SkyeBelcher

Guess it's pretty comical, but I'm one of the alpha group testers, so have some insight here.

Remember seeing this thread from before I started and figured I'd update here.

Essentially yeah seems to be working 3 months in. I did I Trichoscope before I started and 3 months in and I've had a 20% overall increase in hair count.

Here's the Tricholab: https://www.reddit.com/r/tressless/s/7S4ksDFsnL

12 minutes ago, sansi said:

Thank you, will this work also on older scars ?

The hope is that it can be, though none of the trials are testing this specifically. 

1 hour ago, Square1 said:

How is it possible that the control site has hair follicles? So it is fair to say that the test site has 5 new hairs, which would be the work of 0.32 verteporfin. Where we expect the results of the 0.4 test site to be even higher I assume.

The area taken for each biopsy is bigger than just one Unit Extraction. 

The hair follicles existence is good to hear. But I think the main details that would be of interest are "No perifollicular concentric fibrosis and minimal dermal fibrosis" indicating that (along side the pictures of follicles coming out of the extraction sites) the extra hair follicles could be caused by the lack of scar tissue development.

More testing will be needed but I think this is a promising result. 

12 minutes ago, Gatchpt said:

Tbh I dont see why Dr B would proceed with vert trials even after he is back to medical practice . He tried financing the trials through a designated website and almost no one donated (now 15k is peanuts in the medical world but does it really take 15k to do some trials!). Anyway  From a financial POV what’s in it for him if Vert proved working (either to heal wounds or generate new HF) he wont have any exclusive right to the treatment and it doesn’t ensure people will travel from all around the world to Jordan to do HT at his clinic bcz they can then convince any dr to do it ,which means all his efforts (figuring out a protocol, sourcing vert and tools, finding volunteers, disruption to his normal medical activities, providing feedback to such forums, answering inquiries to his clinic email from people in this site and others,…) will be just a waste of time and effort and don’t tell me the dude is doing it for the good of mankind. He needs, and it’s his right, to benefit from the trials somehow. I think he got alot of publicity in the hair-loss community but if it doesn’t translate into money I wouldn’t be interested to continue the trials. Unless he figures out a protocol and doesn’t share it so he can be the sole provider of that protocol. Anyway just a rant bcz I see many people hoping and waiting for his comeback and updates. I’d say move on or wait for the release of longaker/stanford human trials which will probably take a couple of years. Ps. Im one of those who cant wait for vert to work but fed up with the waiting 

Happens all the time in the hairloss community. People will whine all day and night, begging for someone to do something. 

Then when something promising comes along and tries to crowdfund nobody does it. 

Same thing happened with Hairclone and set them back years 

3 hours ago, Square1 said:

I just sent an email to "my" clinic and will likewise to other clinics in the area. It would surprise me if none of them would be interested. Trying something new is always scary and safety concerns may arise (Yes, verteporfin is FDA-approved, but for a different usage. Don't know how that will factor in the equation), but the efficacy results so far are more than promising. A regrowth of 30% (which is what dr. Barghouthi guessed) for a first try is insane. If the hairs grow normally, don't fall out after some months and the process is repeatable, this is effectively a cure for baldness. 

Other fora, like hairlosstalk, are on the whole not that excited by this experiment. I really wonder why. If I am missing something, let me know.

 

 

I wouldn't pay mind to most forums. Most people won't believe anything will help hairloss, unless it turns a NW7 into a NW0 in a single day, and came out 10 years out. 

5 hours ago, MrFox said:

From the discord group it sounded like he already has a patient in mind but it is still figuring out all the variables involved. Definitely good to have more testing going on! 

Has the discord group pointed him to the verteporfin org site Dr Barghouthi set up? 

Might be worth pointing him towards if not

4 hours ago, DrTBarghouthi said:

Hi guys,

A group of individuals have thankfully helped in setting up a Verteporfin related website - www.verteporfin.org

The purpose of that is to have a reference site for the updates but also to channel everyone interested in supporting the ongoing progress of future trials. You can also use the site to reach out to us via whatsapp or email to register your interest in being in future trials. I am seeking the assistance of colleagues in having trial clinics in the US and Europe to make it easier for travel and to hopefully run simultaneous trials, as there are few different variables to test. I hope to have definite news on that soon. Thank you again for all your support across all channels and I would ofcourse keep this updated too. 

Hey Dr Barghouthi,

The website has a donation section? Do those donations go to you to help further the trials?

1 minute ago, DrTBarghouthi said:

Yes some sort of marking it is important I agree. Will aim to do so for the next trial. 

Do you have any update for the next trial? 

I remember you saying you had someone lined up for a full transplant but they ended up leaving the country?

