ORLANDO – Expect clinical options for hair restoration to grow in the future, said Dr. Ricardo Mejia.

Robotic hair transfer, multiple technologies to optimize new growth, and even hair cloning could help overcome current limitations in hair transplantation, Dr. Mejia said. Promising technologies could someday supplant donor strip and follicular unit extraction techniques. "We are getting to the age of robotics," Dr. Mejia said at the annual meeting of the Florida Society of Dermatologic Surgeons.

Historically, hair transplantation meant 4-mm plugs transferred at a rate of 10-200 grafts per session over a total of three to eight treatments. Because plugs were placed in a regular pattern, initial results appeared unnatural and very obvious. For some patients, a perception persists that this is still state-of-the-art for hair transplantation, Dr. Mejia said.

A natural, irregular hairline and greater hair density in fewer treatment sessions are now commonplace. "The average session these days of 2,500 grafts is not a big deal," Dr. Mejia said at the meeting.

"Restoring youthful hairlines can be done in single sessions. ... You can get a nice, age-appropriate appearance for an individual," said Dr. Mejia, a hair transplant surgeon in private practice in Jupiter, Fla. Even with recent advances, full growth of hair grafts still takes 6 months to a year, so realistic patient expectations are important.

A new device, NeoGraft Automated Hair Transplant System (NeoGraft), was cleared for marketing by the Food and Drug Administration in March 2009. After a rotating sharp punch scores the skin, a pneumatic suction device extracts the follicles. This technique minimizes injury to the lower half of hair follicles during follicular unit extraction, Dr. Mejia said. The device also implants grafts to a uniform depth.

Researchers are working on a variety of other means to protect grafts during the transfer process. For example, some are developing solutions to protect grafts that contain allopurinol, nitric oxide inhibitors, vitamins, and other components. Also, "we are starting to look at solutions used in organ transplantation." Small studies have shown increased hair survival and growth with these solutions used to optimize protection of organs during transfer, Dr. Mejia said.

Bathing follicular units in autologous platelet-rich plasma to promote healing angiogenesis is another approach. Growth factor components also could be beneficial, Dr. Mejia said. More studies are needed to determine the efficacy of injections of autologous platelet-rich plasma into both the donor area and the recipient areas in clinical practice.

Matching the size of the incision blade to the graft size can also help improve graft survival, Dr. Mejia said. Less trauma, less ischemia, and decreased overall bleeding are associated with finer blades. Although finer blades allow higher-density graft packing, he advised caution because some studies have shown more graft death with higher densities.

Investigators also are looking at technology to optimize new hair growth once the grafts are in place.

"Low-level lasers are getting a lot of attention," Dr. Mejia said. Wavelengths are in the range of 630-670 nm, power densities are between 5-50 mW/cm2, and fluences are 2-20 J/cm2.

The Food and Drug Administration cleared two devices that use low-level light therapy for hair growth: HairMax LaserComb (Lexington International) for men and the MPE-90 Hair Growth Stimulation System (Salon Lasers) for women.

"How good is the HairMax comb?" a meeting attendee asked. Dr. Mejia replied that reviews are mixed: "Hair restoration surgeons are on the fence – some believe in it, some don’t. Some patients are happy with it, some are not."

A lot of research also is underway to refine auto cloning and hair multiplication technologies, Dr. Mejia said.

Dermal papilla cells or fibroblasts are the starting point, because they stimulate formation of new hairs. Multiple companies are working on proprietary processes to spur these fibroblasts to produce enough follicles in culture to replace an entire scalp. This is where they hope "to make their windfall," he said. Research includes fibroblasts grown in subatmospheric oxygen tension, addition of wound-healing factors, and injections of a "hair-stimulating complex" to promote greater hair growth.

TrichoCyte is an example of a cell-based hair regeneration technology in phase II trials based on a proprietary dermal papilla cell process (Intercytex, Manchester, U.K.). "The technique does work but [it is] not completely satisfactory at this point," Dr. Mejia said.

More than half of participants in one protocol for another proprietary cell treatment process showed significant hair growth 1 year later, according to a release announcing phase II study results for Aderans Research Institute.

Considerable work remains to be done before regenerative medical hair cloning becomes a clinically viable option, Dr. Mejia said. "How far out are we? I say 5-10 years."

Dr. Mejia said he had no relevant disclosures.

Future Technologies Hold Promise for Hair Restoration