The Maastricht (= city in the Netherlands) doctor-researcher C. Gho has developed a method to 'clone' hair. In principal it is possible to 'grow' an infinite amount of hairfollicles out of a single hair with his recently patented technique. The bottom line of his invention is that out of a little plug of (head)hair haircells can be isolated. These haircells will be multiplied and grown in a laboratory. Then they will be injected in the skintissue of the head with an extremely thin needle/seringe. After a period of time the first hairs will start to appear. Gho emphasizes that his procedure is in a strict sense of the word not cloning: "when cloning one works with genetic aspects(??) at cel(lular) level, whereas this method requires different cell groups to make new hairs grow." With his technique Gho presents an alternative for the usual method of hair transplantation, where a strip of (head)hair with approximately 1000 to 1500 hairs is removed. Those hairs then are separated and planted into tiny holes on the head which the doctor previously made with a laser or drill. Negative aspect of this last method is that some people, such as patients with several degree burns, do not have enough donorskin tissue with head hair. Besides, that form of hairtransplantation is very labour-intensive and therefore expensive. The most positive aspect of the new technique compared to hairtransplantation is the preservation of the 'donor hair area'. Furthermore Gho says that his technique will be cheaper and more 'patient friendly'. Although the new technique is only one year old and more studies have to be made to improve the method, he expects that patients can actually be treated within the year.

++++++ Background article on previous article (same newspaper, same date) ++++++ : 'CLONED' HAIR SUITABLE FOR BOTH SEXES.
"The new method is really quite simple. You take away about thirty hairs from the (head)skin tissue. These hairs still contain living hair root cells (=hairfollicle??) you can grow in a petri dish. After that you place them back on the bald area." Doctor-researcher Coen Gho from Maastricht does not really want to tell much about his remarkable invention. Giving information now is a bit premature, because this technique is still new and it needs to be further researched to perfect the method. Besides, he is somewhat afraid of the avalange of reactions that could occur. He prefers to do his research work in peace. Gho has spent the last seven years treating patients with hair problems. He likes to do research. That's the reason why he has set up a research clinic in the former Annadal-hospital in Maastricht, the GHO-clinic. Fundamental research in the area of hairgrowth is being done there. Furthermore the clinic developes and researches new treatment methods and therapies to fi! ght hair_loss_and baldness.
The new method is expected to have big advantages compared to existing techniques. Probably even women can profit from this method. Now only few balding women undergo hairtransplants, because the donor area of this group of the population consists of fewer hairs. By multiplying the headhair of women through the new method this negative aspect will no longer have to be taken into consideration. In principle it should be possible to regain a thick, full hairdo. According to Gho his method is more patient friendly than the so praised lasertechnique hairtransplantation, with which method the doctor drills very tiny holes in the head tissue, before planting the donor hairs. "This always causes mild damage to the surrounding of the drilled holes, thus effecting also many healthy hair follicles."
With his injection method Gho uses a minimal dose of sedative ointment, less than one percent of the dosage usually applied when performing lasertechnique hairtransplants. Also there will be no scabs, so a day after the treatment no physical evidence of this treatment can be seen. Although many tests with (human) testsubjects still have to be done, Gho is convinced that this new method can be used in an extensive way within the year. The patient will be able to get help in clinics all over the country (=Netherlands). Several laboratories connected to the GHO-clinic will take care of the growing of the hair and will send back the 'harvest' to the treating physician. If there is any doubt whether the patient can be succesfully treated, the treating physician can use a new means of communication provided by the GHO-clinic: Telemedicine. From a (far) distance experts can (via Internet) review sharp, detailed photographs of the (head)skin tissue of the patient, photo's that are made in the consulting rooms of the several clinics.
These above articles appeared in the Dutch newspaper 'De Gelderlander' dated april 15, 1998, which is considered to be a normal, serious paper in the Netherlands. 'De gelderlander' has the following internet adress: www.gelderlander.nl

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