New treatments could come from another angle altogether

[jman91]

Why can't we transplant hair like we transplant organs?

was talking to my friend the other day and to my amusement she thought that a hair transplant was from someone elses hair!

after lololing hard it later occurred to me that this wouldnt be so bad. If you weren't bothered by having someone elses hair follicles in your scalp then why not? I did some research and very quickly found that organ transplants, as much as they seem awesome, come with the draw back of possible rejection and/or side effects to the anti rejection drugs.

Then i remembered this story in the news recently.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22808856/ns/health-health_care/t/transplant-patients-may-avoid-rejection-drugs/#.T6X1PutSS8A

now i know its still probably with some risks but, but the point is with organ transplant technology improving so fast transplanting another persons hair follicles might become a risk free, piece of cake quiker than any of these fail companys deliver a cure.

[tonypizza]

You'd be on antirejection drugs the rest of your life

No ethical doctor would ever allograft hair, which is not a vital organ

[jman91]

You'd be on antirejection drugs the rest of your life

No ethical doctor would ever allograft hair, which is not a vital organ

you've missed the point.

you need drugs for the rest of your life at the moment so its not worth it/ unethical.


soon it may be a risk free procedure

[paulsreef]

You wouldn't go on antirejection drugs for cosmetic reasons. But if you're in the market for a kidney, ask what the doner's hair is like.

[jman91]

You wouldn't go on antirejection drugs for cosmetic reasons. But if you're in the market for a kidney, ask what the doner's hair is like.

YES... LET'S RE-ESTABLISH WHAT I HAVE ALREADY SAID. I KNOW ANTI REJECTION DRUGS AND OTHER RISKS IS WHATS STOPPING IT BEING VIABLE NOW! LEARN TO READ.

but my point is that researchers are trying to eliminate the risks from organ donation and one day in the not to distant future im sure they will, then hair transplanted from someone else could be an option

[Pate]

now i know its still probably with some risks

That's putting it mildly. As the article says:

"The treatment involved weakening the patient's immune system, then giving the recipient bone marrow from the person who donated the organ."

That is a very serious business. So in order to do what you propose you would have to:

1. Find someone who is happy to donate not only their follicles but their bone marrow!
2. Go on immunosuppressant drugs to weaken your immune system
3. Get your scalp cut up WHILE ON IMMUNOSUPPRESSANT DRUGS (see a potential problem there?)
4. Get a bone marrow injection
5. Stay on the drugs for a while (weeks/months?) while the bone marrow does its thing
6. Pray it actually works

It might be worth the risk for a life threatening condition like kidney failure but I don't think you'll find any doctor who would perform such a process for balding.

All that said... Jahoda actually showed in 1990 that dermal sheath cells can be transplanted to another person without rejection. He grew one of his hairs on his wife's arm. So in that sense you could, theoretically, extract a follicle with FUE from a non-balding person, dissect it to get the sheath cells out, and implant them into bald scalp. You wouldn't get rejection and in theory you would grow hair that would have the other person's DNA mixed with your own.

The problem is you could only really do it one follicle at a time and to dissect every follicle would take too much time. You also can't control the direction of growth.

Hence why they started trying to just dissect a few follicles to get the cells and then multiply them to produce many millions of cells.

And then the argument is you don't even need to use another person's hair, you can use your own. And bingo, you have Aderans/Replicel.

Unfortunately, my understanding is that the multiplied cells lose the ability to induce hair growth, which is why we're more than two decades on and still don't have a cure. That is one of the biggest barriers facing Aderans and Replicel.

[gutted]

2. Go on immunosuppressant drugs to weaken your immune system

this alone will probably regrow all of your hair!

[john2399]

Im getting my hair follicles from john stamos than lol

[mpb47]

That's putting it mildly. As the article says:

"The treatment involved weakening the patient's immune system, then giving the recipient bone marrow from the person who donated the organ."

