Spencer Kobren Interviews Dr. Gary Hitzig - The Future of ACell for Hair Loss

[Follicle Death Row]

Based on what Hitzig has shown, there is absolutely nothing to be excited about. Unless you get your kicks from donating cash to unscrupulous doctors. He's posted numerous "results" on line and not a single one of them demonstrate much of anything, other than how to make picture results as difficult to interpret as possible. Different lighting, different backgrounds, longer length hair, different hair styles. This is what a layperson with no scientific training might put up for comparison; not a trained physician. I'll leave you to speculate about why he would do that.

I urge everyone to go back and listen to the original interview that Spencer did with Hitzig about Acell. It was filled with nothing but hyperbole and unfounded speculation. At one point he claimed to have a vaccine against baldness, for crying out loud! His claims were and are, incredible. They should've been backed by some "incredible" evidence. But there was, and still to this day, remains none. But, he'll be glad to put you in his chair and charge you 3000$ for the PRP/Acell "vaccine against baldness" treatment.

Patients should be protected from this type of salesmanship.

In the original interview Hitzig said something to the effect of in two years this will be all over (baldness). In another interview, (it may have been a video can't remember exactly) he said that when transplanting 2 hair FUs with the Acell and PRP he was getting 4 hairs growing in the recipient! Yeah right. Time to end this Acell/PRP injection scam. The guy is full of $h!t.

[Kampung101]

With the possibility of really great treatments like Histogen, Aderans and Replicel coming out in the next few years is there really any reason to be excited by what ACell is offering?

Thats pretty much what I'm thinking. Granted, I'm at an early stage of the balding process and have had really good results with medication, so I guess I'm someone that can afford to wait for those potential treatments in the coming years. Histogen, Replicel, Aderans, and Follica are all going through double blind clinical trials, and they have real scientific minds behind them like Costerolis and Hoffman. That makes me much more confident in those treatments.

I don't know about Acell. I'm not really inclined to believe either Hitzig or Rassman. Hitzig has thrown out some hyperbole previously over Acell, and Rassman definitely comes across as having a big ego and quite resistant to potential new treatments that he had no role in discovering. So yeah, like others, I want to see what Cooley and Cole have to say about the results they've achieved (I think Spencer is, or has already done a new interview with Cooley) and if Rassman actually contacted them about how to work with this and how it can be improved. Even though the plucking part doesn't work in completely bald parts of the scalp, if the plucking can work in areas with hair and the acell solution can promote better donor healing and create good donor regeneration, that's still significantly better than what we currently have with hair transplants.

Acell is still a question mark, but I won't write it off just yet.

[maxhair]

Well, it's Cooley I went to, on the basis of his presentation indicating autocloned hair could be grown in bald spots, and indeed showing one guy with a test patch on the upper left of his crown (as viewed from back) - so if the news now is that Acell can't do that, where did that picture come from?

Cooley is more personable than Hitzig, with a better track record - but if he has misled us, as it seems, then he should not get a pass - even from Spencer.

It has damaged Spencer's reputation somewhat, to have been so swept along with it. Spencer let Hitzig off the hook in that last interview - so, I think a bit of a less laizez fair, more rigorous and exacting attitude in interviews with these guys would be more appropriate in the future.

If Spencer is a consumer advocate, and consumers are blowing thousands, then he better get to it in future interviews with these guys, to protect us from puff.

Spencer should be tough enough, that Hitzig and Gho would think twice about selling lies - and Cooley think twice too.

[Kampung101]

I think when they say it doesn't work in completely bald scalps they mean the plucking doesn't produce cosmetically significant hairs, i.e. normal thick hairs. The hairs on the bald scalp in Cooley's presentation looked quite thin. I wouldn't jump to the conclusion and say Cooley is/was lying, just probably overconfident in what acell-plucking could do.

But like I said, I have more confidence in the above mentioned listed potential treatments for the reasons stated, rather than in ones that are relying on anecdotal evidence.

I think we all have to be calm and reasonable here.

[maxhair]

I think when they say it doesn't work in completely bald scalps they mean the plucking doesn't produce cosmetically significant hairs, i.e. normal thick hairs. The hairs on the bald scalp in Cooley's presentation looked quite thin. I wouldn't jump to the conclusion and say Cooley is/was lying, just probably overconfident in what acell-plucking could do.

But like I said, I have more confidence in the above mentioned listed potential treatments for the reasons stated, rather than in ones that are relying on anecdotal evidence.

I think we all have to be calm and reasonable here.

