Hair Loss Cure, Ricki Lake

In 2013, I Predicted a Hair Loss Cure in 2020

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Happy New Year everyone! The year 2020 is finally here and we hope that a hair loss cure is close. It is worth scrolling through my hair loss research around the world post for background information to this post.

Will a Hair Loss Cure Come in 2020?

When I started this blog in 2013, I forecast that a hair loss cure would likely be realized by the end of 2020. At the very least, I predicted that we would have a treatment that prevented any further permanent hair loss. In effect, this would imply that no-one in future would go bald if that was their desire.

When making the prediction, I was focusing on androgenetic alopecia (AGA or male pattern hair loss) and female pattern hair loss. Later on, I also covered other much less common forms of hair loss such as alopecia areata (AA). The latter mentioned may in fact now be curable in many people via the use of JAK inhibitors. See my past posts on that subject.

Best Prospect

  • A few years after I made the prediction, renowned Japanese scientist Dr. Takashi Tsuji (in partnership with RIKEN, Organ Technologies and Kyocera) announced that his hair loss cure would be realized by year-end 2020! Even more amazing, around 2015, the Japanese government changed regulations to allow for faster clinical trial completion. Mostly for autologous and regenerative medicine type medical and cosmetic treatments. Often entailing stem cells.
  • The latest 2019 update from Dr. Tsuji remains encouraging, albeit a very expensive solution initially. Note that Dr. Tsuji is funded by both the private sector and by the Japanese government. His lab is also working on cures for teeth regeneration and salivary gland regeneration.

Others Working on a Hair Loss Treatment

  • A few other companies (Cassiopea via Breezula, Follica, Follicum and Samumed) are close to coming out with significantly better hair loss treatments during the 2020-2022 period. Or, at the very least, finishing Phase 3 clinical trials. In the past, I have written at least 10 posts covering each of those four companies. To date, only Finasteride and Minoxidil have been approved to treat male pattern hair loss by the US FDA. And nothing new in the past several decades. Therefore, any new effective treatments for androgenetic alopecia would be a miracle.
  • A Japanese cosmetics behemoth named Shiseido could also surprise us (after resolving partnership issues with Canada’s Replicel). In fact, I consider Shiseido to be the second best prospect (after Tsuji). The company has access to its own technology as well as to Replicel’s groundbreaking technology. And absolutely no problems with fundraising.
  • Newer entrants I covered last year such as Stemson Therapeutics, TissUse (plus J. Hewitt), Rapunzel (Dr. Angela Christiano), Pelage Pharmaceuticals and Exicure all hold significant potential. However, none of these are likely to come out with a working treatment prior to 2023 in my estimation.
  • The biggest unexpected bolt from the blue is exosome treatment for hair loss. There was tremendous excitement about this during the second half of 2019. Several prominent hair transplant surgeons have highly recommended this new treatment to me.
  • Also of interest in 2020 will be further improvements in: 3D-printed hair via bioprinting; skin printing with working hair follicles a la PolarityTE; allogeneic hair transplants; CXXC5 targeting PTD-DBM; and WNT signaling related treatments.
  • Even surprising new recent discoveries in areas ranging from: quorum sensing related plucking; to scalp electrocution caps; to senolytics; to cancer research related hair growth findings could all ultimately regrow our hair.
  • In the long term, CRISPR or other genetic modification related cures for hair loss will likely be a reality.

Disappointments

Aclaris Therapeutics and Histogen have been major disappointments after much hype for years. I largely avoided covering them in 2019 on purpose. Allergan’s Bimatoprost and Setipiprant have also not panned out as expected.

Shaving or Buzzing Your Head like Ricki Lake

I have mentioned many times in the past that the best solution to hair loss for men is shaving your head. That is, if you can accept that option and finally set yourself free. It is rare for women to go for this drastic measure, but there are always exceptions and trendsetters such as the below.

