We can cure baldness, claim scientists
Anxiously checking in the mirror for signs of male pattern baldness may be a thing of the past, as scientists in Madrid believe they have found a way to reverse hair loss.
Researchers at the San Carlos clinic in the Spanish capital claim they were able to regrow hair on mice in almost all cases during an experimental stem cell treatment study.
The project involved giving male and female mice dihydrotestosterone, a by-product of testosterone that causes receding hair lines in men and thinning hair in women.
Once the rodents had lost all their fur, half of them were injected with stem cells taken from body fat as well as a chemical called adenosine triphosphate, which stimulates cellular growth. The other half were given a placebo.
All the male mice given the stem cell-chemical cocktail experienced hair regrowth, with around half getting back all their fur. The majority of the female mice also regrew their coats.
'Hair grew back in all of the treated male mice. In the case of the females, a lower dose was used, and the results were also somewhat worse, although still good, because 90 per cent managed to repopulate their hair,' Dr Eduardo López Bran, head of dermatology at the San Carlos, explained.
The scientists, whose work was published in Stem Cell Research & Therapy, say that it will still be four or five years before a drug could be available, and that the next phase of testing will involve using human patients.
Hair loss or alopecia is a common complaint in Spain, which has the highest percentage of bald men in the world at 44.5 per cent, according to a survey by Medihair, an online platform for hair loss treatments.
Dr López Bran said he had 'noticed a huge increase in inquiries seeking a solution, a truly significant growth in demand, especially among young people who, at the first signs of baldness, want to slow its progression, or even reverse those initial symptoms'.
By the age of 50, roughly 50 per cent of men will experience some form of male pattern baldness. Around 25 per cent of will spot signs of thinning or receding as early as 21.
Hair transplant surgery has become increasingly popular over the last two decades, with the number of procedures performed globally rising by 76 per cent since 2006.
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