, who better to do these cloning procedures than experienced hair physicians?
So what would you charge Dr. Rassman? A purely hypothetical question of course, but assuming that you come in one day to have a few grafts extracted, then have it cultured and multiplied, and then you come back weeks or months later when they are ready to be implanted, would this increase or decrease the cost? Perhaps a robot could slice up the grafts if they were grown on some sort of medium like skin, and so all you would need is a few hours for you to make the incisions and the techs to implant them. But certainly with so much going on from start to finish, might this make it even more expensive?
Is this before or after I fly to the office in my rocketcar? I couldn’t estimate what pricing would be like for something that doesn’t exist.
so if unlimited donor hair was possible would a surgeon be able to give a 100% natural looking head of hair with dense packing?
When Histogen has significant results beyond a few people and showing the results are lasting, I’ll gladly change my position.
He is not trying to be mean or manipulate. He is just explaining what he believes is the truth there is a big difference. He is right too if you look at this logically as far HM goes it just doesn’t look good. I wish to God it wasn’t that way… but it does no good in fooling yourself either.
Ninja~ while i do respect your thoughts on this topic i have to suggest that you not allow emotions to alter basic logic. Ive been doing my own research on all the various companies that are mainly focused on this matter. I was then am still am by nature a skeptic. But i must tell you that in my reserved opinion we will see something viable very soon, relatively speaking. I DO highly respect Dr Rassman.(by the way Doc,we will be meeting in San JOSE at open house) I disagree with his assertion on this topic, nothing wrong with differing points of view, but heck its ALL relative.
Look, I hope I’m proven wrong and hair cloning is right around the corner. It would be great for business and it would be great for patients that want hair. I just don’t see it happening yet, and when someone asks me about it I’m very honest about my opinion. I’d rather have to go back and say “I was wrong, here’s your cloned hair” than have 100 readers or patients upset with me because I was filling them with false hope that cloning will be here in a few years.
As long as everyone is respectful, I have no problem with different opinions. You know what they say about opinions…
I’m satisfied and glad to read your response on this Dr Rassman. Your point was validated when you said~
“I’d rather have to go back and say “I was wrong, here’s your cloned hair†than have 100 readers or patients upset with me because I was filling them with false hope that cloning will be here in a few years”
Because you are of high profile in this community every syllable you use counts, i understand that. My opinion regarding the time frame of ‘a few years’ is that it can go either way at this point in time. Lets see what happens in Singapore.
bonjour docteur Rassman,quand vous dites que le clonage sera là dans quelques années sa veut dire quand exactement? car d’aprés mes recherche certains disait 2010 quand on était en 2006.Et maintenant c’est 2012 ou alors 2014 et aussi 2020. a quand doit-on réellement voir le clonage capillaire arriver et sera-t-il cher…merci de me répondre j’ai écrit en français car je sais pas parler en anglais