Verteporfin Could Create Scarless Hair Transplant Surgery
New research from Stanford University may have uncovered a new useful application for hair restoration surgery.
Stanford Stops The Engrailed-1
Last month in April, a research team from Stanford University headed by Dr. Michael Longaker, published a study on scarless wound healing which captured mainstream attention. The peer-reviewed study titled “Preventing Engrailed-1 activation in fibroblasts yields wound regeneration without scarring” appeared in the Science journal and was quickly picked up by several media outlets. To summarize, by studying mouse cells, Longaker et al. found that a gene called engrailed-1 was upregulated during the scarring process due to mechanical-stress signaling, and the team sought for ways to block those signals. A drug called verteporfin, which is used to treat human eye diseases by blocking mechanical-stress signaling, was identified as a lead candidate to test in the mouse scarring experiments. The results were superb. After verteporfin was injected into the edges of wounds on the skin of mice, their skin completely regenerated with hair follicles and sweat glands intact.
The most compelling aspect of this story is the fact that verteporfin is an FDA approved drug, which means that theoretically, medical doctors in the US could use it off-label to treat wounds immediately. In a NY Times article, Dr. Longaker mentioned that he believes many doctors would not wait for designated FDA approval to begin using verteporfin for wounds if early clinical data showed similar results to the lab study. For now, Dr. Longaker and his team are planning another preclinical study, which is almost certain to be a pig study, before moving into human trials. I wonder how long it will be until the first human anecdotal report on verteporfin in human wounds surfaces?
The Big “What if?”
It seems as though it’s only a matter of time before a doctor, or even a hair transplant surgeon, in the US attempts to inject verteporfin into a patient’s wound. Can the drug create similar results for humans as it did in mice? This is a literal multi-million dollar question and if the answer is yes, then we could be at the brink of a new type of “organic” hair regeneration/multiplication.
If we think about the drug’s potential application in hair transplant surgeries, a patient could have hair follicles extracted from their donor area via FUE or FUT(strip) and then have verteporfin injected into the wounds of the donor area. If the mechanism of action holds up in humans, those wounds in the donor area would heal, not only without scars, but with a replenishment of hair follicles as well. Now, it’s not probable that there would be 100% regeneration of donor follicles, but even a rate of 50% would be a game changer. For fun, we can imagine a surgery of 4,000 grafts could yield back 2,000 grafts and the process could be repeated many times.
For now, this is an enticing theory, but since verteporfin is on the market it’s likely that we will not have to wait long for it to be put to the test.
Another Wound Healing Technology In Development
MicroCures, a spinout from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY, is another example of a treatment which could create scarless healing and potentially even hair regeneration within the next several years. MicroCures was featured on Follicle Thought back in 2015 after they published a noteworthy study using a silencing RNA to block an enzyme called fidgetin-like 2 in mouse wounds. Since then, they have also shown great results in a pig study which is considered the “gold standard” animal model for wound healing. Several years ago, I got in touch with MicroCures co-founder Dr. David Sharp to ask about the potential of using his company’s therapy for donor healing in hair transplant surgery. Dr. Sharp was surprisingly open to and interested in the idea, and confirmed that his team would watch closely for the presence of hair follicle regeneration in its first human trial which involves treating excisional wounds on human thighs with topical siFi2 or placebo. As Dr. Sharp pointed out, it will be very easy to observe a hair regrowth effect in this region.
Although the question “What if?” was asked above, I believe it’s more of a “when” and not “if.” We have known for many years that manipulating the process of wound healing in the skin opens up possibilities for hair follicles to regenerate (e.g. Follica’s early research). It seems that this latest study from Stanford has shone a light back on an interesting hypothesis, which is – generating new hair follicles may actually be easier to accomplish natively in the scalp rather than in a petri dish.
Posted in FUE, FUT, FUT scar repair, Hair Growth Treatment, Hair Transplant
What are the overall thoughts on using verteporfin in hair transplant surgery? Would any hair surgeons reading this article like to give feedback?
“PolarityTE” have been regenerating skin including the hair follicles for a few years now too. They may be worth contacting to see if their product could help with regenerating hair transplant donor sites? They’re on Facebook and Instagram.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKBf4n0FoTI
I appreciate the suggestion Macattack. I’ve not been too impressed with PolarityTE so far. I know they even had an interest in working on a product specifically for hair, but so far I don’t believe their technology is showing groundbreaking results.
