The Future Of Hair Loss Research

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Author: Geno Marcovici

Yesterday

From ancient Egypt, a record exists from The Papyrus Embers, circa 1,500 BC citing a remedy for hair loss; and prepared for Ses, Mother of his Majesty the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Teta. The remedy lists toes of a dog, refuse of dates, and hoof of an ass. The result of imbibing this colorful concoction is, unfortunately, not recorded for posterity. Throughout recorded history many have struggled to combat hair loss. In the 19th Century it was widely believed that oil extracted from rattlesnakes would stimulate hair growth. And while we cannot speak to the curative effects rattlesnake extract on anything else, we can categorically rule out its utility against hair loss. From this example, the term snake oil was coined to describe a product deceptively advertised as curative, but practically worthless.

Today

With the advent of modern medicine in the 20th century a critical methodology was gradually adopted to assess the utility of drugs. The point was to differentiate valid treatments from snake oil. Approximately 20 years ago, the first drug-based treatment for pattern hair loss, minoxidil, was approved. Today, there are several drugs available to address the problem. The positive outcome one may expect with drug-based therapy typically involve a slowing or cessation of hair loss. Dramatic regrowth is not unheard of, but considered rare. The downside of pharmacotherapy is the potential for negative side effect. Non-drug therapy options, including the formulations comprising HairGenesis™ are now available. The advantage of non-drug therapy rests in its absence of negative side-effect. However, with the exception of HairGenesis™, few non-drug based treatments can point to valid third party science to support their claims. Surgical hair restoration remains a valuable option because of its ability to consistently produce cosmetically-beneficial terminal hair from the transplanted tissue grafts. In the proper hands, surgical hair restoration can accomplish remarkable things. High cost, and the potential for an unnatural appearance, due to graft mishandling and/or poor placement, are the primary caveats to this procedure. Another less well-appreciated caveat is the phenomenon of chasing a receding hair line. This is a function of supply and demand. If the demand for hair bearing donor tissue outstrips the supply then difficult choices must be made. What happens is that a restoration plan may not anticipate the full degree of loss that will occur months or years down the road. So even after a restored frontal hair line has been recapitulated, one may find themselves trying to fill thinning areas behind the restored zone where hair loss continues. Eventually, when one runs out of hair bearing donor tissue, patches of bald skin behind newly growing hair may cause the scalp to look somewhat unnatural. Interestingly, it was against this backdrop that HairGenesis™ was first created. The product line was, after all, conceived and created in a surgical hair restoration research clinic. To prevent the chase-the-receding-hairline problem, the idea was to offer the patient a safe and effective means to prevent ongoing hair loss while surgically restoring the areas that had visibly thinned. This, HairGenesis™ accomplished very well. In fact, we observed results that exceeded our expectations. Many test subjects not only evinced a cessation of hair loss, but actual thickening. So from this beginning, HairGenesis™ came to represent a treatment that not only arrested future hair loss in most who tried it, but also regrew (thickened) hair for a meaningful percentage of users. Today, HairGenesis™ has come out of the research clinic and is safely used by tens of thousands of people as a prophylaxis against future hair loss as well as a therapy to coax thinning hair back to terminal density. Even based on the modest goal of arresting future hair loss, HairGenesis™ coupled with surgical hair restoration, can offer almost anyone affected by pattern hair loss an excellent means to fix the problem and maintain a healthy vibrant head of hair.

Tomorrow

What does the future hold? Three distinct areas of research are most likely to produce breakthrough options for hair restoration. Gene Therapy Pattern hair loss is a kind of ailment known as a complex trait disorder. This simply means that multiple genes, as well as other factors (e.g. environment), are involved. Today, at research centers and teaching universities worldwide, work is actively underway to identify the specific genes and other key factors that influence hair growth and hair loss. To understand why gene therapy is a promising approach, it must be appreciated that pattern hair loss is actually not so much loss of the hair as its miniaturization. Imagine a full thick terminal hair gradually shrinking down to the peach fuzz hair you find on a baby's skin and you get the idea. In pattern loss, susceptible scalp hairs become ever-finer and ultimately, they lose their pigmentation until they're basically invisible. Using the newest tools of molecular biology, the goal will be to manipulate key genetic pathways in such a way as to stimulate these miniaturized follicles back into a forest of viable, terminal, fully pigmented hair. Cloning The second area of research likely to bear hairy fruit is cloning. Here, the idea is to take one — or very few follicle(s) and make many. The mechanics of cloning involve the identification, extraction and manipulation of those hair follicle components possessing stem-cell like qualities. It may be helpful to imagine these hair follicle stem cells as loosely analogous to the seeds from which grass is grown. Eventually, the process will allow for the extraction a very small number of hair follicles from a balding person. These will then be amplified into a much greater number and turned into "seeds" sufficient to recapitulate viable growing hair density wherever desired in the person from whom the follicles were extracted. Newer & Better Treatments As with gene therapy, the third area of research also involves the identification of relevant genetic triggers and pathways which can then be manipulated through small-molecule (drug) or other (non-drug) means in order to positively influence the health and viability of scalp hair. Work is underway in our lab and those of our collaborators with this specific goal in mind. The take-home message is that today viable options exist for a significant swath of people affected by pattern hair loss. In the foreseeable future, these choices are only going to get better. For more information visit the site http://www.hairgenesis.com

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