Good News -- I just called Aderans Research Institute in Atlanta

[Desmond84]

Things will get better guys. But we must be realistic. True cell-based hair multiplication will be coming after 2020...Everything else in the pipeline (apart from HT) will be to maintain and provide slight regrowth.

Take Finasteride and/or use Minoxidil....get a haircut you are happy with and live the next 7+ years as best as you can!

As much as ppl down-play the discussions on the forums, its collective voice is actually quite a powerful tool in terms of assessing what is happening in the field of hair loss and Research & Development.

From the Histogen & Replicel results, to Dr Gho's rate of regeneration and the Aderans headquarters closing down, the best and most thorough analysis came from the forums! I mean we had ppl doing vellus and terminal hair counts on Histogen's trial photos back in October 2012, which was showing similar hair counts in before and after photos, which was later admitted by Histogen in June 2013 that hair count only increased by 2.5% (at least in the temples)! They emphasised the fact that they were referring to the change of vellus hairs to terminal count increasing by 20% rather than total hair count itself!

[TheSwingingGate]

That being said I sure wish HSC and CB were out on the market today, I'd get a hairtransplant and hairloss would be a thing of the past for me.

^This.

[KO1]

The other reason fin/dut/RU/other antiandrogens is important even if these treatments do come out is that they will tend to work better for miniaturized hair, or if your loss is not too much. As Desmond pointed out, Histogen's treatment is thickening up miniaturized hairs rather than gneerating new growth. Keep your follicles alive even if you need to put on life support!

I think the science we have is good and holds strong potential. But to put it into an actual treatment pipeline is a different story. So for Cell based treatments, I think Nigam is now the frontrunner.

[FearTheLoss]

The other reason fin/dut/RU/other antiandrogens is important even if these treatments do come out is that they will tend to work better for miniaturized hair, or if your loss is not too much. As Desmond pointed out, Histogen's treatment is thickening up miniaturized hairs rather than gneerating new growth. Keep your follicles alive even if you need to put on life support!

I think the science we have is good and holds strong potential. But to put it into an actual treatment pipeline is a different story. So for Cell based treatments, I think Nigam is now the frontrunner.

Than again, Nigam claims he can turn a nw7 to a nw2 just by donor doubling...so I guess every company out there working on hair cloning is pretty much wasting their time if you believe Nigam.

[x4342]

Things will get better guys. But we must be realistic. True cell-based hair multiplication will be coming after 2020...Everything else in the pipeline (apart from HT) will be to maintain and provide slight regrowth.

Take Finasteride and/or use Minoxidil....get a haircut you are happy with and live the next 7+ years as best as you can!

As much as ppl down-play the discussions on the forums, its collective voice is actually quite a powerful tool in terms of assessing what is happening in the field of hair loss and Research & Development.

From the Histogen & Replicel results, to Dr Gho's rate of regeneration and the Aderans headquarters closing down, the best and most thorough analysis came from the forums! I mean we had ppl doing vellus and terminal hair counts on Histogen's trial photos back in October 2012, which was showing similar hair counts in before and after photos, which was later admitted by Histogen in June 2013 that hair count only increased by 2.5% (at least in the temples)! They emphasised the fact that they were referring to the change of vellus hairs to terminal count increasing by 20% rather than total hair count itself!

I think your advice is absolutely excellent and it's what Spencer preaches. Hope for the best, but live for today. Still, I can't ignore that an individual's situation plays a big role in how easy it is to take this approach. From what you've said your own loss is essentially minimal, more in the "mature" range and you are reasonably young. I'm in worse shape, though admittedly far better shape than many other posters. Sadly, it will be much easier for some people to take the whole "just stabilize and forget about it" approach then others.

Take two situations. One guy is 24 with extremely minor hair loss that he has managed to stabilize. Socially, most people don't even notice. He doesn't like it, but it's not exactly killing his looks. It shouldn't be hard for him to simply move on with his life knowing that he'll eventually have his perfect hair back while he's still relatively young.
On the other hand you have some 50+ year old guy with horrible hair loss. Telling him "just stabilize and wait" just doesn't work as well. First his hair loss is going to be constantly effecting his day to day life and second there will be a point where getting it back will probably be somewhat bittersweet.
Imagine some 65 year old guy who has been bald since 25 returning to his original teenage hair. I'd bet he'd be happy, yet also feel bittersweet about the whole thing. What's he going to do, run back to the beach and try and relieve his lost prime years?

Joe from Staten Island is obviously a bit off, but I can emphasize with him simply because I feel his desperation. If I was that old and in that bad shape, I can't imagine how I would be encouraged by hearing "things will be different in 10 years."

[hellouser]

Than again, Nigam claims he can turn a nw7 to a nw2 just by donor doubling...so I guess every company out there working on hair cloning is pretty much wasting their time if you believe Nigam.

NW7 - NW2 is 5 stages of Norwood.

From what I've seen on the forum, each norwood level is about 1,500 grafts.

5 x 1,500 = 7,500 grafts.

If thats the case, he could easily turn an NW3 into an NW0 or even NW1 for a normal mature hairline on anyone over the age of 30.