I already posted the article to Dr Christophe Guillemat in CFS Barcelona … I guess that if the human trials are quickly approved and the results are half the good they are in mouses, all hair clinics around the World will start to use verteporfin …
If the hair is really restored as nothing happened … unlimited donor area forever? New era in hair transplant?
Hi all,
any thoughts on my presumption that the topical compound follica to enhance follicular growth may be verteporfin?
This medicine was used to treat something that oral ketoconazole and finasteride was used to treat ? and it seems it was a success
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4692328/
Why not just dermapen the sh*t out of the scalp and inject there if it heals with hair growth? Instead of doing the relocation…
It’s an interesting idea DH, I’m not sure if dermapenning would create the type of wound necessary for regeneration of tissue, but this could be tested someday.
I wonder of verteporfin injections as a stand-alone treatment would be useful in treating AGA.
I would not assume so, but I always like to leave room for what’s possible.
That’s exactly what I wonder too. Why the need of doing it through hair transplant?
Great news. Had an FUE surgery 5 years ago and no scars at all, donor area looks untouched after taking away 2500 grafts. FUE’s have gone a long way imo.
Mice have a much looser skin than humans, so not sure how well the verteoporfin study will translate to humans even though they stretched the mouse skin for the tests. We’ll probably know more once they move to pigs and eventually humans. I’m sure people will use it off label before the studies so we might have an answer even sooner, it’s a game changer for plastic surgery as well. The potential would be insane if it is actually scarless with hair similar to the neighbouring skin.
I agree, Maker. Even slight hair regeneration with scarless healing would be incredible.
Replicel enters 2nd stage of hair research at UBC in Canada. “the project specifically aims to confirm the presence and in situ localization of cells expressing unique markers selected from the initial project’s indicative data and establish robust selection technologies and protocols for the use of the markers in cell isolation and manufacturing of RepliCel’s proprietary tissue regenerative cell therapy products.”
Yoda is “fidgetin” for a new treatment to finally hit the market! 😉
Haha, nice one! I’m sure you’re keeping your eyes on Samumed, and also something like verteporfin aka an approved drug which could be used off-label almost immediately is one of the best pathways we have.
I mean the safety profile for Verteporfin is great. Are there any doctors in the U.S. considered licsensed, but experimental and would be willing try it on a willing participant?
I would Love to try it out but I’m In India
If I could like this post I would. if like you said, imagine if they did this on a hair transplant donor area (I don’t want to jump the gun) but this could really be something FT! And I like how it’s already FDA approved that’s nice.
Thanks Woofy! I’m glad you enjoyed the concept of the article.
Great thought Woofy, hopefully it comes to pass!
Thanks yoda 🙂
Hopefully something new soon Woofy. In the meantime, did you check out Admins previous post on “mail order” higher strength topical minox (8%) and also topical dut. Something to consider in your current fight.
Hi yoda, I’ll check it out. Thanks ?
Woofy, you might consider staying on oral fin, adding a higher strength topical minox and also topical dut. I think you could get some added benefit from this regime but check with a Dr. 1st, even the on-line docs those sites provide.
@FollicleThought what happened to the cosmetic in LA?
D1, I appreciate your interest, as I am interested too, but like I’ve said, if you don’t hear from me about it, that means there is no news about it. It may or may not ever come to the surface.
Pretty great article, I really hope that the next trials will be done soon!
Is there already a schedule plan for the trials in pigs?
And what about Triple Hair TH16? Their claim was that TH16 will be released in May 2021 and now the website just says release in 2021..
Keep up the good articles 🙂
I want to think that if a NW IV, V, VI is looking at this publication, they should not read it since it is not for them or for those who already have a limited donor area.
I read the article wrong or it really does not have something of my interest in the regeneration, maintenance or growth of the hair for those who have not opted for the hair transplant
Exactly! Thanks…
Hair transplant is a shoddy work, and besides that, so many people don’t have donor area.
Admin have you seen the recent developments in the Fukuda lab? According to this interview they plan to start clinical trials in 2023:
https://yomutonic.com/faq/interview-ynu/
It seems like it’s still far off but I haven’t seen anything on your site on this for a while.
Thanks for sharing this Maker, I appreciate it. The last time I interviewed Junji Fukuda he told me he was aiming to start clinical trials in 5 years, so this matches up and still sounds like a general response, but it is cool to read.