That is a very serious business. So in order to do what you propose you would have to:

1. Find someone who is happy to donate not only their follicles but their bone marrow!
2. Go on immunosuppressant drugs to weaken your immune system
3. Get your scalp cut up WHILE ON IMMUNOSUPPRESSANT DRUGS (see a potential problem there?)
4. Get a bone marrow injection
5. Stay on the drugs for a while (weeks/months?) while the bone marrow does its thing
6. Pray it actually works

It might be worth the risk for a life threatening condition like kidney failure but I don't think you'll find any doctor who would perform such a process for balding.

All that said... Jahoda actually showed in 1990 that dermal sheath cells can be transplanted to another person without rejection. He grew one of his hairs on his wife's arm. So in that sense you could, theoretically, extract a follicle with FUE from a non-balding person, dissect it to get the sheath cells out, and implant them into bald scalp. You wouldn't get rejection and in theory you would grow hair that would have the other person's DNA mixed with your own.

The problem is you could only really do it one follicle at a time and to dissect every follicle would take too much time. You also can't control the direction of growth.

Hence why they started trying to just dissect a few follicles to get the cells and then multiply them to produce many millions of cells.

And then the argument is you don't even need to use another person's hair, you can use your own. And bingo, you have Aderans/Replicel.

Unfortunately, my understanding is that the multiplied cells lose the ability to induce hair growth, which is why we're more than two decades on and still don't have a cure. That is one of the biggest barriers facing Aderans and Replicel.

Other than hair docs, I have got the impression that docs in general do not consider mpb to be a legitimate medical problem. My primary has basically said that it is normal for men to gradually become bald and that it is expected and nothing to worry about. And I know she really means it because she had not tried to stop her fiance's expanding crown. If I pushed it I am sure she would give me FIN but would also think I was silly and vain for worrying about it.

And yea the immunosuppressant drugs are dangerous stuff. An old GF had to have a transplant. It bought her 3 more years of life but eventually the drugs let her get sick and it unfortunately went downhill from there. They are a last resort thing and NOT for vanity issues.

[Tracy C]

Transplanting hair follicles from one person to another is not a good idea. The definate risks far outweigh the possible benefits.

[kaandereli]

who wants to donate his hair?even if a treatment is found , no one would donate his hair

[jman91]

Transplanting hair follicles from one person to another is not a good idea. The definate risks far outweigh the possible benefits.

I agree with that right now in 2012 it has too many draw backs to be viable, but what I'm saying is that given the current research/treatments being developed, it's not that far fetched to say organ transplantation becoming a safe, risk free procedure may pave the way for a cosmetic procedure where you either pay for someone else hair follicles to be transplanted on to your scalp. Mixed in with a transplant of your own this would in effect double the size of donor availabe and with 12,000 grafts, even a NW7 would be able to achieve a very full looking head of hair.

[jman91]

An old GF had to have a transplant. It bought her 3 more years of life but eventually the drugs let her get sick and it unfortunately went downhill from there.

I am very sorry to hear about your old girlfriend, but it does go to prove that organ transplantations are far from perfect and scientists are trying to fix that. Its obviously fuelled by a much more important reason (saving lives) but if/when an organ transplant becomes a very low risk procedure, it may open up new avenues for hair loss treatments.

[mpb47]

I am very sorry to hear about your old girlfriend, but it does go to prove that organ transplantations are far from perfect and scientists are trying to fix that. Its obviously fuelled by a much more important reason (saving lives) but if/when an organ transplant becomes a very low risk procedure, it may open up new avenues for hair loss treatments.

Thanks-She was beautiful both on the inside and out-took me YEARS to get over her and I have also been trying for years to find someone comparable.

With that said I think they are getting somewhat safer as my boss's husband had the same operation. He is much older and worse shape yet he is still hanging in there. But I still think that other than hair docs, most docs do not consider it a medical problem. Look how many of them are balding themselves and they could get free samples all day long if it really bothered them. Out of my 4 docs, 2 are balding, much more than me. And the other 2 are women so they don't count.