Hair Follicle Banking and Cryopreservation of Dermal Papilla and Dermal Sheath Cells
In 2019, UK-based HairClone launched the world’s first hair follicle banking service via cryopreservation. The idea is to store your existing young and healthy hair follicles for future use when hair multiplication technology comes to fruition.
In fact, HairClone itself was planning to offer cell expansion services via dermal papilla cell multiplication and implantation in the UK by 2022. But this potentially groundbreaking development has kept getting delayed. This is especially surprising, since the company’s CEO Dr. Paul Kemp previously led Intercytex (UK), which managed to successfully undertake this exact type of treatment in 2009. But they had to fold in 2010 due to lack of funding, despite successful Phase 1 clinical trials.
In 2020, Han Bio (South Korea) started offering a dermal papilla cell storage service. They were planning to cultivate, multiply and implant these cells into patient scalps. But it is not clear as to how far they have since progressed.
In 2021, Epibotech (South Korea) launched a hair follicle dermal papilla cell banking service. Like Han Bio, they also plan to mass-cultivate these cells and then inject them into patient scalps.
In 2023, Canada-based Acorn Biolabs started offering hair follicle banking services. They are combining this with a personalized autologous secretome hair growth product derived from your own stem cells.
In 2024, Shiseido (Japan) started offering its groundbreaking dermal sheath cup (DSC) cell multiplication and implantation procedure. This process took a decade to develop and went through all three phases of clinical trials. The first step in this treatment entails hair follicle extraction and storage, though I do not think they store your follicles for the long term.
And in 2025, a Thailand-based company named Medeze claimed to have started offering Asia’s first hair follicle banking and cultivation service.
Medeze Hair Renaissance: Follicle Banking and Cultivation
Medeze launched its hair follicle banking service in 2025 under the name Medeze Hair Renaissance. They state that this is Asia’s first hair follicle cryopreservation bank. The company plans to offer hair follicle analysis, isolation, cultivation and long-term preservation for up to 60 years. The company set itself a target of getting 500 clients in 2025 and up to 5,000 clients by 2030.
Medeze calls its hair regeneration technology “HairFolico”. They claim to be able to culture 50 million cells from 50 extracted hair follicles in just 30 days, and package them for future use. The entire process is carried out in a CLEANROOM CLASS 100 laboratory, which adheres to the highest standards for cleanliness and sterility.
Per a recent interview of Medeze Group CEO Dr. Veerapol Khemarangsan with Frost & Sullivan, the company is partnering with Shibuya Company of Japan and implementing the world’s first robotic culture system.
“Human scientists cannot work efficiently under these conditions, so our robots will manage the culturing process entirely.”
The company has built a new five-story biobank in the Philippines that is a vertically integrated facility with labs and cleanrooms. They have also expanded in Oman and Laos. Moreover, they have already conducted various clinical trials in Thailand for stem cell related applications. Including for degenerative disc disease, skin rejuvenation and anti-aging. They are also working on NK cell therapy for stage 4 colorectal cancer.
In July 2025, CEO Veerapol Khemarangsan participated in the 9th Scientific Meeting of the Asian Association of Hair Restoration Surgeons (AAHRS). The meeting was held in Bangkok (Thailand) and his presentation was titled:
“Development Methods for the Cultivation & Cryopreservation of Dermal Papilla & Dermal Sheath Cells Derived from Hair Follicles”
Thailand is among the world’s leading nations when it comes to medical tourism and cosmetic procedures. It is home to a number of highly respected hair transplant surgeons such as Dr. Damkerng Pathomvanich. In fact, around two decades ago, “Dr. Path” was already a big advocate of using oral Minoxidil to treat hair loss rather than topical Minoxidil. Something that only caught on in the US and Europe a few years ago.
As is typical for so many of the new Asian companies that I have covered on this blog, the potential hair multiplication claims seem exaggerated. However, I am always hopeful that one of these Asian companies will be able to proceed with their clinical trials much faster than what we are used to in the West. And it should be noted that 60 percent of the world’s population resides in Asia.
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Good afternoon to all readers of this page. Yesterday, April 5, 2026, I received the DP and DSC cell injection treatment thanks to Medeze Hair Group. I’m going to tell you about my experience over the last few months so you can judge for yourselves. In November, when I found out that Hairclone would begin treating the first patients in January 2026, I got to work (since many of you know I’d been waiting a long time for this procedure). I made appointments at the clinics in the UK, Switzerland, and Guatemala. I was given an appointment for January 26th and decided to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, to the “Clinique de la Croix d’Or” because Dr. Raphael Meyer spoke Spanish there, and I don’t speak English well enough to communicate with Dr. Farjo in the UK (I canceled this appointment). In Geneva, 100 follicles were extracted and sent to the cryopreservation bank in Guatemala. On February 9th, I had a video call appointment with Dr. Schambach at her clinic in Guatemala, and I begged her to let me participate in the clinical trial. They told me that because I had previously received a hair transplant, I wouldn’t be selected as a candidate.
