Is it possible to receive a hair transplant from another person?
Today, successful results are obtained with transplant methods that promise healthy and lush hair to people who experience hair loss.
Can I have hair transplant with hair follicles taken from anyone?
Before answering this question, you need to have some information about the hair transplantation process and the structure of the hair. Hair restoration is performed by transplanting hair follicles taken from the donor area to the balding area. Basically, each hair strand is an organ. Each hair follicle contains living cells and has unique genetic codes. Hair strands taken from someone else are not accepted and rejected by your body’s immune system. The body’s immune system recognizes the transplanted hair as “foreign” and attacks it. This results in the loss of the transplanted hair.
Why is it possible to transplant organs from another person but not hair?
It is a curious question whether a father can have hair transplant with hair follicles from his son. Similarly, it is a matter of curiosity whether hair follicles taken from other family members, twin brothers and sisters will give healthy results.
However, even if the hair follicles are taken from family members, the result does not change. Even if you have similar hair color and hair structure, hair has different genetic characteristics. As a result, the immune system destroys the hair follicles that it defines as “foreign” and the transplanted hair falls out. This makes the whole hair transplant process futile.
Can I have a hair transplant with hair follicles from family members?
It is a curious question whether a father can have hair transplant with hair follicles from his son. Similarly, it is a matter of curiosity whether hair follicles taken from other family members, twin brothers and sisters will give healthy results.
However, even if the hair follicles are taken from family members, the result does not change. Even if you have similar hair color and hair structure, hair has different genetic characteristics. As a result, the immune system destroys the hair follicles that it defines as “foreign” and the transplanted hair falls out. This makes the whole hair transplant process futile.
What does scientific research say about this?
In 1999, Dr. Colin Jahoda and his colleague Dr. Amanda Reynolds conducted research on whether the body would reject hair follicles taken from someone else. In the research, hair from Dr. Johada’s head was transplanted into the arms of both his wife and Dr. Amanda Reynolds. After the transplant, it was observed that Dr. Reynolds’ immune system did not reject the male hair tissue and the hair strands grew. In subsequent studies, it is understood that the hairs taken from Dr. Colin Jahoda are dermal sheath cells rather than real hair.
Although there are promising studies on hair transplant between genetically unrelated people, it has been observed that successful results can only be obtained in identical twins.
Identical twins have the same DNA code. In this sense, having the same DNA structure means that the protein structures in the hair follicles will also be the same. For this reason, it is assumed that performing hair restoration procedures in identical twins may not be exposed to attacks by the immune system. However, contrary to the theoretical knowledge, problems have been observed in hair transplant operations performed between twins, even though they have exactly the same genetic code. On the other hand, it has been observed that hair follicles taken from people who are not genetically related to the patient can be transplanted.
As a result, it is not scientifically proven whether hair follicles can be exchanged between identical twins or genetically unrelated people. Although there are promising studies on this subject, it is certain that more academic studies and data are needed. In this sense, it is seen that there are no healthy results and widespread procedures in this regard.