The problem in my case was not a 'thin' result. It was a zero result. The implanted plucked hairs gradually fell out over 8 months, leaving none. Nothing grew at all. Even the one or two left later into the 8 months, did not grow at all. I have not been scarred though, apart from financially.

If Cooley tested it for a year and a half before his presentation, as claimed, then we would have tested it in bald spots to assertain and isolate how well it worked or not - so there is no excuse, that he didn't know it doesn't work in bald spots - and where did he get the 'thin' result photo in his presentation?

Spencer should corner him on this, and get an answer. Hitzig says it doesn't work. So do I - a Cooley guinea pig. Is Cooley going to explain what Hitzig has wrong when he claims it won't grow in bald spots?

Spencer should not let him slip the question.

[RichardDawkins]

So your plucked hairs didnt grow for 8 monhs and then they were thinking " Come on guys we have been stuck here for 8 months lets fall out collectively" of course.

Can we get more inormations? What did Cooley say. How come it works to a degree on a scar from a FUT patient?

People have btw different healing abilities, you know and different hair, so maybe it just didnt worked in your case, w dont know if you are a smoker, drug addict or alcohol abuser, we dont know.

Btw Hitzig never said " It doesnt work" where did you pull that one?

Another question, you got plucked hairs for over a year (after 8 months they all vanished) why didnt you come earlier to those forums? People when got mistreated, always come to forums first and not after a podcast where FUT and traditional FUE get a little kick in the face.

And then you are afraid that they (Gho and the hm clique) wont give you back your hair once they discover something? This sounds fishy.

I think you never got a plucked hair transplant in the first place, you only want definitive answers and you hide this behind your masquerad of being a "Victim" thats all.

Cause there a plenty of ways to document your case without showing too much or reveal your identity. Sorry i simply dont blieve guys who come here out of the blue and criticise stuff and tell lies eg " Where did Hitzig say Plucking doesnt work?"

Also its strange, that once Gho is mentioned as "legit" people like you crawl under their rocks, but strangely when they only talk about hair plucking in general with no Gho remarks, NO Crawler can be seen.

Yeah yeah yeah, next time "Anti HM Shills" if you wanna be clever, tr the more subtle route, thanks in advance.

Oh i have one question

" What would you say, hair loss sufferers who want their hair back, SHOULD DO NOW?"

Another thing you did fail to adress, even if Ghos HST wouldnt work, the downtime is way lesser and minimally invasive even compared to FUE, but yeah such MINOR details should be gnored RIGHT

[Follicle Death Row]

Give it a rest Dawkins. I can think of numerous reasons why it might not work. For starters there may not be enough dermal pappilae to form new hairs after the first hair sheds. Fully functioning hair follicles may not actually form or thirdly when only transplanting plucked hairs donor dominance may not persist and it may form hybrid follicles that are sensitive to DHT since it is in a bald section of scalp. That would explain why transplanting to a scarred strip area would cycle; it is a DHT resistant area.

Maybe we should leave the science of getting this solved to the real researchers and scientists rather than have these docs pricking around with patients.

[RichardDawkins]

AHA you answered it yourself FollicleDeathRow.

Compare your valuable posting and statement with the statement of maxhair.

What do you see? Correct, your posting is valuable and smart and it contains of informations, while the other postings were just "Your average anonymous Out of the Ass Talk"

In your case we actually see that you gathered some informations before, but maxhair just says random implanted phrases and thats the difference. I am not attacking your statement, but i attack such lousy efforts which can be seen through.

If you had a bad experience with plucked hairs and Cooles, you would already come to the forum and discuss this. Also its strange that this one guy got PLUCKED hairs with Cooley, something pretty new, went to Gho and then strangely Cooley plcuked hairs failed and Gho told this guy the darkest secrets ever
Sorry i dont do this kind of stuff to many strange coincidences here.

Also why does this patient go with single pluckes hairs which are more expensive then with HST which is compared lesser expensive and the downtime is also minimal?

you know the nearer we get to a solution, the more desperate the attempts of shills are to distract everything.

Naaaaaa sorry when people without any proof make really harsh claims in their first posting ever, while science says otherwise, i simply dont believe them.

Also another thing to chew on, before Rassman said "hairs need to be close to each other when plucked" NOBODY NOBODY said anything regarding this, AND NOW OUT OF SUDDEN someone omes up with his whole " OHHHHHHHHHH IT DIDNT WORK on me"

Also in this interview, Hitzig is not promoting his BS Acell PRP injections wonder why? Simple he knows its effect is only very minor.

