Cure for baldness on the horizon as scientists grow world's first hair follicle using stem cells | Mail Online

As always, the cure is 5 years away

To be honest, I really do believe more in the lab route than what Aderans are doing with injections. I just can't see how growth direction can be controlled sufficiently with Aderan's approach.

It's great also to have some folks supposedly from academia working on HM and not only from the private sector. Maybe we can hope for some more transparency this way.

I strongly believe there will be an ultimate solution to balding by stem cells, cloning etc. but the question is when????

Medical science has found ultimate solutions for many serious disease..
I just cant understand how hard it could be to cure baldness ??

The problem isnt growing hair... the problem is growing hair that matches our normal hairs appearance and can survive the growth cycle. other parts of our body dont constantly grow and die off...

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First transplant with karamikian 6/05, less than 1000 to my hairline, result was mediocre at best.
2nd HT with Feller 2/08, 3000+ to my front third.

I'd place my bet on this approach becoming the soonest available alternative to current treatment and methods.

We are, after all, mammals with a close relation biologically to rodents; so it stands to reason that if they have successfully grown new follicles from rodent stem cells then it will work the same for humans.

Of course, the hair may be thinner but then it could still be used in largr quantities than normal for filler.

MPB is now being attacked from all different angles and my view is that something somwhere has gotta give. Whether it's figuring out a way to get the progenitor cells working again in dormant stem cells, with injections, or with cloning follicles in a lab for transplant -- I am convinced it WILL happen and likely within 5-7 years from today.

When it does it will be a most heavenly moment to quit finasteride use!

I agree that there seems to be quite a few interesting and valid approaches in development at the moment. What concerns me is the cost. For example, if they do find a way to clone hairs for transplantation, that means there will more than likely be a wildly expensive addition to the already high cost of hair transplantation. If such a procedure comes to fruition in the next five years, how long will it take for the cost to come down to the point that most of us can afford it?

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David (TakingThePlunge)
Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant

I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice.

View my Hair Loss Website

I personally think that the costs won?t be sky high. Costs sure will be high, but affordable for the most of the population. That is how a good business is being made, making your product highly wanted at the market and affordable for almost anyone. Ford would not be a Ford if he charged his cars like Mercedes and the rest did theirs. Sure, later on, when India, China, Turkey, Egypt, S. Korea etc. start their own business, costs will naturally go down even more.

Making a scientific process like this scalable will take quite some time, especially if you consider demand. Will there be enough demand for this surgery? Not like consumer goods.

Possibly, but certainly "available but very expensive" is a much better situation than "not available at all." And the first step to affordability is necessarily availability.

I agree that cost could be a big issue during the beginning phases of cellular based hair restoration therapies. Like all advances though, it will likely become more streamlined, refined, accessible, and available with time.

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Blake (Future_HT_Doc)

Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant for the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog, and the Hair Restoration Forum

All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice.

Today, nothing makes a long time, when we are talking about market competition. When you make a lucrative product, a competition gets you fast. So someone can charge their product all they want, but when the competition goes with a more affordable approach, that 1st one will be out of business. Making an affordable approach is the key to victory in my opinion, a greed never works in long terms.