I've got a question here, which I'm not sure has been pondered over before. Here goes.

It is said that follicles which stop producing growing hairs on account of MPB eventually go into a perpetual 'dormant' state. However, as far as I'm aware (and I may be mistaken on this), these dormant follicles still exist beneath the surface of the skin, and they're simply inactive. Hence the future possibility of "hair multiplication" being able to awaken dormant follicles, and also signal nearby dormant follicles to "awaken" and start producing healthy hair again.

Now, if at some point in the future, such a cure is indeed discovered for MPB which allows dormant follicles to revert to their formerly active state, I'm curious as to how this would affect patients who've had transplanted hair placed into bald areas of their scalp where these dormant follicles exist?

I doubt that today's HT doctors take into account the placement and positioning of these long-dormant follicles to avoid damaging them. So does this mean that when new recipient sites are created in the HT process, the dormant follicles beneath the skin are being damaged, transected, or destroyed? Does it mean that, should hair multiplication (or something similar) ever become a reality, potentially damaged dormant follicles in a HT patient will no longer be able to grow new hair?

Also, if some dormant follicles aren't damaged by the insertion of newly transplanted grafts, how would the 'multiplied' hairs grow out, considering that there's now new hair follicles all over the place which weren't there originally? For example, the orientation of the dormant follicles may have been altered when the new grafts were implanted etc.

I realize that hair multiplication technology isn't anything to write home about yet, and that it still has a LOOOONG way to go if it ever does eventuate into a viable treatment. I guess this post is just food for thought, which perhaps only a HT doctor can answer with any authority.

I'm just wondering if all of us guys lining up for HT's right now, might be kicking ourselves in the distant future when we realize that all of our dormant follicles have been damaged beyond repair, at a time when the possibility of reviving them actually exists.

__________________
My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Rahal

Hair multiplication would involve taking healthy, DHT-resistant hair from the donor area and cloning it. Therefore, someone who only has 8000 grafts available, can have those grafts multiplied into tens of thousands of hairs, giving them enough donor hair to restore full density. Hair multiplication has nothing to do with reviving dormant follicles.

I believe that the average person is born with upwards of over 100,000 hairs. This means that even if medical treatment revived dormant hair, the number of transected follicles should be negligible.

"MPB eventually go into a perpetual 'dormant' state"

I think the "dormant" hair follicles eventually undergo a fibrosis, (scarification) process, where they are inevitably, irrevocably, irreparable.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

__________________
take care...

I can't find it now, but I recall reading a news article several years back which differentiated between hair cloning and hair multiplication.

Hair multiplication, it stated, involved injecting stem cells or something into inactive hair follicles so that they'd re-awaken. These newly active follicles would then signal adjacent follicles to revive too.

The article mentioned that successful tests had been performed on mice (which died), but that the new hair grew all over the place and not in a uniform direction. Thus, it needed further study before it could ever be considered for human use.

This entry in Dr. Rassman's blog makes mention of it:

www.baldingblog.com/2008/08/18...regenerate-old-ones/

__________________
My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Rahal