A Positive Post

[Fixed by 35]

I'm confident that an effective treatment either to permanently prevent or reverse hair loss will be available within the next five years and I would like to hear others' opinions on the subject. I base my optimism on the numbers of reputable companies that are now researching hair loss and use the somewhat cliched number of five years because I estimate that to be the average time FDA trials for effective treatments take.

When I first began losing my hair about seven years ago and completed research, little was known about dutasteride (I never head of it until 2005) and only Propecia and Minoxidil were available. Good things were also said about Nizoral and Revivogen (I like this product, most people won't). Procerin was less well known but I have to admit it did have results for me (I switched to Propecia because the results were better - Procerin certainly worked for me to an extent). There was talk of hair cloning in theory, but little obvious progress had been made since the experiments at Durham University in about 1990.

I learned to be sceptical quickly, as I remember my father telling me at 8 years old that a cure for baldness would be available by the time that it affected me! I assume he was talking about hair cloning and 19 years later we still haven't cracked it. But we have cloned a sheep, discovered Propecia and Avodart and developed FUE and BHT since then, which is pretty good going. Wigs and toupees have also improved dramatically, if that's your thing. (David Cameron must be wearing one by now, not that it's possible to tell). They're even developing artificial hair that won't kill you with cellulitus now, which has to be a step in the right direction!

Indeed, my optimism goes so far as to wonder which of the current companies will develop a solution first, not whether they will find anything at all. Of course, there have been problems because of the recession and InterCytex went into voluntary liquidation - actually, that was a good thing because Aderans bought their technology and therefore merged the technology of two companies working in stealth - that will probably kick start some amazing strides forward. More concerning is Histogen's patent law suit; hopefully the company suing them will use the technology and not shelve it.

Follica and Trichoscience are also on the verge of a breakthrough. TRX-2 are confident, albeit too secretive to give us much hope yet. However, they arguably have the brightest brains in the business. There's also Actistem, a long shot but a lot of people liked the TB4 technology so there's hope, though this is restricted to people whose hair follicles are still alive. There's plenty to be excited about.

My money is on TRX-2, but I'm a gambler at heart and want some risk. Aderans is probably the favourite. It's enough for me to know there are reputable companies working on this the world over. The solution is in reach and if they have it available in the next five years, I'll be able to recapture some of my younger years before my middle age hits. I'll hit a bit midlife crisis then, because I've spent my youth being treated like I was a middle aged man!