Also this poster here, why didnt he attack Dr Cole who also posted a picture of a regenerated black Knub? Can tell you why, because then his lie would be over the top. I mean come on, how far are chances that this scenario would occur

1) Get an appointment with Gho were he tells you all the dark secrets
2) Get to Cole who dont have regrowth not even black knubs
3) Get hair plucking procedure done by Cooley which failed and the hairs were thinking " Ok Guys 8 months lets fall out"

Right

[maxhair]

AHA you answered it yourself FollicleDeathRow.

Compare your valuable posting and statement with the statement of maxhair.

What do you see? Correct, your posting is valuable and smart and it contains of informations, while the other postings were just "Your average anonymous Out of the Ass Talk"

In your case we actually see that you gathered some informations before, but maxhair just says random implanted phrases and thats the difference. I am not attacking your statement, but i attack such lousy efforts which can be seen through.

If you had a bad experience with plucked hairs and Cooles, you would already come to the forum and discuss this. Also its strange that this one guy got PLUCKED hairs with Cooley, something pretty new, went to Gho and then strangely Cooley plcuked hairs failed and Gho told this guy the darkest secrets ever
Sorry i dont do this kind of stuff to many strange coincidences here.

Also why does this patient go with single pluckes hairs which are more expensive then with HST which is compared lesser expensive and the downtime is also minimal?

you know the nearer we get to a solution, the more desperate the attempts of shills are to distract everything.

Naaaaaa sorry when people without any proof make really harsh claims in their first posting ever, while science says otherwise, i simply dont believe them.

Also another thing to chew on, before Rassman said "hairs need to be close to each other when plucked" NOBODY NOBODY said anything regarding this, AND NOW OUT OF SUDDEN someone omes up with his whole " OHHHHHHHHHH IT DIDNT WORK on me"

Also in this interview, Hitzig is not promoting his BS Acell PRP injections wonder why? Simple he knows its effect is only very minor.

Also this poster here, why didnt he attack Dr Cole who also posted a picture of a regenerated black Knub? Can tell you why, because then his lie would be over the top. I mean come on, how far are chances that this scenario would occur

1) Get an appointment with Gho were he tells you all the dark secrets
2) Get to Cole who dont have regrowth not even black knubs
3) Get hair plucking procedure done by Cooley which failed and the hairs were thinking " Ok Guys 8 months lets fall out"

Right

The plucked hair fell out or shed gradually in waves, but none ever grew.

At time of operation, Cole was saying there was no evidence it worked, so was not in the mix.

And yes, Gho did meet me, and did reveal to me (inadvertently) that he had no faith in his own claims about splitting hairs and getting both to grow, and that he did not want the forums to know about it.

My advice, is to wait until you see N6s or 7s getting full heads of hair and then verify where and how they had it done. Then, go for a small test with whoever shows these results, and if it works on you too, get a larger area done.

Remember, just because a newly licensed drug may be involved, is no evidence of efficacy. Some chairman of a multinational drug company admitted once, that 95% of licensed drugs are ineffective.

Also, those companies who conduct clinical trials are sponsored by the new drug manufacturer, so the trial will be designed to the manufacturers' whims, and the bad or ineffective or incomplete results will often be minimized or disappeared with a multitude of tricks.

My suspicion is, that as baldness is not generally life-threatening, and that results are hard to monitor, this will leave much more room for industry lies about effectiveness, even into this new stem cell age (which is proving harder for the scientists than we'd hoped).

Histogen pics for instance, look suspect (worst than Cooley's Acell ones), and no one else has even shown any pics.

I have stated repeatedly, that I will show my pictures to anyone here, but do not want them going on the internet. That should be proof enough to any one individual who is seriously doubting that I'm telling the truth about my experience.

Don't placate HT docs making false claims any longer. Tell them to go away and come back with something that works if they want any further interview time.

[NeedHairASAP]

The plucked hair fell out or shed gradually in waves, but none ever grew.

At time of operation, Cole was saying there was no evidence it worked, so was not in the mix.

And yes, Gho did meet me, and did reveal to me (inadvertently) that he had no faith in his own claims about splitting hairs and getting both to grow, and that he did not want the forums to know about it.

My advice, is to wait until you see N6s or 7s getting full heads of hair and then verify where and how they had it done. Then, go for a small test with whoever shows these results, and if it works on you too, get a larger area done.

Remember, just because a newly licensed drug may be involved, is no evidence of efficacy. Some chairman of a multinational drug company admitted once, that 95% of licensed drugs are ineffective.

Also, those companies who conduct clinical trials are sponsored by the new drug manufacturer, so the trial will be designed to the manufacturers' whims, and the bad or ineffective or incomplete results will often be minimized or disappeared with a multitude of tricks.

