The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS)’s 30th Annual World Congress will run from October 27-October 29, 2022. The location is Panama City.

I have covered these ISHRS meetings every year since this blog was incepted in 2013. Make sure to track #ISHRS on social media, and follow the ISHRS Twitter account and Instagram account. The website for this 30th World Congress of the ISHRS can be seen  here.

Interesting Presentations at the 30th ISHRS Conference

The final program guide of the 30th ISHRS World Congress is worth a review. I will highlight some of the most interesting presentations below:

• Dr. Claire Higgins is one of the featured guest speakers. Its been a while since we heard from her. Her talk is titled: “Integrating Computational and Biological Approaches to Modulate Hair.”
• Surprisingly, another of the featured speakers Dr. Juanita Anders will talk about “Photobiomodulation Therapy for the Treatment of Hair Loss”. A lot of people are very skeptical about low-level laser therapy, but I always felt that there was some logic to light energy impacting hair growth and hair cells positively. Even 15 minutes daily exposure to direct sunlight seems to make my hair feel better. Dr. Calos Puig and Dr. Robert Haber will also talk about LLLT and light for hair growth.
• Yet another unexpected presentation entails the positive correlation between Vitamin D deficiency and hair loss. The latest findings are courtesy of Dr. Sharon Keene’s incredible case report of a severely vitamin D deficient patient. His vitamin D value was just 12ng/ml, which is also around what mine is when I do not supplement. This patient regrew significant hair after completing a 6-week course of weekly dosing of 50,000 IU vitamin D3, followed by 10,000 IU/week for 8 months. I often stop taking my own Vitamin D supplement (and it might even be expired as I always store it outside), but will surely reconsider this winter.
• As expected, there will be a few presentations on oral Minoxidil.
• Dr. Sergio Vañó Galván will present on Clascoterone (aka Breezula).
• Dr. Pradeep Sethi of Eugenix and Dr. Anil Garg of Rejuvenate will discuss the use of body hair in combination with scalp hair during hair transplants. As I mentioned in the past, Indian doctors are doing the most BHT procedures in the world. Dr. Sanusi Umar (US) and Dr. James Harris (US) will also present on body hair to scalp transplants. A few other lesser known surgeons are also presenting on BHT. One unique presentation from Dr. Kazuhito Yamamoto (Japan) is titled: “Long-term survival observation for 14 years regarding leg hair transplanted to scalp scar.”
• Only one presentation on exosomes, courtesy of Dr. Ronald Shapiro. I suspect a major reason for the decline in interest is due to the stringent new FDA regulations.
• Other presentations of interest include ones on umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells, adipose-derived stem cells, and stromal vascular fraction (SVF).

The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS)’s 29th Annual World Congress will run from October 21-October 23 2021. It will take place as a hybrid event, with an in-person 3-day meeting in Lisbon, Portugal followed by an online virtual conference in the following weeks. I have covered these ISHRS meetings every year since this blog was incepted in 2013.

The focus of these conference is always on hair transplants, which are becoming increasingly popular in this age of Zoom and social media. However, most of us readers are more interested in existing non-surgical cutting edge treatments and future treatments.

The detailed schedule and program of the ISHRS 29th Annual Conference can be found here. Also make sure to follow the ISHRS ‘s Twitter account and Instagram page for updates.

Interesting Presentations at the 29th ISHRS Conference

Among the most interesting presentations that involve hair regeneration include:

• Dr. Sergio Vañó covering both of Kintor’s hair loss products per his Tweet from today.
• Dr. Paul Kemp of HairClone presenting on hair cloning.
• Dr. Nilofer Farjo covering adipose tissue and hair growth.
• Dr. Ron Shapiro providing us an update on exosomes for hair loss.
• Dr. Anil Garg discussing the use of hair follicle derived stem cells to promote miniaturized hairs to convert to terminal hairs.
• Dr. Salome Vadachkoria presenting on hair follicle stem cell activation with “Polylactic Co Caprolactone based subdermal implants”. For both androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata.
• Dr. Sharon Keene discussing a case of vitamin D deficiency correction and hair regrowth.
• Dr. Ratchathorn Panchaprateep analyzing fractional lasers and Nd:Yag lasers in stimulating hair growth.
• Two doctors from China presenting on mesotherapy and hair growth. Physicians are increasingly injecting vitamins, minerals, hair loss drugs and more directly into the scalp.