What 'could' be going on in India...

[UK Boy]

A leading expert on hair loss has said that hair cloning “should be available within three years”. Dr Akshay Batra, an Indian trichologist working in Dubai, believes that scientific developments mean that baldness will soon be cured in one operation and hair loss will be confined to the history books. The technique that Dr Batra is referring to involves removing a single strand of hair from the scalp and multiplying it into thousands of hair follicles that are reinserted into the scalp. “Initial results are good. This means that no man will ever be bald again,” says Dr Batra, “It should be out within three years”.

But for men who are already starting to notice a receding hairline and thinning on the crown, three years could be too long to wait. Hair loss can be highly distressing. Many men go with the flow and opt for the semi-bald look or shave their head and get used to having nothing up top. But some men do not feel comfortable with hair loss and want to maintain their hair. As Dr Batra explains, “Baldness has huge social and emotional implications. It should not be so, but people tend to suffer loss of self-esteem.”

http://www.belgraviacentre.com/blog/...n-3-years-435/

I saw this on Hairsite a few weeks back, it was dismissed as rubbish especially because the doctor uses a homopathic approach. Upon hearing that I kinda agreed and didn't think much about it for a while.

The weird thing is I google his name and came up with something kinda interesting:

Dr Batra's Clinic to Promote Hair Cloning in India

They claim that the success rate of cloning would double that of the standard treatments available nowadays

Dr Batra's Clinic, India's largest chain of homeopathy clinics in India, is in process of working with Prof Dr Rolf Hoffmann, eminent dermatologist and the President of the European Hair Research Society (EHRS).

"The process of hair cloning will bring an answer for hair growth to millions if balding people across the world, particularly women, who have no effective answer to their balding as on date," said Dr Hoffman, known worldwide for inventing the Trichoscan—the world's first ever tool to monitor hair density and measure treatment efficacy. He said that close to 40 per cent of women in their 40's and 50 per cent of women in their 50's experience hair loss.

The procedure of cloning is unique since it's the only one to use the cup cells of the hair to clone and grow new hair. A very small area of hair is taken from the patients scalp. The cells are taken from the cup of these hair follicles, multiplied in a laboratory for three months and then injected onto the balding areas of the patient's scalp.

Prof Dr Hoffmann added that this procedure has so far no potential side effects and that it can re-grow large amounts of hair in a period of two years for people with diffuse hair loss. He estimates the success rate of cloning to double that of the standard treatments available nowadays.

The process of hair cloning is estimated to become a reality for patients in a few years.

Prof Dr Hoffmann indicated his interest in bringing the process to India. He said "The good reputation, number of clinics and the large patient base held by Dr Batra's Clinic makes it a potential partner to bring cloning into India."

Dr Mukesh Batra, Chairman and MD Dr Batra's Clinic, said, "Bringing cloning to India would be an ideal extension of our brand and would be a very good answer for all hair patients in India."

Prof Dr Hoffmann said that the estimated hair care market worldwide is pegged at 150 billion USD. The hair transplant business is estimated to at 1.2 billion USD with an estimated 7,00,000 patients per year visiting a hair transplant surgeon. Prof Dr Hoffmann emphasised the dream of growing multiple hairs from a few donor hair follicles or hair follicle cloning.

I found a reference to this article on hairsite back in 2008. The thing that surprises me is that Prof Dr Rolf Hoffmann is a big deal and he's one of the people behind Replicel. I just think this is a bit wacky, it seems unbelievable but could there be real hair cloning work going on in India because of the lack of regulations out there? It makes me think more about all this stuff with Dr. Nigam too.

[hellouser]

The lack of a 'cure' or proper treatment for hair loss makes me SO F*CKEN ANGRY!

Basically if India has a cure, I'm hauling ass and screaming at the front door of a clinic 'TAKE MY MONEY!!!'

I want this nightmare to end

[Desmond84]

Seriously it's as if the whole world gets a kick out of trolling hair loss sufferers!!!

HM science is still in its infancy! These Doctors are just trolling us trying to make a quick buck!

[UK Boy]

Seriously it's as if the whole world gets a kick out of trolling hair loss sufferers!!!

HM science is still in its infancy! These Doctors are just trolling us trying to make a quick buck!

It seems totally like trolling but I just think the connection to Dr Hoffmann is a BIG surprise.

[Space]

On another note i just visited India a couple of weeks ago and noticed that MPB is probably not even half as common for Indian men as men in my home country (Nordic).

Could it be the sunny weather? Or just different race genetics?

[The Alchemist]

It seems totally like trolling but I just think the connection to Dr Hoffmann is a BIG surprise.

I think these "connections" to big name researchers is the new, more sophisticated trolling techniques. They drop these names, much in the way the Lauster was dropped by Nigram (even a photo op with him!). But, try to find a scientific publication with both of their names on it - they don't exist. My guess is that somehow the clinics in india have linked themselves to these guys (funding??? building relations for future licensing???), but, it's probably not due to scientific collaboration.

I would love to believe them, but they make it so hard to.

"initial results are good"

Really? Lets see the photos..and they better have higher quality then the crap the Nigram has been trying to dump on us.

[ccmethinning]

LOL according to those articles, published in 2009 and 2008, respectively, hair loss should be cured right now based on their 3 year timetable.

[Vox]

Could it be the sunny weather? Or just different race genetics?

Genetic features are shaped up in the long term by environmental factors and sun is one of them (sun --> vitamin D --> good health in general, hair included). But it takes centuries if not millenniums for this to happen at the gene level. And then, there are other environmental factors too (e.g. diet) that can have an influence on the genes in such long periods of time. In that sense the answer is "yes" and "no".

[DepressedByHairLoss]

The lack of a 'cure' or proper treatment for hair loss makes me SO F*CKEN ANGRY!

Basically if India has a cure, I'm hauling ass and screaming at the front door of a clinic 'TAKE MY MONEY!!!'

I want this nightmare to end

I totally hear you; the lack of a cure or effective treatments for hair loss makes me sick as well. I like that Dr. Hoffmann is linked to Dr. Batra's clinic as well. Hoffmann is one of the world's foremost hair researchers so this lends some legitimacy to Dr. Batra's clinic and his claims.

[Boldy]

We need to find ourselves a reliable lab that can offer the same procedure as Replicel.

With money everything is possible, especially in countries like India.