Hair cloning is a new progressive method of combating baldness (alopecia). New York scientists have proven that transplanting healthy follicles will help cope with the disease within 1-2 years.
Scientific developments
According to statistics, more than half of women and men after 50 years suffer from hair loss. Because of this, many form complexes, people feel less attractive. A person may be left without hair as a result of burns. In this case, transplantation of living cells into the area of baldness will also be required.
University of California scientists isolated volunteer healthy hair and placed it in a nutrient medium. A few days later, it was noticed that the cells began to divide intensively.
Thus, the researchers concluded that healthy follicles transferred to the scalp can take root, and hair, accordingly, will begin to grow.
When will the studies end?
First, animal hair was cloned. In the experiment used laboratory rats. Scientists were convinced that the survival of the follicles is not bad. Further it is necessary to conduct research in humans. This will require at least 5-10 years.
During this time, researchers must make sure that the follicles are well established. In addition, part of the experiment is monitoring the growth and structure of transplanted hair, which will also take several years. Also, the study time depends on the financing of the project. If the investment of money stops, then the end of the study can not be expected soon.
The hair growth cycle has several periods and these processes have not yet been fully studied by physicians and researchers. To start the cloning process, it is necessary to sequentially solve the problems that arise on each growth cycle.
Even if scientists quickly understand all the nuances of hair growth, you still need to first reproduce the processes in the laboratory. Here, the time for research increases, because with errors at each new stage, it is necessary to start growing cells artificially from the beginning. It is likely that the study will drag on for 10 years.
Cons of the project
Unfortunately, research is not going so smoothly. Scientists have not yet decided on the question of what depth the implant needs to be placed in order for the survival rate to increase. Also, the transplantation method has not yet been approved.
Cloning hair (photo) on dark hair has been carried out several dozen times. The results, unfortunately, are not always positive. Sometimes during cell division, the color changes slightly and in a person the hair in the transplanted areas changes color.
This problem can be solved mechanically using hair dyeing. But this option is not always suitable for males. Scientists are actively working on the solution.
Cloning for short hair occurs in the same way. For people with a short haircut, it is more problematic to take high-quality material for implantation. Therefore, before the procedure, patients are advised to grow their hair a little.
Who will not be able to clone hair?
There are situations in which this procedure does not help to cope with baldness. For example, cloning will not help if a patient develops alopecia as a result of a violation of immunological processes in the body. With this type of disease, unfortunately, the implant survival rate will be very low.
Also, scientists noted that over time, even those hairs that were able to successfully take root and began to grow after transplantation will eventually fall out. This process will be associated with an immunological reaction. If the doctor is unable to cure the underlying disease, then hair cloning will not be able to save the patient from baldness.
It is difficult to cope with alopecia in women who lose hair as a result of hormonal changes in the body that occur against the background of menopause. They will be able to help only after the completion of this process. In this case, the hormonal background will be established, and the implant survival rate will increase.
Now successfully used hair transplantation. This process is similar to cloning, but for it healthy hair is not grown in vitro, but donors are sampled. At the moment, this is a good way to deal with human baldness.