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[jfables]

I haven't been on the forums in a long time. Hasson & Wong do FUE now?? Hilarious.

Any new treatments out there? Surgical, Medical, topical, stem cell? Or is it still the same old, same old?

[trashpanda]

Why is that hilarious?

[MrGio-WHTCClinic]

More clinics have actually begun to train in the practices of FUE. ATP and hyaluronic acid have been added to hair transplant procedures. In short, not much has happened.

[jfables]

Why is that hilarious?

 

Because they were adamant for over a decade that fue was inferior to strip as recently as a couple of years ago when I was told by their rep (who now works for a fue clinic) that I will never get good growth w FUE. Don't get me wrong, Hasson is probably the most skilled surgeon out there.

[jfables]

More clinics have actually begun to train in the practices of FUE. ATP and hyaluronic acid have been added to hair transplant procedures. In short, not much has happened.

 

Right. I figured. And hair multiplication is still 5 years away as it has been for the past 15 years?

 

Thanks.

[mahhong]

Yeah more and more clinics are transitioning to FUE or at least offering it as a service. In fairness the transition was probably pretty slow because it just takes time and data to prove a technique really works consistently - you can't argue FUE was pretty hit and miss for a while, but I think a solid protocol has been developed over the last five years or so and it's now a very effective solution, even sometimes for large procedures.

 

It's very unlikely we'll be seeing any hair multiplication/stem cell based therapies being offered any time soon. There's possibly more chance that novel therapy targeting some other aspect of the balding process may find a way to market in the next few years, so there may be another option or two, but like everything I think it'll take months and years for even approved products to really find their place and the data to accumulate on how well they work clinically and how they fit in and around established treatments.

 

New topical finasteride solutions may make more of a show in the future. Jury is still very much out on how well it works and whether they offer a better chance of lowering the risk of side effects.

 

There's a couple of new-ish surgical techniques like mFUE that are really in their infancy but these aren't really going to shake up the industry dramatically, just offer a few more options. Scalp micropigmentation offers another aesthetic option for adding the illusion of density and can look pretty good if used subtly and intelligently.

 

I don't think anything major will change in the next 5 years. I think the best we can hope for is that one or two adjunct-style treatments may make it to market that could combine with or offer alternatives to finasteride and minoxidil and that may give patients more options or a higher chance of holding on to more hair for longer.

 

It's all likely to be evolution instead of revolution. There's some interesting/exciting cellular based research going on but it's probably at least 10-20 years away from maturing into anything substantial, and that's being optimistic. Same with donor doubling - there's some hope it could work but it needs to be researched, trialled and then proven in the clinic consistently, with established protocols. You saw how long FUE took to become one of the standard practices, and it's just because diligent doctors want to take the time and effort to see data and find a real protocol that produces consistent results - there will always be pioneers and that's good, but moving from research to study to approval to clinical practice is a slow process and it takes time to establish new "gold standards". If a new treatment or technique "hit the shelves tomorrow" it'd probably be 3-5 years away from becoming standard clinical practice. That's just how things work.

[jfables]

Yeah more and more clinics are transitioning to FUE or at least offering it as a service. In fairness the transition was probably pretty slow because it just takes time and data to prove a technique really works consistently - you can't argue FUE was pretty hit and miss for a while, but I think a solid protocol has been developed over the last five years or so and it's now a very effective solution, even sometimes for large procedures.

 

It's very unlikely we'll be seeing any hair multiplication/stem cell based therapies being offered any time soon. There's possibly more chance that novel therapy targeting some other aspect of the balding process may find a way to market in the next few years, so there may be another option or two, but like everything I think it'll take months and years for even approved products to really find their place and the data to accumulate on how well they work clinically and how they fit in and around established treatments.

 

New topical finasteride solutions may make more of a show in the future. Jury is still very much out on how well it works and whether they offer a better chance of lowering the risk of side effects.

 

There's a couple of new-ish surgical techniques like mFUE that are really in their infancy but these aren't really going to shake up the industry dramatically, just offer a few more options. Scalp micropigmentation offers another aesthetic option for adding the illusion of density and can look pretty good if used subtly and intelligently.

 

I don't think anything major will change in the next 5 years. I think the best we can hope for is that one or two adjunct-style treatments may make it to market that could combine with or offer alternatives to finasteride and minoxidil and that may give patients more options or a higher chance of holding on to more hair for longer.

 

It's all likely to be evolution instead of revolution. There's some interesting/exciting cellular based research going on but it's probably at least 10-20 years away from maturing into anything substantial, and that's being optimistic. Same with donor doubling - there's some hope it could work but it needs to be researched, trialled and then proven in the clinic consistently, with established protocols. You saw how long FUE took to become one of the standard practices, and it's just because diligent doctors want to take the time and effort to see data and find a real protocol that produces consistent results - there will always be pioneers and that's good, but moving from research to study to approval to clinical practice is a slow process and it takes time to establish new "gold standards". If a new treatment or technique "hit the shelves tomorrow" it'd probably be 3-5 years away from becoming standard clinical practice. That's just how things work.

 

Thanks for that info. Unfortunately I was a guinea pig in the early years of FUE, fooled by major clinics (still operating today) that FUE was the new gold standard. In hindsight I would have gotten a couple of strips w Hasson and been better off today. Thankfully Jose Lorenzo was able to fix me up although I need to one more procedure.

 

No one mentions much how after several thousand fue your sides look thin when cut short making the benefit of keeping your hair short with FUE invalid.

[Bill - Seemiller]

FUE has come a long way and many top notch clinics are not only providing it but doing high quality work with excellent results. Consistency is still not as great as with strip simply due to the blind dissection factor however, it's definitely been improved upon thanks too the hard work and dedication of expert physicians and patients who demand only the best results.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[ontop]

Fue has moved closer to FUT especially this last 5 yrs still a little short to FUT yeild, but the rope has definitely tightened up on FUT clinics where the demand of doing FUE is becoming the norm it seems.

 

As for medications or advancements, nothing really changed only 2 FDA approved drugs Fin & Min which is not perfect by any means of the imagination.

 

I'm not holding my breath for anything in the near future, well not in my lifetime anyways, our kids hmmm maybe..

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

J,

 

Welcome back!