The interesting question that needs to be answered is if the regenerative effect that verteporfin has in mice concerning hair growth would also be applicable to humans.
If it would generate skin tissue instead of scar tissue in humans, would there also be hair follicles like in mice? And if so, vellus hair or normal scalp hair (if applied to the scalp)? This is so interesting!
But I guess we should be cautiously optimistic. Either way this is still incredible… at least for mice…
Fuck Mice! 😉
This doesn’t look good on Kintor Pharmaceutical. Any thoughts?
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinese-firms-covid-19-drug-claims-draw-scientists-skepticism-2021-05-14/
It doesn’t really have much to do with hair so I don’t find it too interesting either way.
From the New York Times article: “The study involved mice, but the researchers, Dr. Michael Longaker, Stanford’s vice chair of surgery, and Geoffrey Gurtner, Stanford’s vice president of surgery for innovation, have now moved on to pigs, whose skin is closest to that of humans. With these new subjects, the surgeons made an incision as wide as a thumb and five inches long. When they sutured the cut and injected verteporfin around the edge, there was dramatically less scarring.”
So it definitely works on pigs but it is unclear if it works as well as it did on mice.
Fuck Pigs Too! 🙂
It makes me wonder what verteporfin would do then with lichen planopilaris. Since it heals the skin, it might also help stop this disease… But yeah, another “what if”, I guess… I have lichen planopilaris for 15+ years and therefore can’t get a hair transplant.
I wonder if people who have already had fue transplants previously would grow back hair in their donor area by injecting it with Verteporfin? Or does it have to be done during the actual surgery?
Good questions
If the MOA works to any extent in humans Big Kahuna, it would have to be applied on wounded skin. When the skin is wounded and healing that is when the window of opportunity exists.
Ok, thanks for clearing that up for me FT. I guess in theory you could replace those missing donor grafts anyway if you wanted….if this new treatment is a success, I hope to god it is. As someone with thin hair, it would be great to achieve better density on top.
Hey Admin any thoughts on Kintor now?
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinese-firms-covid-19-drug-claims-draw-scientists-skepticism-2021-05-14/
Lol 3 links on Kintor everyone freaking out.
Anyway still like NW 5 just trying to deal. Turning 30 in July so just got the “at some point in my life” mentality going on. Quite optimistic at what we may have in 5-6 years. Sucked in by Stemson obviously. I’m thinking around 50-60k for treatment from them. What do you guys think? Closer to tsuji quarter million type of deal?
To be honest, I wouldn’t worry too much about the price as long as they haven’t even entered phase 1 clinical trials.
Interesting
Could it also be used to grow new hair when combined with dermarolling?
Maybe this is part of Follica’s secret concoction…
I’ve summarized the information I could find about the Verteporfin research:
– The research paper [1] describes the mechanisms of scar formation in skin and a simple procedure to achieve full skin regeneration using a very safe FDA approved drug, Verteporfin. Full skin regeneration here refers to skin indistinguishable from normal skin with all the dermal appendages, including hair follicles. According to the paper, Verteporfin works by preventing a type of skin cell (ENF) from giving rise to another type of skin cell (EPF) that causes scarring during wound healing. The way it does this is by blocking mechanotransduction signaling, i.e. the ability of cells to sense mechanical forces.
– The studies were conducted on mice, but according to this article from The New York Times [2], it also works on pigs. Quoting from the article:
“The study involved mice, but the researchers, Dr. Michael Longaker, Stanford’s vice chair of surgery, and Geoffrey Gurtner, Stanford’s vice president of surgery for innovation, have now moved on to pigs, whose skin is closest to that of humans. With these new subjects, the surgeons made an incision as wide as a thumb and five inches long. When they sutured the cut and injected Verteporfin around the edge, there was dramatically less scarring.”
– The procedure on mice was, first, create a wound using a skin biopsy punch around 4mm in diameter. After wounding, inject 30 μL of Verteporfin (1 mg/mL) [3] around the edges of the wound. Relevant here is that repeated injections on day 4, 8 and 12 didn’t improve outcomes and had detrimental effects. A single injection after wounding worked best. The results were, control wounds: hairless scars; treated wounds: substantial hair growth by 30 days and indistinguishable from normal skin by 90 days.