It was at this point that the administrator shared the Medeze clinic on the page, so I contacted them and suggested transferring my Hairclone follicles from Guatemala to Thailand, since they could treat me there. The moment I shared my desire to have my follicles transferred from the cryopreservation bank to Hairclone, I became a candidate for the treatment. They could finally treat me, but of course, I would have to pay €9,000 plus the €4,000 I had already paid in Switzerland just for the extraction of 100 follicles, claiming it was the doctor’s medical expenses. At that moment, I decided to go to Thailand to have my follicles extracted, and I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done (I’ll always be grateful to you, administrator). At this clinic, the price is adjusted to the number of cells the patient needs, and they also multiply both DP and DSC cells. When I traveled there, I didn’t know anything about Bangkok, and Anya, the patient relations manager, arranged for cars to take me to the clinic, personally invited me to lunch, and picked me up herself in her car several times. They showed me the laboratory and the cryopreservation bank, and introduced me to all the people who work there. It’s a 100% safe and effective clinic. The medical team, the doctors, have always explained the process to me from the very beginning, and finally, yesterday, I traveled to Thailand for the second time and received the injections. I’d be happy to share photos of my progress throughout the process with the administrator.
Hola Álvaro!
Yo también soy de España.
Llevo siguiendo tu caso, te envié un mensaje respondiendo a otro tuyo pero pronto quedó desplazado por otros más recientes.
No sé si he entendido bien lo que has puesto, ¿quieres decir que, para tratarte en Guatemala, al principio dijeron que no eras buen candidato, pero una vez les comunicaste tu deseo de usar tus folículos criopreservados en otra compañía en Tailandia, ya sí que aceptaron?
¿Se puede decir entonces que ese precio de 9000 euros será lo que cobrarán en la clínica Schambach a cualquiera que vaya a inyectarse las células? me parece un poco excesivo teniendo en cuenta el historial de retrasos y que no puedan garantizar resultados (en caso de pasar un tiempo y optimizarlo para ser efectivo, pues bueno, sería otro tema, aunque sigue pareciéndome demasiado teniendo en cuenta que decían que el precio sería competitivo con el de los transplantes capilares, y eso sin mencionar que supuestamente te lo deberías de hacer otras dos veces los 2/3 años siguientes).
En cuanto a tu tratamiento en Tailandia, ya nos contarás, y supongo que te habrás informado bien, ¿Tiene la clínica a la que has ido casos de éxito de gente que se ha tratado y ha podido mantener y recuperar densidad?
Gracias de antemano, un saludo y cuidate!
Exactly, Alberto, you’ve understood perfectly what I meant. At the Medeze clinic in Thailand, the price is already competitive for hair transplants, and I can tell you that they showed me success stories. I hope I can be successful myself and share my experience here. Best regards.
Thanks, Álvaro.
That’s great, hope your treatment becomes a success. I’ve read their web page and seen some before/after photos, do you know if this company has started oferring these treatments relatively recently? Have they told you if you would need mantainance and how much time between each treatment?
There’s no maintenance required, Alberto. You can live a normal life; just keep taking your medication since the DHT continues to work. I don’t know exactly how long they’ve been treating patients, but I think it’s not very long.
(Sorry in advance admin if using spanish is a nuisance for the rest, just for clarity and fluency to avoid misunderstandings).
Disculpa el malentendido, Álvaro, creo que no me expresé bien. Me refería a posteriores inyecciones de mantenimiento similar a lo que indica Hairclone.
Yo tengo la alopecia de tipo difuso en sus fases iniciales donde de momento se aprecia más cuando el pelo está mojado, y ya tengo decidido que no quiero tomar medicación de por vida para suprimir mi DHT y, o lo acepto, o busco una alternativa.
El caso es que, por eso, seguía la evolución de Hairclone, porque entiendo que supone una alternativa para tratar la alopecia androgenética en fases iniciales sin necesidad de tomar medicación, con el único requisito de ser tratado 3 veces espaciadas en 2/3 años y llegar a un punto donde se consiga estabilizarla gracias a la resistencia a la DHT de las células que se han ido inyectando (que supongo que en tu caso con esta clínica también se habrán extraído de folículos resistentes).
