Hair stem cell transplantation with HST in vivo cloning

Also known as Autograft Hair Transplantation, hair transplantation is a surgical act aimed at transferring (transplanting) follicular units from an area of the head known as the donor area to the recipient area (the frontal line, or/and the vertex, commonly known as the cervix). Much more rarely, when the possibilities of harvesting from the donor area are insufficient, follicular units can be taken from other parts of the body, in which case the hair transplant is called Ectopic.

On average, a person with blond hair, under normal conditions, has about 140 000 hairs, albeit of a fine type. A brown or brunette has about 100 000 hairs, but of a thicker type than a blond. A redhead, on the other hand, has about 90 000, but of an increasingly thicker type.

Hair is subject to a life cycle divided into GROWTH (anagen) lasting 2 to 6 years, TRANSITION lasting about a month and STASIS lasting about 90 days (catagen and telogen). After the stasis, during which the bulb rests, the bulb goes back into the growth phase and causes hair to fall out. Under normal conditions, around 50 to 100 hairs are lost per day.

When hair loss is much more significant than normal physiological hair loss, the causes are sought. There can be several permanent and temporary types. The subject of the different types of hair loss is covered in another article. In the case of permanent hair loss, transplantation is the most satisfactory solution, as no cure or treatment can bring back bulbs that have atrophied to the point of death.

There are various hair transplantation techniques. Quelle che prelevano il bulbo dalla zona donatrice e lo trapiantano nella zona ricevente con un semplice spostamento da A a B dello stesso follicolo (FUT, FUE). There is another technique that allows the follicles in the donor area to regenerate hair as they existed before the operation – the HST Hair Stem Cells technique. In this way, the hairs are multiplied in number and, if necessary, multiple transplants can be performed over time without depleting the donor area.

The FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation)

FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation) in the operating theatre a strip of scalp (STRIP) is taken from the donor area A suture is then applied, creating a scar in the sutured area which remains evident with short hair. It is a technique that has to be performed by experienced surgeons and is therefore costly due to the use of operating theatres and skilled surgical staff. This is a real surgery.

FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction)

With FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction), follicular units are taken from the donor area with circular scalpels (from a diameter of more than one millimetre to 0.8 millimetres). Sampling is performed manually or by robotic units. Depending on the diameter of the scalpel used, damage may be caused to the harvested follicular units or to adjacent ones. This has a certain impact on the amount of regrowth of the transplanted hair. A small scar is created for each extraction. All the scars made cause fibrosis of the scalp with hardening of the scalp. This often leads to limiting the number of subsequent interventions.
This technique is often carried out by novice doctors or even by less qualified personnel. The authorised operators are defined by the health regulations of the individual countries: in Italy, only qualified medical or nursing staff may intervene (operating theatre not required, but surgery is). Abroad, such as in Turkey, these regulations are less demanding and one can run into unqualified operators and unsuitable operating rooms that can put the patient at risk. The cost of operations that do not comply with the most demanding health rules is certainly lower than that of FUT (no operating theatre and less qualified staff) or FUE carried out in Italy. It is therefore necessary for the uninformed patient to beware of very low financial proposals for all the above risks.

HST (Hair Stemcell Transplantation)

HST (Hair Stemcell Transplantation) also called PL-FUT (Partial Longitudinal Follicular Unit Transplantation). This innovative and patented technique, which is the result of research by Dutch professor Conradus Chosal Gho, involves only partial extraction of the hair bulb. Specially designed surgical instruments measuring 0.5/0.6 millimetres are used.

Partial extraction contains only a minimal amount of epidermal tissue: the regrowth stem cells are exposed and present in both the partially extracted and the in situ portion. The non-removed portion of the bulb regenerates within a few months the same type of hair growth as before the operation. In contrast, the harvested part has the hair stem cells directly exposed to the environment. The sample is immersed in a patented medicine complex: to allow it to survive, the sample is otherwise extremely free of adipose tissue and therefore extremely thin.

This patented medium, which among other medicinal components contains exosomes, gives the sample the strength and energy needed to survive and take root in the recipient area. The survival rate of this type of transplant is very high at between 95 and 98%. Bleeding is extremely low, the 0.6 millimetre incisions allow very close and very natural density. No bandaging is done at the end of the operation, unlike all other techniques. Very small scabs form very quickly and fall off a few days after the procedure, which is particularly painless and does not, as with FUE and FUT, give rise to post-operative oedema.

As well as guaranteeing the multiplication of the number of hairs, this technique is the only one to guarantee the regrowth and regeneration of the donor area, thus allowing subsequent operations several months apart to be possible. Without the donor area suffering any of the injuries that FUT and FUE do. This technique is available in Italy, Switzerland and other European countries where the most stringent, strict and demanding health regulations are applied, both at the level of operators and at the level of intervention premises.