– The drug used on patients is Visudyne. It is a 20 year old drug approved for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration and pathologic myopia. Each box contains a glass vial with 15 mg of Verteporfin powder and costs around 1000 USD. It is reconstituted by injecting 7mL of sterile water into the glass vial to provide 7.5mL of 2 mg/mL Verteporfin. The volume of reconstituted Verteporfin required to achieve 6 mg/m2 body surface area, around 5mL for an adult by Mosteller formula, is withdrawn from the vial and diluted with 5% Dextrose for Injection to a total infusion volume of 30 mL. It is administered intravenously over 10 minutes at a rate of 3 mL/minute. The second step is the light activation of Visudyne using a laser at 15 minutes after the start of the infusion, but this part is irrelevant for wound healing. Note that the dosage used on mice was minuscule in comparison at 30μL of 1 mg/mL Verteporfin, or 0.03mg of Verteporfin, and that it was injected in the skin instead.
– Patents on Verteporfin have all expired so anyone can manufacture it. There are manufacturers selling >99% purity Verteporfin at better prices for research purposes, but they don’t sell to patients.
– There is previous work [4] on the role that tension plays during wound healing on humans:
“embrace® Active Scar Defense is the only FDA-Cleared scar therapy system designed to relieve tension around incisions, general cuts and lacerations to prevent the formation of new, visible, raised scars before they start.”
Presumably, completely blocking mechanotransduction at the cellular level using a drug like Verteporfin would work much better.
Given that it works on mice and pigs. That there is a product that works on humans by reducing wound tension. And that wound healing mechanisms are well conserved among mammals. I would bet that it will work on humans. Very exiting. We need to raise awareness in the hair loss community to get trials started to answer whether it will regenerate terminal scalp hair. Hair loss won’t be the focus of most researchers and we could sit on a working cure for years otherwise.
[1] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6540/eaba2374
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/health/surgery-scar.html
[3] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/suppl/2021/04/21/372.6540.eaba2374.DC1/aba2374_Mascharak_SM.pdf
[4] https://www.embracescartherapy.com/citations-and-patents
Still Does Anyone Have Got Any Idea that by how much time will we get an Update Regarding if it works in Humans or infact even in piggies?
Any Wild Guesses.
Once again, another five years!
I can’t agree that this is inaccurate, the whole point of the article was to show that the drug is already FDA approved and could be used off-label almost immediately; either as soon as a pioneering doctor tests it on himself/friend or as soon as a phase 1 human trial happens. Then the safety/efficacy will be shown and other doctors could then use it off-label with peace of mind. It’s all but guaranteed to show a definitive answer within 1 year.
I Really Don’t Know Why is this Happening but a Discovery Like this Usually Attracts a Lot Of Attention from the world. And Acc to Articles, Researchers and You Guys,It Sounds Like a Sure shot that It will be efficacious (Don’t know how much But It’s gonna work). But Still All We can see is a bunch of articles on the Internet Related to this. Repeating the same kind of information again and again.
Either way, if this research happens in the most ideal way possible, It could change the lives of billions of People having scars and hairloss( I Have Both).
And the worst case scenario is suppressing this research from happening by current companies who are targeting hairloss like Dr Tsuji and Stemson. If this works ,it will kind of waste their whole motive of making hair follicles. So it might happen they may stop them from pursuing this research.
But that’s just a scenario.
I really hope this works out and the results turn up really Good for us and Ofcourse Transparent to the people
Hello FT, what do u think of the hair regeneration by Yokohama National University’s Dr. Junji Fukuda ? Would u plan to write an article ?
FT I know they are tough nut to crack can you please try to get an interview with ManeBiotech I can see they have new partner, looks like very sound partner
Thanks
Kapil, I am on good terms with Mane Biotech now. They are still firm on no public news but when it is available I will have good details to share. Perhaps within a few months they will be ready. Thanks for the support ? Send well wishes to Mane to improve their timeline for news. ?
I will in the future JK when there is news to share, in the past I had an exclusive interview with Dr. Junji. https://folliclethought.com/yokohama-university-cloning-update/
Admin / Anyone Who Knows,
What’s the deal with JAK Inhibitors? Correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that the actually work on AA sufferers, but not on people with MPB?
If so, are we waiting on trial results or something before people try them?
Also, has anyone tried Melatonin (cream or otherwise) for hairloss?
