What Should You Know About Hair Replacement: The Next Generation? 

Hair Transplantation

Since 1952 when hair transplantation surgery was first pioneered, today’s options for hair growth have gone through a major evolution. 

Shifted from unnatural looking transplants to sophisticated new drugs and improvements in hair transplant surgery and cloning individual hair cells are treatments. The future looks even brighter than the present according to David Orentreich, MD, a professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, and others who specialize in the field of hair restoration. The first pioneering hair transplantation surgery was Orentreich’s father Norman. 

As Orentreich says, hair transplant surgery has changed completely since then too from large to small grafts as he started practicing in 1984. Back then he says the large-graft technique was state-of-the-art. 

40 million men and 20 million women experience hair loss according to the estimates from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

According to statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, in 2003, 31,737 people, 88% of the men underwent transplants which were up 9% from 2002. 

He further explains that not much different than that of cardiac surgery was the history of hair transplantation. There was the coronary bypass surgery firstly with hundreds and thousands of doctors starting to do them and then pretty soon here the operation then evolves and moves forward. 

Surgeons like Orentreich thereafter obtain skin grafts along with hair follicles from places on the scalp that are still growing hair which is then typically the back or side of the head and then transplanting them into those balding areas as they continue to grow. Helping give the scalp a more natural appearance, today surgeons use smaller grafts containing anywhere from one to five hair follicles per graft. As they looked artificial with the appearance of rows of hairs, by contrast, the larger grafts had 15-20 hair follicles. Known as hair plugs are these. 

Furthermore, Orentrich believes that small or micrografts now called follicular grafts surely look better, heal faster as well as involve much less discomfort. 

More people do better transplants today whereas going from large grafts of hair to small grafts was the watershed that made this procedure so much more natural as in the case of hair transplantation going from large grafts of hair too small grafts as he explains. 

The Evolution Continues 

Ken Washenik, MD, Ph.D., the medical director of Bosley, a hair restoration practice, predicts that the next step will be to add a cell-based transplant where you can thereby inject hair seeds into the balding area that can then grow into a brand new follicle as hair transplantations have continued to evolve into smaller and smaller grafts. 

This is cloning in essence. 

Washenik, who is also a researcher at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City, then says they should be able to augment and add this to the follicle-based transplant. 

Explaining further, Orentreich says, there may come a time when hair can be cloned as cloning has certainly become possible in other areas. 

New York City dermatologist Bruce Katz, MD, director of the Juva Skin and Laser Center, opines that it would give us the best ability to restore hair if we can get cloning to work. Physically and cosmetically he says it would deliver the best results. 

The Magic Bullet? 

Orentreich then says not far off if we extrapolate from existing drugs like Propecia and keep going is a magic elixir to treat baldness. A medication will come along that will be good and safe that we will be doing fewer transplants as he is pretty confident that with further work, he says. 

Later found to be effective in hair loss in men, finasteride was developed to treat an enlarged prostate. Under the name, Propecia or Proscar is it prescribed. 

It's excellent if you start to use it when you first notice thinning hair as it's ok but not so good that all men who take the drug will grow their hair back says Orentrich 

A male hormone linked to hair loss, Propecia works by lowering the level of a hormone called DHT. Helping treat hair loss, like Propecia, another drug Avodart was also designed to treat enlargement of the prostate by blocking DHT. 

Predicting the following Orentreich then says there comes to be a fabulous drug blocking DHT that helps to prevent hair loss and as we see a much greater number of men grow their hair back sooner or later. 

May The Force Be With You? 

David Michaels, the managing director, and developer of HairMax Lasercomb, which comes as a comb emitting light energy to help thereby stimulate hair to grow, says light or laser therapy helps play a major role whereas in hair restoration it is the future. Hoping to get clearance Michaels is currently in the process of submitting further data to the FDA for approval. 

Within four months, in clinical studies, some people used the comb three times per week for five to 10 minutes per time seeing hair growth on average of 93%. 

Katz, who has no affiliation with the laser comb, then believes that stimulating follicles to grow again and produce healthy hair is a laser or light source.