HairCell Pilot Trial Results
Update 3/20/20 New HairCell Results Posted
Last week, the HairCell company shared more photo results from their pilot trial which is ongoing in South Africa. There are now 6 new before and after comparisons on the HairCell website. Below, I’ve shared one of the best results from the new data posted. Subject “Jason” appears to have achieved some meaningful density improvement around his crown area and his frontal scalp. Note that the crown area is now covered in light colored hair, rather than being close to bare in the before photo. You’re able to click on the photo for a larger view and zoom function in your browser.
Jason From HairCell Pilot Trial
I’m also sharing some newer images of “Tubby” who we saw in the original HairCell Trial Results article.
Tubby
Other images from the ongoing HairCell trial are available here, though the ones I’ve not shared do not show clear signs of improvements. You’re welcome to share your reactions in the comment section.
Original Article
In December of 2018, HairCell began a pilot clinical trial for its bioelectric stimulation technology in South Africa. The company has now released images from subjects who completed the trial.
It has been a popular week for electrical hair stimulation as there was recently a scientific journal article published about a small device which fits into a baseball cap and is designed to make hair grow. Another intriguing, and perhaps, more advanced technology aimed at hair growth is the HairCell system. This technology uses electrodes to send micro electrical signals through the scalps surface to trigger the body to release specific growth factors. Rather than being just a generic electrical signal to stimulate the tissue, HairCell uses precise frequencies to generate growth factors such as IGF-1, VEGF, and SDF-1 among others. HairCell has a page on their website dedicated to scientific articles which demonstrate particular growth factors involvement in creating hair growth.
The clinical trial for HairCell was lead by Dr. Catherine Davies, Director of the Revjuv-nation hair clinic of Sandton, South Africa. Previously, a video was created which demonstrates the HairCell clinical trial procedure. In the video, Dr. Davies is shown administering a long lasting form of PRP and bioelectric stimulation to a patient.
Photo Results
Most important to the data of any potential therapy being trialed is the visual effect which the treatment can produce. Dr. Davies has provided these two before and after images of patients who participated in the pilot trial. Both patients received PRP injections along with sessions of the bioelectric stimulation therapy. The first patient shows treatment at the vertex area of the scalp and the second shows treatment at the forelock/hairline section.
Highlighted Sections
This second photo shows a man with different length in the after photo, though because of the length of his hair there is no chance of a “comb over” effect. His first photo shows a spot, about the length of a finger, which appears nearly bald. That same area appears to be mostly filled-in with hair in the after photo, and this area is close to his hairline. I’ve been told by HairCell that the company will be initiating further clinical trials for this technology outside the US in the near term future. The HairCell technology is on a unique regulatory path whereas it could become approved under 510k designation in the US. This means the therapy would not need to undergo a more lengthy 3 phase clinical trial which is used typically for new drugs.
What do the readers think of these results from the combination PRP + bioelectric stimulation therapy? Please comment below.
Posted in Hair Growth Treatment, HairClone
The first boy if you notice a quite remarkable improvement. The second boy the photo of after is not clear since the curly and longer hair can confuse. It would have been nice if they had shown some subject without having gone through PRP before.
Professor Xudong Wang
Hi ,
Not available for sale yet. We expect to start a human test within 6 months and submit it to the market about one year or so.
(Ahmed is referring to the new baseball hat device and not the Haircell system)
Hi,
Is there an update regarding the new baseball hat device devised by Xudong Wang?
Not at the moment John, I will look into it again soon.
What are the PRP and electrical separated contributions? PRP is expensive, easily $2000 every six months, and usually does not have great results. It looks like mixing two average methods to get some better results. The pictures are questionable with different hair lengths and illuminating conditions that favor “hair growth”. One could get similar pictures for PRP + LLLT. In summary, nothing particularly exciting according to what is presented here.
Those results are better than PRP alone as far as I can tell. I could be excited if the bioelectric stimulation treatment was more consistent than laser therapy.
I believe there will be further studies that test the electric stimulation and prp separately, for now the bioelectric stimulation can be used as an adjunct to bolster PRP results. I will try to ask if anyone had just BES done in this study.
Call me a sceptic or doubting Thomas, but I am not buying the effectiveness of this HairCell. It is probably as effective as the Low Light Laser Cap. In other words, it is utter rubbish and I speak from experience. I hope hair multiplication or the like becomes a reality soon because I think the alopecia-strickened are fed up with these exorbitant snake oils!
Totally agree. All you see these days are snake oil treatments. Id rather hear nothing until a real cure comes out. All these snake oil treatments do for us is hold us all in limbo like we have been since prehistoric times waiting for an actual cure.
Too many camera tricks on the first pic. His hair is much darker and different color. No growth at all just darkened photo. 2nd pic, his hair is just longer and curlier. Don’t see any growth that’s warrants excitement. Another highly marketed treatment that won’t work to a level that shows visual improvement. If you have to sit there and take 5 glances back and forth to find new growth between the before and after pics lol then the treatment isn’t great. There should have been instant sign of regrowth and the pics should be taken same hair length and lighting. Hopefully they are a legit company and won’t try and scam people into these weak results. Hopefully further trials will work better.
