Hair Follicles in Hair Restoration
Hair follicles form the basis of the two primary methods of hair transplantation in hair restoration, Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). In each of these methods, naturally-occurring groupings of one to four hair, called follicular units, are extracted from the hair restoration patient and then surgically implanted in the balding area of the patient's scalp, known as the recipient area. These follicles are extracted from donor areas of the scalp, or other parts of the body, which are typically resistant to the miniaturization effects of the hormone DHT. It is this miniaturization of the hair shaft that is the primary predictive indicator of androgenetic alopecia, commonly referred to as male pattern baldness or male hair loss. When these DHT-resistant follicles are transplanted to the recipient area, they continue to grow hair in the normal hair cycle, thus providing the hair restoration patient with permanent, naturally-growing hair.
While hair transplantation dates back to the 1950s, and plucked human hair follicle cell culture in vitro to the early 1980s, it was not until 1995 when hair transplantation using individual follicular units was introduced into medical literature.
Research is under way to multiply hair follicles that are resistant to miniaturization. In hair multiplication, plucked hair or hair fragments, which contain germinative cells, are implanted into the scalp with the hopes that they develop into new hair-producing follicles. In experimental hair cloning, dermal sheath cells could be isolated, multiplied in a Petri dish, and then injected in great numbers to produce hair-producing follicles and, in theory, a full head of hair. Neither method has yet proven to result in a commercially viable hair restoration treatment, but research continues in these areas.
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