I had tried Melatonin liquid that was supposedly compounded for hair loss from Murray Ave RX. My opinion is that it’s basically useless. The owner of Murray Ave never met a treatment that she could make some $$$ on that she didn’t like. I never found any of their concoctions to be all that effective. The ingredients are most probably high quality but they don’t know squat about how to mix them. Ok, Yoda went off on a tangent! 🙂
Cheers, Yoda!
JAK inhibitors have a worthwhile effect on AA, and may provide a slight benefit to AGA but not worth the risk (for patients or companies who would develop them). Aclaris did a study on JAK inibs for AGA and had some results to show, but ultimately they dropped the program. https://folliclethought.com/aclaris-positive-6-month-results-in-aga-with-photos/
it works on AA it doesn’t work on AGA unfortunately. I don’t follow jak inhibitors
My comments about the Fukuda news. I wouldn’t get hyped about this guy he’s basically tsuji, just tsuji told us a specific year and this guy hasn’t and that upset people. now people are hyped about this “new” player. I’ll believe it when it’s tested on a human. These researchers need to walk the walk instead of talk the talk
Mistake. Fukuda said 2023, but you understand my point.
Is this really Woofy? It doesn’t sound like Woofy! 😉 Very practical thinking my boy. Good to be hopeful but not have rose colored glasses when it comes to any of this, even the stuff in phase III.
Lol I knew you would like that one yoda 😉
Yoda is somewhat schizophrenic, I don’t put too much faith into any one particular treatment or cure that’s potentially on the horizon. Nor do I write anything off, unless it’s proven to be “snake oil”. Be hopeful for the future while being grounded in the present.
Hi don’t you get tired of your dated starwars talk??????
Yoda never get’s tired of hearing himself talk! 😉 What you call “dated” is over 40 years of reasonably successful hair loss fighting experience that might be helpful to some and not to others.
The more I look at “success” stories and pictures of people who have regrown hair, the more I realise that the only ones I find truly impressive are the ones where someone has been transitioning from male to female.
So, at the risk of stating the obvious or sounding like a Bro Scientist, that strongly suggests that the hormones are a key area that scientists should be focussing on.
I’ve read about a couple of drugs (like Spironolactone), and they seem to have good results with hair growth. The problem, unless you are transitioning, is that they can “castrate” you (not my words).
So, my question is this: Is there a middle ground? A drug that can help without affecting your sex hormones etc?
Also, has anyone had a hairloss test? I read about them last night. I’ve been looking at The Private Clinic in London. Apparently, the test can tell you what type of hairloss you have, and what your best options are. I don’t know the price, but this is all based on a saliva / DNA test. Might give it a go!
What????…you just lost all your credibility.
Spiro is objectively thought to be not as strong as finasteride though, I think it’s a few other drugs that people try that bring bigger concerns.
I am always wondering whether this Paul guy is just joking or not lol
Why would I be joking?
There is a product under the name rizn. Therapy 16 from triple hair it seems. Which is stating that the product is only for men. N it’s releasing in June. But when I check the site triple hair. That is telling me different story. I m a female trying for conception for few years. N have this androgenic alopecia. So can’t take any current regimen. I was eagerly waiting for th16 but if they tell me it’s not for women.i m the sadest one at this time
Kindly guide me admin
Gurvinder, thanks for reaching out. I will get a response from Triple Hair VP next week to clear up things on Rizn’s release date and also if it can be used by women. Cheers
Gratitude sir
Gurvinder, response from VP of Triple Hair: Th16 is launching as Rizn for men and Plenty for women later this year.
So, yes it appears the same or similar formula is available for women. Cheers
Anyone, please let me know at what age one can start taking finateride?
It is approved for 18 years old. But will it continues to be effective for at least 15-20 years?
Is Topical is good option to start?
Or is it good to start with low dose?
Multiple questions, I would request our most experienced person to answer this (Sincere request to Yoda). I would be interested to know at what age you have started taking fin?
Hi Devit, thanks for your question. While Yoda is extremely wise he’s not a medical professional. I recommend you consult with a Dr. at least to get started . Even the on-line ones are ok, like the sources Admin posted in his previous article. Good for you in being pro-active with your hair loss, it’s not going to get better by itself waiting for the next generation of treatments to arrive. Hope this is of some help, good luck!
Thank you Yoda for your response.
I get what you are saying. I am following this website since more than 2 years now. Every hope turned out to be failure and depressive at the end. I have started rogain since last one year. And adding some RCP combination soon. I have booed an appointment for tomorrow to check if I can start topical fin atleast.