The biggest hair loss news story to start 2020 entails famous US talk show host Ricki Lake buzzing her head. Apparently, she has been suffering from hair loss and related depression for 30 years and finally decided to shave it off. CNN, BBC and numerous other major publications covered this story today. Below is Ms. Lake’s Instagram post detailing her interesting story:

Hair Loss Shaved Head.
Ricki Lake buzzed her head after 30 years of hair loss.

Scalp Threading, PDO Threads, PDOgro, Polydioxanone Monofilament

PDO Scalp Threading Treatment for Hair Growth

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Polydioxanone (PDO) threads have become a popular treatment option for facial rejuvenation, facelifts and wrinkle reduction in recent years. This is especially true in Asian countries such as South Korea, where PDO threading is a common cosmetic procedure.

Polydioxanone filament is a synthetic absorbable suture that is prepared from polyester. PDO sutures have been used safely in surgical practices for decades. While PDO is the most commonly used material, some scientists have also successfully tested gold threads for hair growth. These gold threads were embedded with absorbable polyglycolic acid (PGA).

More recently, doctors have been using thread-embedding therapy (TET) for hair growth purposes. Some sources use other words to describe this technology, including “thread lifting”, “threading” and “polydioxanone monofilament threads”. Well known brand names include PDOgro (discussed further below) and EuroThreads. You can find numerous online reviews for these procedures when it comes to facial applications.

Polydioxanone Monofilament Threads and Hair

A detailed 2015 study from South Korea showed positive hair growth results in mice treated with TET. The logic behind this type of procedure is similar to the logic behind wounding and hair growth. As well as to the related microneedling and dermarolling phenomena.

The hair threads and associated wounding work by: stimulating collagen regeneration; increasing blood flow; and improving circulation. Moreover, various growth factors are increased after the scalp skin has been disrupted. The threading treatment also enhances hair growth related gene expression, and activates fibroblasts and elastin.

Polydioxanone threads seem to be the most popular option for this type of procedure. In June 2017, a new study from India (with Dr. Rachita Dhurat as a co-author) caused significant excitement about this procedure. The study authors inserted 30 millimeter PDO microfilament threads in five male patients suffering from androgenetic alopecia (AGA). Between 20 to 40 threads were inserted into each scalp.

At 12 weeks, all five patients had appreciable increases in hair count. Of significance, none of these patients had previously seen any hair growth from using either Finasteride or Minoxidil. According to the above paper, poly-dioxanone has high flexibility and retention strength. It is also non-allergenic and has a slow absorption rate of around 6–8 months.

And most recently, in December 2019, a new study from Egypt concluded that:

“Poly‐l‐lactic acid microthread therapy combined with minoxidil may improve hair density, hair thickness, and hair appearance better than minoxidil alone.”

PDOgro™ Hair Growth and Dr. Alan Bauman

PDO (polydioxanone) Threads via PDOgro Threading
Dr. Bauman performing a scalp PDO thread insertion procedure.

Over the course of 2019, Dr. Alan Bauman from Florida has become heavily involved in the PDOgro™ procedure for hair regrowth. I first read about this in a February 2019 press release.

The PDOgro™ process is performed under local anesthesia via the insertion of PDO MasterThreads (MasterThreadsUSA, NY).

Over the past few months, Dr. Bauman has sent me a bunch of information and videos about this procedure. He thinks that it has significant hair growth benefits. Below is a video in which he is demoing the PDOgro procedure on a live patient at a conference in early 2019. Dr. Bauman was already performing this hair loss treatment in 2018 per this slightly older video.

Scalp Threading Plus Minoxidil and PRP

Doctors who offer PDO thread treatments on the scalp often add concurrent topical hair loss medications such as minoxidil into the mix. Some might also offer to add PRP as a combination treatment. Medication absorption rates are probably increased after the wounding process.

It would be quite ironic if “PDO threads plus added compounds” turns out to be as effective as Follica’s “wounding plus added compounds” hair loss treatment.