My suspicion is, that as baldness is not generally life-threatening, and that results are hard to monitor, this will leave much more room for industry lies about effectiveness, even into this new stem cell age (which is proving harder for the scientists than we'd hoped).

Histogen pics for instance, look suspect (worst than Cooley's Acell ones), and no one else has even shown any pics.

I have stated repeatedly, that I will show my pictures to anyone here, but do not want them going on the internet. That should be proof enough to any one individual who is seriously doubting that I'm telling the truth about my experience.

Don't placate HT docs making false claims any longer. Tell them to go away and come back with something that works if they want any further interview time.

what is this? the balding blog? get out of here dr. rassman

[dkayla77]

i'm new to this stuff, and i have to admit, you are starting to sound like a shill.

[RichardDawkins]

Quote "And yes, Gho did meet me, and did reveal to me (inadvertently) that he had no faith in his own claims about splitting hairs and getting both to grow, and that he did not want the forums to know about it."

Ahem are you kidding me? Gho is operating on people who got media attention and you tell me he said that to you?

He Dr Rassman, net time try to be more subtle. I read only one thing here " You say that Gho said this to you because you kno when we test it and its lgit, no one will go to your scalp tattoos anymore for your retirement fund

Oh and btw if you listen to th interview, even Dr Hitzig was shocked and couldnt believe what Rassman wrote on his blog

@ the rest of the people here : Dont ever dare to attack me, when i expose such lousy shills here.

----------------------

Anyway WHAT exacly happened? You contradict yourself big time.

1) If none of the plucked hairs grow, its imposible that they shed over time, they would have fallen out after the transplantation like transplanted hairs do

2) What time of operation was it then? If it was in the beginnings, then guess what THINGS DEVELOP OVER TIME, but tell us WHEN did you had this transplant with plucked hairs? Which year?

3) Cole never fully mentioned " Impossible" he said something like he will look into it cautiosly, and he got hammered for this, even by me.

4) The whole NW7 NW6 tatement again? This argument is so old, did you look at Dean Saunders lately? He is a NW6 Work in progress with multiple sessions planned from Gho, even before the first session result was in (very not believing in his own claims this Gho dude right?)

5) Your whole TEST it if it works HMMMMMMMMM you are SpanishDude because he says the exact same crap at hairsite with his 50 Grafts test session, Welcome Back banned SpanishDude welcome back, we dont want ou here

6) Wrong, stem cell and hair loss is only targete in this decade because before that there was no market and no interest but with seeing more and more through its financially good for companies to come up with something where an unlimited stream of customers will come.

Remember, if Fin and Minox could cause small regrowth as toppics and oral what ever drugs, imagine what a thing could do which goes to the Root (no pun intended) of the problem.

And why doHistogen pictures look more suspicious then Cooleys Acell pictures? Any explanation or standard out of your ass talk Rassman or SpanishDude or whatever shill faker you are.

[DepressedByHairLoss]

I was kind of skeptical of Dr. Hitzig since his reputation isn't the greatest. I've read on the internet about several botched hair transplants of his, that have left patients scarred for life. But I will give him credit, at least he is willing to try something new and that isn't complete bullshit like laser therapy, head tattoos, or "all natural" shampoos. That being said, I don't think plucking/Acell is gonna be the answer that we're looking for. With this method, you're still limited by the amount of follicles that you have on your head. 'If you pluck one follicle, then treat the wounded area with Acell, then a new follicle is supposed to arise'. That is my understanding of how Acell works. Even if this works, then the follicle that is regenerated would still be located on the sides or back of the head, where hair loss is not experienced in the first place. Then, what is supposed to happen? Doctors are supposed to re-pluck the regenerated follicle and move it to the bald/balding area? And they're supposed to keep plucking and re-plucking regenerated follicles until something close to a full head of hair is achieved? This is just not feasible, is very invasive and labor-insentive, and just simply wouldn't work, IMO. If doctors are looking to cure hair loss, then I really think they're barking up the wrong tree with these transplantation methods. You're always gonna be limited in one way or another by how much native hair you actually have. That's why I really think solutions like Histogen (who attempt revive dormant hair follicles) and Replicel (who attempt to create new follicles and revive dormant ones) are gonna have the answers that we're looking for. But as I've said before, I will give any doctor credit for trying something new and potentially more effective, as most HT doctors keep offering the same old hair transplant over and over again. Although I realize that PRP isn't working that well, I really give Dr. Greco credit for trying it out, especially since the science behind it is solid (such chemicals found in PRP like IGF, VEGF, and FGF have been thought to stimulate hair growth). PRP is something that I really wouldn't give up on, especially since it's non-invasive, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and doesn't leave any permanent damage. Finally, some one one here spoke about 'shills' and I gotta say, some of these comments on here sound very, very 'shill-like'. And BTW, don't even get me started on Rassman. That guy claims doctors are ripping people off by still offering PRP, yet this guy is offering something as ridiculous as head tattooing. Talk about hypocritical.