Still seems like some thickening at the crown in first guy, yeah? But the identical lighting would help.
top photo lighting very different so wouldnt lend it any credence second photo looks bit more promising photos need to be taken under exact same place and distance and lighting this gives hope if nothing else
Just to remind everyone this treatment is not for sale or being offered anywhere. It was a pilot trial, first testing of bioelectric stimulation on the scalp. If you scroll down on this webpage https://haircellstim.com/about-haircell/ there are more advanced versions of the treatment the company would like to put forth. If it will bring greater results? Remains to be seen but it’s a thoughtful mixture of biologics.
http://shop.biophysica.com/articles/285.php
Electrical Scalp Stimulator for Hair Follicle Regrowth
Its interesting for now, I want to see more clear results
No Discernable improvement! The first set has a light before photo and a dark after photo. This is the oldest trick in the book. The second photo has really good lighting in the after photo, which is great. Unfortunately, the hair is longer; another common trick.
Just threw this together for fun, what do you think of the outlined sections? https://folliclethought.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/HairCell_Outline_Hairline.jpg
You are not marking the same areas in both pictures!!!! He still has the same thin area behind the hairline in both cases.
Updated it for you, it’s just for fun. Not perfect but pretty accurate.
The pictures are bad to start with. You are going to have a hard time convincing people that this is a working treatment. Why all the pictures are so amateurish?
I’m not convincing anyone of anything, just sharing what was available. I thought the triangle comparison was cool. As for the trial photos I imagine when you have people come for treatment over the course of 3-4 months there is always the randomness of when their latest haircut was at the start versus what length their hair will be when the trial ends.
Hi Admin,
Thanks for your hard work, may I ask if there is any update on Follica with their Optimization study and NGF574F? seems that Celino will release shampoo with the ingredient and I am waiting for news for it.
where did u hear that shampoo will have the ingredient in it?
It was from the comment section of one of the previous posts…not sure if I got that wrong
Joseph, I think you should stop reporting on anything that isn’t proven with multiple clinical trials to work, it must have mountains of evidence and data to support the treatment. That was sarcasm, for Pete’s sake, unless it’s unmitigated snake oil isn’t it nice to learn what’s being trialed? You are one patient guy to put up with some of the BS that flies at you!
Haha nothing like some good Yoda commentary to lighten the mood. I agree it’s worthwhile to take a look at things in clinical trials, especially things with no risk at this point i.e. things that aren’t for sale. It’s an interesting approach used to heal other parts of the body, it may not turn into a blockbuster but it’s a legit medical technology. Maybe it ends up working better for healing internal organs than it does hair growth. If they’re going to test for hair and continue testing, I’d like to know about it. Thanks Yoda
The Celino product appears to have started shipping now and people will be using it soon. There’s also the one guy on youtube using it and documenting his results as well. Follica will probably be towards the end of the year to update their clinical trial results but I will keep a lookout for those.
The trianlge section looks pretty good, but would like to see more examples of results. Is there more pictures to be released after this?
what did the doctor think of results using this treatment?
With the subject of photography. It does seem that the quality of these trial pictures are always quite variable. I would have thought that it would have been important to the trial to make sure that lighting, conditions, etc, on the before and after pictures are as identical as possible ?
Maybe they can make some improvements before next trial, if a few more photos came out it would make things more interesting…
I feel that these before and after photos definitely show hair growth. Good Work Dr. Davies.
Can’t deduce nothing from photos – both have longer hair on the after photo, and regarding the second guy – I have a somewhat frizzy hair (less than the guy on the second photos) and when hair is longer it definitely looks fuller because of the frizz.
sure longer hair can look a little fuller but in the second guy first photo even tho hair is short you can see where he has coverage from his hair and where he barely has any hair it’s mostly scalp. in the triangle it looks pretty bare and then after has good coverage. may not be a miracle but there is just enough hair in the before photo to create hair that is non see-through like in after photo
Any updates from haircell?
Hi Dimitri, I just recently was in touch with Howard Leonhardt and he told me they are currently enrolling for trials in South Africa and Utah. I was previously unaware of the Utah trials going on and will continue to monitor it.
Awesome, thanks
Yes I see improvement in Jason….this is interesting for future prospect of this treatment
George Cotsarelis
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2020/0078351.html&hl=en&sa=X&d=12322299039306488679&scisig=AAGBfm0WQdgbhl88_eJMNYs_28BDVFibaQ&nossl=1&oi=scholaralrt&hist=5ZtWPr4AAAAJ:3666103746411610144:AAGBfm1-jGgc1My9SKp-8FOURhHXFl5Jwg
Admin do You think Tsujis research is cancelled now due to corona?
I know that j Hewitt can’t find a cell processing center because of corona.
Probably it will
Take years until company’s have enough money to finance further trials 🙁 what’s your opinion?