11 minutes ago, midnightsnack said:

Am i the only one who doesn't see any clear visible difference between the T and C pictures across different months? I do see some difference b/w the C and T pictures taken from afar.. but it could be that Dr. Barghouthi just took more grafts from C area.. Of course I want to be excited but reading that this could be the "magic cure" we were looking for feel like we are streching our imagination.. Or am I missing something?

In the very first post it showed all the test and control sectioned out in a grid. 

So I'm sure that the Dr has already made sure uniform grafts were taken. 

2 minutes ago, DrTBarghouthi said:

Hi guys. Here is the update after 119 days (17 weeks). I continue to see distinct hairs around or within punched areas in the test areas across all doses. I continue to see clearly scarred areas in the control group. It is hard for me to track every single hair that grew before, some are indistinguishable but I am tracking any that seem within a scar and look distinctly shorter or still newer relative to surrounding hairs. I do think the 0.4 and 0.32 doses are best. If we look st zoomed out pics of both we can appreciate a difference in healing and possibly the contribution of new hairs giving better coverage and appearance in the test areas. The 0.24 dose did not heal as well in my opinion- possibly due to either the dose or because of using tumescent within the actual areas. It may have suppressed the mechanism somehow. I will keep up with the follow ups and would hopefully do a biopsy at 6 months. I think I will now need to test new doses within 0.4 and above or increase the concentration. I also need to find a more uniform injecting technique to establish great uniformity in injections. I will also proceed with injections in the recipient area and a linear scar injection. These are all still in the pipeline. 
 

 

 

 

 

Wow. Just looking at the zoomed out 0.4T Vs Control, shows such a difference in scaring. Just a lot less noticeable, just a few areas around the red ones. Excited to see if this can be improved with higher dose or more uniform dosage. But as is, this looks super promising.

I wish you the best of look Dr. And thanks for sharing. 

1 hour ago, deeznuts said:

Is this something we can ask our doctor to do? I have an appointment for a transplant in March and it sounds interesting to try and get verteporfin done

Could ask your doctor about it. Wouldn't hurt to see how they'd respond

On 8/25/2022 at 9:19 AM, DrTBarghouthi said:

Very promising we hope. I agree it is still early to make any conclusions. As for transections, the extracted grafts were checked for that to outrule it. Could still be a telogen hair ofcourse at time of extraction. In all cases, we keep following up and the coming weeks will hopefully give a better indication. 
I have another case lined up end of this month/ early September it is a full transplant though. I am looking at exact dosage to give in that case. 

Hey Dr Barghouthi,

Do you have any updates around the full FUE transplant you're looking to do? 

I assume that the current results are interesting enough to warrant a full test?

1 minute ago, sr1486 said:

The new pics confused me. Like on the .24 one (first new one), The “after” trial one just looks like a zoomed in version of the “before”. 
 

same with the .32 before and after. The after Looks like the before just zoomed in

That's because they aren't before and afters. They are just the result and then the results zoomed in 

Just now, Ganderson said:

Ok wow… I didn’t really believe it at first but I’m really starting to… 

 

this may be a dumb question but.. if there’s a hair growing out of it… then it must mean that no white scar is forming ..? 

That is the dream. Though everything depends on the Drs opinion. Hopefully he will update here when he has the time. 

Just now, Ganderson said:

When were they posted ??? Can you share the link to them? 

They're available on the latest update from follicle thought. 

Pictures look great. Hopefully the Dr has been able to progress with the full FUE he mentioned previously. 

On 9/1/2022 at 4:11 PM, Magic City said:

Hey Dr Barghouthi, just want to say that it is very refreshing and encouraging to see a doctor willing to take the bold step of trying this in actual patients. Thank you. The initial results are looking promising. 

In terms of follow ups with the patients and updates, I think I remember in your chat with Melvin that the patients would be followed up post surgery for 6 months and possibly longer if you can. Is the next follow up and update at 90 days with the first patient? 

Thanks again for your efforts and looking forward to see how this develops! 

 

Yeah I feel like the next post from the Dr will be the most telling after the last post being on the verge of being proof that it'll all work, with it looking like new hairs looking like they're coming right from the extraction site. 

Just want wait to see it. So thankful the Dr Barghouthi is doing this and sharing so much. Just great to see 

Just a question for Dr Barghouthi, if he gets a chance to see this.

If the results are promising in the trials you're currently doing would you be open to trying to see other ways Verteporfin could treat patients beyond the standard transplant approach?

For example maybe the re-punching of old extractions to improve doner area.

Or maybe extraction of miniaturized follicles on the top of the scalp to see how they grow back? 

Thanks for your time,

Skye