Every year, the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) hosts its annual World Congress events. I have covered every one of these gatherings since this blog was incepted in 2013. Hundreds of hair transplant surgeon ISHRS members and numerous renowned hair loss researchers attend these Congresses.
ISHRS 33rd World Congress in Berlin, Germany
The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery’s 33rd Annual World Congress runs from October 23-October 25, 2025 in Berlin (Germany).
As always, the Final Program Guide is worth checking out.
The majority of the topics and sessions at these meetings focus on hair transplants. However, many other subjects are always thoroughly covered, including hair loss medications, regenerative medicine, stem cells, PRP and LLLT.
- The Norwood Lecture is titled: “Microbiome in Hair Restoration”.
- The Stough Lecture is titled: “Updates on Topical Finasteride”.
- The Advances in Hair Biology Lecture is titled: “Inheritance Pattern of Androgenetic Alopecia.”
I covered the microbiome this year in my post about the use of live biotherapeutics in hair growth. And I have covered topical finasteride and hair loss in ten different posts over the past decade.
Presentations of Interest
In general, most of the presentations that interest us are not related to hair transplants. Unless they entail very unique cases such as FUE gigasessions or large-scale body hair transplants.
But this time, the number one item of interest will be a panel discussion on allogeneic hair transplants. also known as person-to-person hair transplants. It will be led by the highly respected Dr. Sara Wasserbauer, who tends to keep up with the latest technologies in the hair loss field.
Also unique is a presentation titled “Scalp cooling at subzero temperature shows statistically significant hair regrowth in AGA patients: A pilot study”. It will be made by Dr. Hyeongyeong Kim of South Korea.
In the past, the ISHRS often had presentations about Shiseido (and Replicel)’s dermal sheath cup cell hair multiplication technology. With the procedure finally getting released in Japan in 2024, I was hoping for an update. Instead, we have a closely related presentation from Thailand based Dr. Thitiwat Wirarojratchakul. It is titled: “Autologous, cultured dermal papilla and dermal root sheath cell injection for hair restoration in androgenetic alopecia:
A case-based study using FUE harvesting and photographic assessment.”
Other presentations of interested in the stem cell and cell therapy session include one on topical secretomes and one on the use of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells.
There will be an interesting much needed presentation from Dr. Maira Merlotto of Brazil that will compare sublingual minoxidil 5mg versus oral Minoxidil 5mg for male pattern hair loss.
Dr. Shu Zhang from China will present: “Botulinum toxin for androgenetic alopecia before FUE: A split-scalp, randomized, controlled study. Also see my post on Botox and hair growth.
Like last year, there are no sessions on: hair cloning; hair multiplication; all the new androgen receptor targeting products in the pipeline; and all of the recent new hair loss cosmetic product releases.
ISHRS Social Media Pages
Make sure to check out the official ISHRS social media pages for the most important updates. Also check out #ISHRS2025 for reports from Congress attendees.