He leído tu otro comentario y creo que, a ese precio, si con varias sesiones cada 2/3 años se consigue como mínimo estabilizar, definitivamente valdría la pena para gente que busca lo mismo que yo. Si, aparte de las inyecciones, esto requiere seguir tomando medicación, no veo de qué manera pueda compensar si sólo con medicación se puede estabilizar la alopecia en la mayoría de los casos si se toma en fases iniciales.
Por último, lo que te comentaba sobre desde cúando llevarían tratando a gente, es porque he visto en su página web las fotos de antes y después y hay de todo: un caso llamativo que tiene varias fotos y donde especifican los meses que han pasado, y otros más discretos con 2 fotos de antes y después sin especificar cuánto tiempo ha pasado en esta última.
Y otra cosa que también sería importante saber es si esta gente ha estado tomando también medicación o si estos cambios se deben exclusivamente a la terapia con células inyectadas. En general, tanto el diseño web como la comunicación de esta empresa me parecen mejorables, pero de todas formas me quedo más aliviado con lo que has contado sobre la clínica y tu experiencia. Un saludo y espero que vaya genial y nos cuentes!
In your case, Alberto, you should start the treatment as soon as possible. Keep in mind that in androgenetic alopecia, the cells of the dermal papilla are lost until the follicle is exhausted; if this happens, it’s irreversible. If you’ve never taken dutasteride, don’t start. Do this procedure. In my case, even taking the medication every year, I notice a loss of density, which is why I’ll continue taking it after completing two or three treatments. I don’t know how quickly the hair will miniaturize if I stop taking it; maybe in a year I’ll be worse off than I am now, you understand? If you haven’t taken the medication and you observe a slow but progressive decrease, have two or three treatments over two or three years, and you won’t need to take it anymore.
@Alvaro Thats so exciting and thanks for sharing!!! Do you mind answering some questions:
-How much was the Thailand injections?
-Was the original extraction painful? When did they tell you, you can expect to see results?
-How many replicated follicles were made from the 100? Were all of them injected or a subset for future treatment?
-What was the healing process like for extraction and injection?
-What is the maintenance/future treatment plan?
Thanks
Yes, of course TP! – It depends on the number of cells you need or want injected. In my case, they multiplied 20 million cells (each vial contains approximately 10 million cells), but if you had more miniaturized hair, you could receive a larger quantity. I paid around €4,700 plus two trips to Thailand at €1,000 each. – No, not at all. They don’t shave your head, and the extraction is virtually invisible. – They told me I would start to see results in 3 months and should see the full results in 6 months. – They didn’t extract 100 follicles; they extracted even fewer than 50. The doctor told me that this would be more than enough for at least 5 injections. -In both cases, I’ve barely had any recovery time. The procedures are so simple and painless that as soon as they’re finished, you can continue your life as if nothing happened, without any pain. If it works, my plan is to repeat the treatment several more times until I can stop taking oral dutasteride, but that will take a few years. For now, I’m going to see how the process goes and if it works.
Thanks for the info Alvaro. I am just confused a bit more. You said you banked your follicles but it weren’t those that were used in Thailand, right?
You went there and had 50 follicles extracted and from those had cells multiplied and injected back into the scalp?
Does that mean I could go there, they extract it and inject it and thats it?
That’s right, Romulus. I have my follicles stored in both cryopreservation banks. You could go and retrieve your follicles, but the cell culture and multiplication process takes between 4 and 6 weeks, so you would have to go twice.
Thank you for the response!! The price is quite reasonable. Keep us posted and I’m sure many of us will follow in your foot steps.
I never really understood the whole: “let us bank your healthy follicles today, in case we miraculously master the hair cloning process one day”. It’s an illogic gamble, isn’t it?
Because banking your healthy follicles is really not a condition to access to hair cloning (if, when if ever) it becomes a reality. So you are just basically gambling and potentially losing money and healthy hair for basically no gain.
Thanks for your work admin, this seems to be the only place left where to get actual news about research on hair loss. I hope you are doing better.
Thanks Shia, I am mostly recovered minus the small stomach area scars.
I also have some similar thoughts. Moreover, even when we are 70 years old, the vast majority of us will still have at least 50 super healthy hair follicles. But many surgeons have joined HairClone, so perhaps banking young hair follicles is preferred in a similar manner to banking young sperm?
One caveat is that perhaps these Asian companies can already “test” dermal papilla and dermal sheath cup cell expansion and implantation technologies on humans. In a back alley clinic kind of way, but perhaps legally in some nations.
And Shiseido is doing it in a proven and legal manner.
The more the merrier, even if mostly exaggerated claims.