[Follicle Death Row]

Quote "And yes, Gho did meet me, and did reveal to me (inadvertently) that he had no faith in his own claims about splitting hairs and getting both to grow, and that he did not want the forums to know about it."

Ahem are you kidding me? Gho is operating on people who got media attention and you tell me he said that to you?

He Dr Rassman, net time try to be more subtle. I read only one thing here " You say that Gho said this to you because you kno when we test it and its lgit, no one will go to your scalp tattoos anymore for your retirement fund

Oh and btw if you listen to th interview, even Dr Hitzig was shocked and couldnt believe what Rassman wrote on his blog

@ the rest of the people here : Dont ever dare to attack me, when i expose such lousy shills here.

----------------------

Anyway WHAT exacly happened? You contradict yourself big time.

1) If none of the plucked hairs grow, its imposible that they shed over time, they would have fallen out after the transplantation like transplanted hairs do

2) What time of operation was it then? If it was in the beginnings, then guess what THINGS DEVELOP OVER TIME, but tell us WHEN did you had this transplant with plucked hairs? Which year?

3) Cole never fully mentioned " Impossible" he said something like he will look into it cautiosly, and he got hammered for this, even by me.

4) The whole NW7 NW6 tatement again? This argument is so old, did you look at Dean Saunders lately? He is a NW6 Work in progress with multiple sessions planned from Gho, even before the first session result was in (very not believing in his own claims this Gho dude right?)

5) Your whole TEST it if it works HMMMMMMMMM you are SpanishDude because he says the exact same crap at hairsite with his 50 Grafts test session, Welcome Back banned SpanishDude welcome back, we dont want ou here

6) Wrong, stem cell and hair loss is only targete in this decade because before that there was no market and no interest but with seeing more and more through its financially good for companies to come up with something where an unlimited stream of customers will come.

Remember, if Fin and Minox could cause small regrowth as toppics and oral what ever drugs, imagine what a thing could do which goes to the Root (no pun intended) of the problem.

And why doHistogen pictures look more suspicious then Cooleys Acell pictures? Any explanation or standard out of your ass talk Rassman or SpanishDude or whatever shill faker you are.

I'm not attacking you Dawkins. You might be right on this guy. We're just wasting our time and the threads tend to go off topic and descend into chaos too often when these flaming wars with people that come on here with these stories. That's all I meant by give it a break. New posters with such stories do tend to arouse suspicions but as I can't say for sure so I won't go the pointing finger at him. The thing that sounds ridiculous is for sure Gho supposedly 'fessing up. No way that happened but let's keep it civil and remain on topic. We won't achieve anything by blasting this newbie whether his story is true, partly true or completely fabricated.

What we do know form the ISHRS metting in Alaska is that Acell has not been the success that Cooley originally thought it would be but that doesn't mean that it can't help FUE yield or maybe it could add density to transplanted hair by autocloning in the crown for example. As a standalone it won't cut it though, especially given it's tedious and slow process and with Replicel and Aderans on the horizon. The reasons I listed are a concern about Acell though. I due wonder about the donor dominance issue.

Now back to the main focus here; Dr. Hitzig's claims seem ridiculous given he has backed up absolutely nothing over the years. Hitzig and Rassman may have differing opinions on Acell but they are one and the same in the cash extraction methods they employ; PRP & Acell and SMP. At least PRP & Acell won't mess your scalp up like SMP but that's not much of a consolation either when you go for PRP & Acell with a FUT procedure and it doesn't turn out as you had hoped. At least with plucking alone no harm is done if it doesn't work except a hole your wallet.

Long story short, Acell doesn't look like being what we had hoped. We still have dick all. As for Gho we still have to wait for results. Hopefully Replicel will be the silver bullet. In theory and animal models it works fantastically so let's keep the faith. Might be an interesting little stock option now especially if they have good news for us in March/April. Fingers crossed.

[DepressedByHairLoss]

I agree that we shouldn't be attacking new posters or anything, but a lot of these posts here sound very suspicious. Like saying Gho admitted that his methods are B.S. That's absolutely ridiculous! Or attacking Spencer's credibility? That's absolute B.S. too. Man, if every doctor or companies was as devoted as Spencer is to cure hair loss, then we would've had a cure a long time ago. Like I said, some of these posts here are very, very shill-like.