CONTINUAL REGROWTH OF THE DONOR FOLLICLE

How did Gho Clinic conclude that the donor follicle will continue to regrow in some patients despite the fact that is has already been harvested for transplant?

Certain areas of the test subjects' donor sites were marked for observation and it was found that using this minimally invasive extraction technique, not only does the donor site heal many times faster than traditional excision surgery, some of the donor follicles were actually able to regrow even after they had been harvested for transplant. However, it has to be stressed that regrowth of the donor follicle DOES NOT happen to all patients and NOT all donor follicles are able to regrow after they have been harvested. Gho Clinic does not guarantee regrowth of the donor site. 

What percentage of Gho Clinic's patients has managed to regrow hair in the donor site that has already been harvested for transplant?

It varies from patient to patient. Whether the donor follicle can regrow depends on the depth of extraction which cannot be precisely gauged on a follicle by follicle basis.

Among the patients who have managed to regrow hair in the donor follicle, what percentage of the donor site exhibited continuous regrowth?

It varies from patient to patient. Whether the donor follicle can regrow depends on the depth of extraction which cannot be precisely gauged on a follicle by follicle basis. 

Are there any research which substantiates that donor follicle has the ability to regrow even after being harvested for transplant?

The concept of duplicating hairs out of a single follicle is not new. There are plenty of information you can find on the internet or directly from medical journals. Specifically, Dr. Jung-Chul Kim and Dr. Yung-Chul Choi's research are among the most prominent in this area. 

Several studies have been conducted by researchers to examine the regenerative capacity of the human hair follicle after horizontal sectioning at different levels along the hair follicle. Specifically, the survival and growth rates of both the upper and lower portions of the transversely sectioned human hair follicles were experimentally assessed. In one experiment, the upper and low portions of the hair follicles were obtained with horizontal sectioning occurring at 1) the upper one-third of the follicle, 2) the middle of the follicle, and 3) the lower one-third of the follicle. Needless to say, the bulb region containing the dermal papilla were not retained in the upper portions of any of the three transection scenarios. In this study, it was concluded that both the upper two-third and lower two-third of the transected follicles were able to generate regrowth with varying success rate except that when only the upper one-third or lower one-third follicles were used for grafting, no regrowth at all was observed.

Several lines of evidence now suggest that the putative hair follicle stem cells are "situated both in the bulb region as well as in the proximity of the bulge region of the outer root sheath".  This explains why in one study Inaba, Kim and Choi clinically observed that human follicles were able to regenerate new papillae and grow new hairs even though the bulb and dermal papilla had been removed. 

Dr. Gho's Follicle Transplantation is based on the same school of research noted above, but with one major variant. In most experiments we have seen to date, the transection was performed on the entire hair follicle that had been completely removed from the skin. The resulting upper and lower portions of the hair follicle were then transplanted to the recipient area. In Follicle Transplantation, the lower one-third of the hair follicle is never removed from the skin. According to Dr. Gho, this is one of the major differences between Follicle Transplantation and experiments we have seen to date and this may explain why they have been able to clinically observe that there is continual regrowth in the donor site in some test patients. However, it has to be stressed again that there is no guarantee regrowth will happen to all donor follicles in every patient. 

Besides Gho Clinic, Dr. Carlos Bazan also appears to be another physician attempting to duplicate hairs out of a single follicle. While it is unclear if Dr. Bazan's technique is the same as Dr. Gho's, it does appear that there may be a lot of similarities between the two. More details about Dr. Bazan's research can be found at www.itzan.com under the section "Research". 

References:

J.C.Kim, M.K.Kim and Y.C.Choi: Regeneration of the human scalp hair follicle after horizontal sectioning: implications for pluripotent stem cells and melanocyte reservoir. In: Hair research for the next millenium, D.J.J. Van Neste and V.A.Randall eds. Elservier Science, Amsterdam, 1996. p.

Jung-Chul Kim : Regeneration of the human scalp hair follicles after horizontal sectioning: Implications for pluripotent stem cells and melanocytes reservoir. 1st Tricontinental Meeting of Hair Research Societies, Brussels, Belgium, 1995.
  
Jung-Chul Kim and Yung-Chul Choi: Regrowth of human scalp hair after removal of the bulb. Dermatol. Surg. 21:312-313, 1995.
  
Jung-Chul Kim and Yung-Chul Choi: Hair follicle regeneration after horizontal resecting; Implications for hair transplantation. In: Hair Replacement, S. Stough ed. Mosby-Year Book, Inc. MO, 1995. p.358-363
  
IST: Follicular Bisection in Hair Transplantation Surgery
www.ist.unige.it/chir_plast/Hairs.html
  
Dr. Carlos Bazan's Ongoing Research
www.itzan.com

Hair Transplantation Network: Splitting Hairs
http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/Hair_transplant_news_articles/Future
_hair_transplantation_page6.asp
  
Jung-Chul Kim and Yung-Chul Choi: Hair follicle regeneration
after horizontal resecting; Implications for hair transplantation
http://hair.kyungpook.ac.kr/jayckim.htm

Dr. Antonio Alvi: Discussion on Hair Cloning
http://www.dralvihairtransplant.com/frame_newsletter.html