God damn am I ever tempted to go for doubling with Nigam. Is his procedure scarless?

[Desmond84]

I think your advice is absolutely excellent and it's what Spencer preaches. Hope for the best, but live for today. Still, I can't ignore that an individual's situation plays a big role in how easy it is to take this approach. From what you've said your own loss is essentially minimal, more in the "mature" range and you are reasonably young. I'm in worse shape, though admittedly far better shape than many other posters. Sadly, it will be much easier for some people to take the whole "just stabilize and forget about it" approach then others.

Take two situations. One guy is 24 with extremely minor hair loss that he has managed to stabilize. Socially, most people don't even notice. He doesn't like it, but it's not exactly killing his looks. It shouldn't be hard for him to simply move on with his life knowing that he'll eventually have his perfect hair back while he's still relatively young.
On the other hand you have some 50+ year old guy with horrible hair loss. Telling him "just stabilize and wait" just doesn't work as well. First his hair loss is going to be constantly effecting his day to day life and second there will be a point where getting it back will probably be somewhat bittersweet.
Imagine some 65 year old guy who has been bald since 25 returning to his original teenage hair. I'd bet he'd be happy, yet also feel bittersweet about the whole thing. What's he going to do, run back to the beach and try and relieve his lost prime years?

Joe from Staten Island is obviously a bit off, but I can emphasize with him simply because I feel his desperation. If I was that old and in that bad shape, I can't imagine how I would be encouraged by hearing "things will be different in 10 years."

Brother I completely understand and I wish I had an answer for this horrible dilemma Joe and others in his age group are in.

I think we need to form a new thread just for those 40+ year olds that are suffering from hair loss and how they are coping with it! Their maturity and wisdom may also add huge benefits to the forum in general.

[FearTheLoss]

NW7 - NW2 is 5 stages of Norwood.

From what I've seen on the forum, each norwood level is about 1,500 grafts.

5 x 1,500 = 7,500 grafts.

If thats the case, he could easily turn an NW3 into an NW0 or even NW1 for a normal mature hairline on anyone over the age of 30.

God damn am I ever tempted to go for doubling with Nigam. Is his procedure scarless?

The crown definitely takes more grafts though...I'd say if you're a nw7 you need at least 11k grafts+ for decent density...but Nigam claims donor doubling is "unlimited donor" so I guess anything is doable.

Yes, his procedure is supposed to be "scarless" but it's not scarless in the aspect that Dr. Wesley's will be...there is still micro-scarring and always the potential for visible scarring even with Dr. Gho...

but Dr. Wesley's new technique is COMPLETELY SCARLESS...like not even any micro-scarring.

[hellouser]

Seriously, where the fvck is Dr. Lauster?!

Dude cracked it THREE YEARS AGO and we've heard fvckall from him! Why isn't there anything available for us from his method?!

[hellouser]

The crown definitely takes more grafts though...I'd say if you're a nw7 you need at least 11k grafts+ for decent density...but Nigam claims donor doubling is "unlimited donor" so I guess anything is doable.

Yes, his procedure is supposed to be "scarless" but it's not scarless in the aspect that Dr. Wesley's will be...there is still micro-scarring and always the potential for visible scarring even with Dr. Gho...

but Dr. Wesley's new technique is COMPLETELY SCARLESS...like not even any micro-scarring.

Could Dr. Nigam use pilofocus for doubling?

[x4342]

Seriously, where the fvck is Dr. Lauster?!

Dude cracked it THREE YEARS AGO and we've heard fvckall from him! Why isn't there anything available for us from his method?!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[hellouser]

Aside from Aderans, we've still got Replicel and Histogen along with Follica (debatable though).

Given Aderan's slow ass progress, seeing how it took them a decade to get through two phases, I've got more faith in Replicel to bust through their second phase and have an Asia release in 2015, they haven't been around for long and already passed Phase I. Histogen only needs one more phase for an Asia release as well.

It aint over until they're out of the picture as well.

[KO1]

Than again, Nigam claims he can turn a nw7 to a nw2 just by donor doubling...so I guess every company out there working on hair cloning is pretty much wasting their time if you believe Nigam.

Not exactly. Dr Nigam has been clear (I think) that doubling will only give the illusion of a NW2 and not true density, for that you will need HM.

[FearTheLoss]

Not exactly. Dr Nigam has been clear (I think) that doubling will only give the illusion of a NW2 and not true density, for that you will need HM.

yes because hair transplants can only give illusion of full density..grafts can't be placed close enough together even with unlimited donor to achieve complete teenage density for some...

but he claims that donor doubling is unlimited donor...and you can keep going in an re-harvesting the donor because it regenerates 100%+

[hellouser]

yes because hair transplants can only give illusion of full density..grafts can't be placed close enough together even with unlimited donor to achieve complete teenage density for some...

but he claims that donor doubling is unlimited donor...and you can keep going in an re-harvesting the donor because it regenerates 100%+

Then go for two sessions and youre done.

An NW4 or less would basically just need filler rather than starting from nothing. Only issue is: scarring! I wouldnt want the back of my head to look like Hiroshima after a procedure... its like 'Get hair on top, FUBAR the back of head'