Devit- I started taking propecia when I was 20 yrs. Mpb started at 19. I waited 8 months before hoping on propecia to get blood work done and see some dermatologists. I knew right away it was mpb and got on it before any signs of hair loss or recession. I was just shedding more than usual during those 8 months. I took 1mg brand name propecia every day. My shedding drastically reduced after 3 weeks of use. My hair thickened over two years but I still slowly lost ground over these past 20 years. I started as nw1 and now I’m a nw 2.5 with diffuse but not too bad where people can tell when my hair is dry. I would 100000% recommend taking propecia 1mg to start and nothing else. Take a good hair vitamin like CountryLife MaxiHair and use nizoral 2% shampoo 3x a week. Save rogaine for later on. I didnt use rogaibe until propecia started losing effectiveness around my 12th yr. If you are fully developed at 18 then go ahead and take propecia. Talk to your general doctor first and see what he says and dont take instructions from anyone on here as we are NOT doctors. I am just telling you what I did and what my doctor advised for me.
What Norwood are you? How long you been balding?
Thank you Mjones for your reply.
I am completed 18 years this month. I have noticed reduce density when I was 15.5 years old. Since then I was trying some supplements and last year added rogain.
I have never read here anyone started fin at my age so thought to check.
I don’t have receding hair line but low density at vertex area and back at crown. Same as I my father I believe. Seams like distance between hairs is more.
I will be appearing for 12th year, this is the time I need hair on my head atleast.
While I agree with my brother Mjones on most all, Devit keep using the Rogaine, if not compounded minox. Hairloss is something that one needs to throw everything at it possible, within reason. Besides an anti-androgen like fin to control the loss, Minox with help stimulate growth. Attack the enemy from all angles!
Does Anybody Have Any Idea That when there could be the next update available regarding this Verteporfin research ?
I really wanna know.
Anyone Especially Admin(FT)
I’m not sure Kashish, hopefully this year.
Yes devit… I didnt know you were using rogaine so definitely listen to yoda and keep using it. Add propecia if your doctor says it’s ok for you to use.
Always listen to the Yoda! 😉
Ya know, I never had a problem with scalp itch, dandruff and inflammation till about 5 years ago. I’ve seen a top notch dermatologist, have tried multiple shampoos and serums. While it’s improved it’s still an issue. How F-ed up is that? We can’t cure freakin seborrheic dermatitis let alone hair loss!
Yoda I had bad seborrheic dermatitis before and little after I got on Finasteride it wouldn’t go away, but it’s gone now. You know what helped me? After I got Finasteride a little while later I bought a water softener installed in my shower it loosened the seborrheic dermatitis and flakes started coming off in the shower and also I think Finasteride has helped with it not returning but idk.
Cool Woofy, it seems as though the hard water was irritating your scalp and the softener helped. Sometimes controlling the DHT (fin/dut) can relieve as well. Yoda has a fairly elaborate water filtration system in my home. I was hoping the topical dut my help but it hasn’t. At least I don’t have the huge flakes anymore, just the garden variety powdery dandruff. 🙁
Thank you Yoda an Mjones,
I had consulted with Dr and he says he cannot advise / prescribe fin because secondary sexual development happens between 18 and 21 year of age. Still on rogain only.
Devit, listen to your doctor but if you think that you can’t wait research topical fin or dut. Admin had an article with sources, I believe that very little if any goes systemic but hopefully a doctor can advise you on this. My personal experince is that topical fin had little effect but I think topical dut might be working, still more research to do as I move from oral to topical.
I really appreciate your response Yoda. You and Mjones are really helpful. Your kind advices will really help me.
I am searching good combination/ concentration of it. I get 0.1 & 0.5 % fin concentration with minox. Dont know which works best. I think to start with lower concentration would be better. Dut I don’t get it here and I will explore more on this later.
New article/company should be coming later tonight guys.
Devit listen to your doc and yoda on topical fin. I had to jump on propecia at 20 because all the males in my dad and mom side of the family are mw6 7 range and at an early age 18 to 22 kick start then full nw7 7 by 25. I was sophomore in college and a pretty boy….there was no way I was going bald. I didnt have a full beard at 20 and was still in the early process of facial hair….I hopped on propecia and saved my hair but sacrificed a full beard. I still csnt grow a beard…have very little facial but enough of a goatee. So this is prob what your doctor is talking about with secondary characteristics. I don’t regret my decision and maybe I genetically wasnt going to have a full beard but I didnt take the chance so I saved my head hair instead lol. Best decision.