@Marcel Japan is dealing with Covid19 ok. I would imagine that work could continue there.
Marcel, I don’t think Tsuji is cancelled due to coronavirus, perhaps the speed of progress is slightly slowed down.
Regarding financing clinical trials, it could always be better and I wonder why more millionaires/billionaires and pharmaceutical companies do not fund more trials/research but usually the money does find its way to the right companies and scientists in this field. I think when the treatments are ready they will get funding for trials.
Why do you censor my comments?
C, you’re always welcome to chime in here but comments which are based on opinions and not personal experience, and overly defamatory towards companies (especially companies still in clinical trial phase) are not preferred here as they do not add anything constructive to the conversation. I hope that makes sense. I don’t mind if you want to say that results are unimpressive, it’s all about how much piling on follows. It’s my intention that Follicle Thought maintains a decent environment for its readers and I think they like that for a change.
If HairCell wants honest feedback here’s one. These are mediocre result at best. For some photos I can’t tell which is before and which is after.
I’m disappointed, and I’m sure HC would be even more so.
@admin, is HairCell paying you to post these? Just curious.
Dj, I agree with you that most of the results that they’ve shared do not show a clear difference and probably should not have been posted, additionally I think the photos were not taken in the best settings and need to be much more precise to be useful. The photos I’ve chosen to actually share on the site show merit, especially Jason. His result is in line with finasteride in my opinion and that is exceptional for a new treatment. It’s also worth mentioning his result is probably much better than what was achieved in Shiseido’s trial and I bet you would not question coverage of Shiseido’s trial. One thing people may not be aware of is this treatment is delivered by electrodes which need to be in contact with the skin to work well which is difficult when you have hair, they may be able to improve on their design in the future. And LoL no they are not paying me to post the results, HairCell is a medical company making an attempt in the hair loss world just like Samumed (10% improvement) and Shiseido (5 new hairs per cm2) so we’ll see how they do in trials and if their treatment will ever make it to the real world. I’m glad they have some news opposed to mostly silence across industry for quite some time.
https://replicel.com/news/publication-of-clinical-data-confirms-replicel-s-treatment-for-androgenic-alopecia-effective-in-men-and-women
Maybe you can tell me what sense it makes for RCH-01 to be commercialised considering it failed in trials. Who in his/her mind is going to pay for an ineffective treatment?
So, Shiseido is looking at a trial in which multiple injections will be given to a patient over a period of time. If they can get some improved results in that trial and hopefully produce some photographic evidence which shows that the treatment works and improves hair appearance they will commercialize it. People would pay for something that can do that and is free of side effects and daily maintenance.
There’s going to need to be another trial in any event.
Thanks Ahmed, this was posted on the Updates page > https://folliclethought.com/updates/
I see something in Barry and Jason’s results but the rest do not show anything. I think they’ll have to show some conclusive data for this treatment to be a big success.
That’s fair. I think HairCell would definitely also want to have more prevailing data before they would try to commercialize. I think the platform has potential, I hope they can improve on it.
I think all potential treatments should cease their on-going trials if they haven’t shown the results we desire in the time that we want. 😉 That was sarcasm to illustrate what I feel that some posters are expressing…really? And admin, once again a tip of the hat to the patience you continue to demonstrate in the face of those that defy logic!
Yoda sighting! Thanks for the support Yoda and I like your point of view. I feel like, this is a blog about hair growth treatments, we should taking a look at results from companies doing trials right?
Hi Yoda,
I responded on the other message thread, but not sure if you saw it. You asked if I could provide an update after seeing Dr. P. I had a lot of questions for him and he seemed in a hurry, so I did not get the opportunity to ask about new developments.
My treatment is his minox formulation, dutasteride, and a shampoo he sells in his office. Started on it several weeks ago, but stopped the dutasteride, because I was getting a tingling and sometimes a zapping sensation in my leg and foot. At one point, my foot look like it had a heartbeat the way it was throbbing. My symptoms were not listed as a side effect, so I was concerned it could turn into something serious, so stopped it. I have also read some people have huge amounts of shed, without it growing back, which I would find horrifying. You have prob advised many people over the years. Have you heard of anyone with the tingling/zapping side effects that I had?
Hi Lisa, I haven’t but I’m not a medical professional. Did you consult Dr. P about this? Sometimes people have sides due to anxiety about taking a new med, that is my best “professional” guess. I’m not telling you how to proceed but I’d get over what you read on the internet about sheds. Sure there’s some shedding, typically a good sign that the regrowth will come and doubtful it won’t grow back. More than likely what you read on the internet is also anxiety based, disappointment based on unrealistic expectations (see my post above about clinical trials) and good ole fashion trolling by heartless idiots. However, we all have to proceed in a manner that we feel is best for us and individuals. Good luck to you!
Hi Yoda,
Yes, Dr. P just said that is not a side effect and check my general MD or stop taking it and see if the symptoms go away and restart which I did and it came back after I restarted. I will give it another go this week.
Thanks!