Hi all -
Well ... he showed a presentation and a high tech movie (we're talking discovery channel computer graphics quality here, I was really impressed) with animated computer simulations of how the procedure works.
In a nutshell, he discovered that there are hair follicle developing cells located both part of the way up the follicle, and also at the base. Because if this, he theorized that he could extract the top half of the follicle, and leave the base in tact. The base (donor hair) would then continue to grow the same hair in the same place, resulting in no loss of density in the back of the head. The top half of the follicle would be implanted into the front of the scalp into a prepunched hole. Since it contains follicle developing cells, it theoretically takes root and develops a new functionling follicle up front, inside the skin.
The visual presentation made it a lot easier to understand, and I did ask him if he ever extracted one of those transplanted hairs to really see if a new follicle, bulb, etc was produced. He said no, but the hairs do continue to grow, so the assumption is yes. Naturally, it also takes significantly longer to work. You're implanting cells into skin and they need to create something from nothing, so that can take (i think he said) a few months for some guys. The limitations? He can or will only do up to 500 per session... as compared to thousands in a regular transplant. The good side is you can come back and have another, and another and another done. There is no strip excision, no staples in the back of your head, weeks of swollen face and major pain, infections, etc. Limitation #2? Cost. He's only charging a fraction of what traditional transplants cost. Apparently this has resulted in some major flack from US transplant surgeons.
gourmetstylewellness.com