Appreciate your response Mjones
I will add topical fin, currently added RCP combination and will try max 2 months.
Found this study using verteporfin in human controls to attenuate skin fibrosis. Just came out too! https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33398723/
Thanks Kristen!
Kristen, is this research suggesting that VP can be really useful to hair regeneration?
Hi Admin,
Thank you for this article and for the serious work you put in to bring us the latest in hair research. This post gave me special joy as an NW5-6 because it is likely to enhance an accessible treatment option.
I see most of your posts deal with breakthrough research developments. But do you think existing treatments like hair transplants deserve some coverage on your site? Personally I think information on incremental developments in hair transplants from a reliable source like yourself could help us readers differentiate marketing buzz from real developments that improve the outcome and/or the process of HTs. (esp. the latter, not sure if the latter gets nearly as much attention as it should)
Thanks again for your work.
I haven’t really heard of incremental developments in hair transplant surgery in the last 10 years at least, but I will keep an eye out. It’s not always easy for one site to be great at everything, so I typically recommend people go to those sites that deal completely with hair transplants for information. But, I appreciate the feedback, I do what I can with the time and resources available.
Hello Admin,
There are huge news, look at this study:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25410-z
It’s about wound healing with pigs and look at the results after 180 days. The hair seem to be completely regenerated. This could be huge and needs to be spreaded to hair surgeons and dermatologists asap. I’m sure you have the right contacts.
I will take a further look this week Pal, thank you.
Hi Follicle Thought,
Do you have any updates on Verteroprofin? When the news came out I was expecting that a surgeon or a hair transplant surgeon would try it out as soon as they can. If this works it sounds like a win win both for hair transplant clinics and for the patients, since higher norwoods would be repeat customers while waiting for the scarring to heal until they get their next transplant.
Also has Stanford University commited to start clinical trials in 2022?
Hi Jade, no news on verteporfin now. I haven’t heard of a hair surgeon who would try it yet, I imagine there are some but I do not have the time to just email many surgeons until I find one. If anyone feels like emailing a clinic that they know or think would be a good candidate to try the drug, feel free to let me know any feedback you get from hair surgeons.
Stanford has not committed to clinical trials in 2022, but we shall wait and see.
Thanks Follicle Thought, I have commented on a few Youtuber channels regarding Verteporfin that have connections with Turkish hair transplant clinics. I hope they would see my comment and get in touch with them.
I got in touch with a few people who reached out to hair transplant surgeons in the US regarding Verteporfin, but the answer is that no one is willing to use it before seeing clinical studies.
My guess is that they don’t want to take the risk, that’s why I think Turkish clinics are our best bet here before we get clinical trials.
It would help if as much people contact some Turkish hair transplant clinics, because I don’t think they are aware of the drug.
Hi, in April Longaker said he planned to start clinical trials in late 2021.
What happened that changed the plan?
Clinical Trials are not going to start in 2022, why are they delaying them so much?
I only know his update to me found on the Updates page. I believe he said a trail would start by end of 2022.
Hi FT
it looks like DR Barghouthi finanlly raised the amount necessary for his second verteporfin trail ($15,000), I wonder if you can have an interview with him to know what would the trial plan. I´ll be great if you can share some interesting point for this trail like;
1)
What would happen if you extract a follicle with multiple hairs (2, 3 or 4 ) divide them in a single hair and replanted in the donor area follow by the verteporfin dosage?, I wonder if the follicle will regrowth with the single hair ´or´ with the original hairs numbers, if you know where I’m going, if a multiple follicle can be restored, a 4 hair follicle can reproduce 3 new hairs at each follicle, having a total of 16 hairs out of single 4 hair follicle.
2)
What would happen after extract white hair out of the donor are? what would be the color in the donor area after it regrowth?
this will be an excellent experiment after he mentioned that it is very hard to locate the donor areas without tattos marks, find a person with black and white hair so he can extract only back hairs in one are and only white hairs in the other area.
3)
Why not to try to test other parts of the body, arms, legs. chest with less hair, that will make the trial more easy!
More volunteers, shave the head of the volunteers wont be necessary, easier way to track the results as you may choose a donor are with no hair.