The Pioneering Hair Growth and Hair Treatment Technology of Dr. Gho

Anyone concerned with hair growth, hair cloning, alopecia, hair treatment and so on is probably familiar with the controversial work of Dr. Coen Gho, a Dutch medical doctor and dermatologist who has been a pioneer in efforts to develop practical hair regrowth treatments for male pattern baldness and alopecia.

Dr. Gho’s research has been followed closely by numerous experts in the field of hair transplantation and rejuvenation. He has been criticized, however, for not submitting his research to the rigorous scrutiny of peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Throughout the 1990s, Dr. Gho developed specialized techniques of hair follicle extraction and transplantion. The GHO Clinic was established in 1994 with offices at various places around the world, with head offices in Prague. In 2005, Dr. Gho resigned from the GHO Clinic and launched a new venture, The Hair Science Institute (HSI), located at the World Trade Center in Amsterdam.

According to HSI’s own website, the technology that Dr. Gho has developed — which he terms “HairStemcell Transplantation” (HST) — differs from other types of hair restoration techniques in that it does not redistribute existing hair but “ensures that your own hair generates new hairs in a desired area.”

One of the transplantation techniques Dr. Gho developed – the Follicular Multiplication – was established as a restorative method to treat burn wounds. In the clinical facilities of Hair Science Institute, this method has alleged been improved and is now refined to the advanced and patented technique that is now known as HairStemcell Transplantation.

Apparently, the way the technology works is that hairs from a patient are removed from the back of the head and then analyzed. Only those hairs with particular characteristics (bigger bulb size, shape and strong pigmentation) are used for cloning purposes. Then, epithelial cells from these hair bulbs are propagated in vitro in a specialized culture medium (serum-free keratinocyte culture media with antibiotics and growth factors, such as EGF). Once these cells have propagated, they are removed from the culture and injected into skin pores of the balding area. This procedure is carried out with the aid of special needles or injectors. According to HSI, Dr. Gho’s method differs from other hair cloning techniques, such as Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) or Follicular Multiplication (FM) techniques. Dr. Gho’s clinic insists that the Hair Science Institute approach is the most sophisticated of all attempts to transplant hair follicle by follicle. In FUE, HSI says, the whole follicle is removed with a needle of 0.75 to 1.0 mm diameter (0.45 – 0.8 mm), which results, HSI claims, in a considerable likelihood of scarring and a minimum re-growth of the removed hair.

The Follicular Multiplication (FM) technique attempts to remove only the upper part of the hair follicle with the help of a much smaller needle measuring only 0.7 mm in diameter (0.4 mm). Because of this the chance of scarring is less but re-growth is still limited. With Dr. Gho’s HairStemcell Transplantation (HST) method, the company claims, a part of the follicle is taken away in a longitudinal direction with a smaller needle still, just 0.5 mm or 0.6 mm diameter (0.2 – 0.3 mm_). This results in almost no chance of scarring and, most important of all, the re-growth of hair in the donor area is higher than with the other two methods. The company’s website has some very frank photographs of patients immediately before, during and one-day after treatment. How does Dr. Gho’s technique compare with the approaches being developed by companies such as Aderans and Intercytex? In an online interview in 2005, Dr. Gho insisted that his technology is based on the follicular stem cells and not on the Dermal Papilla cells. “In my opinion, these cells [Derma Papilla cells] are able to produce a hair; however, after a period, they will die and will not produce a hair again,” he told the interviewer. “Even Colin Jahoda revealed in his studies that human Dermal Papilla cells cannot produce a hair but an outer root sheath…”