Possible Treatments

[walrus]

Consider a mother and father who are heavily into fitness The mother trains to become an olympic-level gymnast and the father is like the legendary Charles Atlas, the self proclaimed 97 pound weakling who successfully built his body through diet and hard work in the gym. When in peak shape they have children.
Question... Would it take millions of years worth of fitness dedicated future generations, before their descendants are born more muscular and possess above average sports aptitude?

Answer:

Even after millions of years the offspring of said people will not necessarily be more muscular or have above average sporting ability unless there is a selection pressure that selects for such traits in a population and increases the occurrence of those specific genes---either through increased survival or by sexual selection.

[PaddyBateman]

Hi Chuck,

Re: PRP, what % of patients is this successful for, and what sort of result is generally received?

There's as many advocates of PRP out there as those who say it's a waste of money. I guess you've seen results first hand to be convinced.

Thx

[35YrsAfter]

Hi Chuck,

Re: PRP, what % of patients is this successful for, and what sort of result is generally received?

There's as many advocates of PRP out there as those who say it's a waste of money. I guess you've seen results first hand to be convinced.

Thx

According to our HairCheck numbers PRP is nearly always effective. The question is, to what degree and is it effective enough to justify the cost? In some cases it is and in some it isn't. I always recommend ACell and PRP be administered during and right after hair transplant surgery. About 90% of our patients opt for ACell and PRP with their surgery. It improves and speeds healing, supports graft survival and thickens existing hair to varying degrees.

Stand alone ACell PRP is another story. It is effective. According to Dr. Greco in Florida, it's important to be consistent with treatment over several years. Makes sense when you think about it, because hair doesn't miniaturize overnight. Miniaturization normally takes several years. Reversing miniaturization should take time. But at what cost?

Researchers get their heads into mind numbing detail. When an effective treatment comes along as in the case of Rogaine, medical experts commonly state that it's not fully understood how it works. Often times treatments are a simple matter of using something safe that neutralizes something unwanted. For example, Histidine converts to histamine that makes you miserable, so you take an antihistamine. Constricted blood vessels are bad so you take minoxidil to dilate blood vessels. DHT causes miniaturization of susceptible follicles so some men take an anti-DHT medication Dutasteride which is a dual 5-α reductase inhibitor that inhibits conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) etc. etc. etc.

So... If studies in fact are correct and PGD2 (a potent inhibitor of platelet aggregation) IS all over miniaturizing hair follicles, why not find a safe way to counteract that and see what happens?

What if the future cure for thinning hair is simply a matter of dermarolling something into the scalp that increases platelet growth factors and counteracts the effects of PGD2 in the hair follicles?



35YrsAfter also posts as CITNews and works at Dr. Cole's office
Cole Hair Transplant
Phone 678-566-1011
The contents of my posts are my opinions and not medical advice
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. Ask for Chuck

[walrus]

So... If studies in fact are correct and PGD2 (a potent inhibitor of platelet aggregation) IS all over miniaturizing hair follicles, why not find a safe way to counteract that and see what happens?

What if the future cure for thinning hair is simply a matter of dermarolling something into the scalp that increases platelet growth factors and counteracts the effects of PGD2 in the hair follicles?

The action of PGD2 in relation to hair loss has nothing to do with platelets. It activates the GPR44 receptor. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPR44 , or more specifically: http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/4/126/126ra34

[35YrsAfter]

The action of PGD2 in relation to hair loss has nothing to do with platelets. It activates the GPR44 receptor. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPR44 , or more specifically: http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/4/126/126ra34

Multiple articles on the PubMed.gov Website (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health) state that PGD2 inhibits platelet aggregation. One example, read the last paragraph here.

Studies indicate that miniaturizing follicles are saturated with high concentrations of PGD2 whereas follicles in the "safe" zone on the same guy do not have those concentrations of PGD2. Platelet rich plasma increases the hair shaft diameter of miniaturized hair. To me, this observation is worthy of further investigation.

For you guys patiently waiting for hair loss researchers to market a cure, I say don't hold your breath.

1.) Hair transplant doctors placed 4mm plugs on men's heads for decades even though they looked like crap.

2.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of minoxidil.

3.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of finasteride.

4.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of dutasteride.

5.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of bimatoprost.

6.) Hair loss researchers didn't develop platelet rich plasma for the treatment of miniaturizing hair due to MPB.


35YrsAfter also posts as CITNews and works at Dr. Cole's office
Cole Hair Transplant
The contents of my posts are my opinions and not medical advice
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. Ask for Chuck

[hellouser]

For you guys patiently waiting for hair loss researchers to market a cure, I say don't hold your breath.

1.) Hair transplant doctors placed 4mm plugs on men's heads for decades even though they looked like crap.

2.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of minoxidil.

3.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of finasteride.

4.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of dutasteride.

5.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of bimatoprost.

6.) Hair loss researchers didn't develop platelet rich plasma for the treatment of miniaturizing hair due to MPB.

So basically, hair loss researchers haven't done shit for bald men.

[35YrsAfter]

So basically, hair loss researchers haven't done shit for bald men.

I don't think it's really that hard to figure out. It's just a matter of doing some detective work with available research and trying out different things to counteract the natural enemies of hair growth.

There was a TV series a while back where an episode placed some highly educated men, PhD level, etc. in a primitive environment where they had to create iron tools... Approx. 1,200 BC technology. They finally achieved success, but not without some significant failures. No doubt researchers are a bright bunch. I've noticed though, often times, brilliance is sharply focused and characterized by a periphery of average to even below average talent and abilities.

35YrsAfter also posts as CITNews and works at Dr. Cole's office
forhair.com
Cole Hair Transplant
1070 Powers Place
Alpharetta, Georgia 30009
Phone 678-566-1011
email 35YrsAfter at chuck@forhair.com
The contents of my posts are my opinions and not medical advice
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. Ask for Chuck

[walrus]

Multiple articles on the PubMed.gov Website (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health) state that PGD2 inhibits platelet aggregation. One example, read the last paragraph here.

Studies indicate that miniaturizing follicles are saturated with high concentrations of PGD2 whereas follicles in the "safe" zone on the same guy do not have those concentrations of PGD2. Platelet rich plasma increases the hair shaft diameter of miniaturized hair. To me, this observation is worthy of further investigation.

PGD2 is also a vasodilator (which is not how minoxidil has been proven to work by the way).
PGD2 also regulates body temperature during sleep.
PGD2 causes contraction of bronchi.

The list goes on. So, to reiterate, there no evidence that any of these or link between PGD2 and platelets have anything to do with hair loss. This is an unfounded theory. There is evidence however, that hair loss is caused by the PGD2 mediated activation of the GPR44 receptor.

[burtandernie]

Are we ever going to see something from that PGD2 discovery? How many years is it going to take before they check if it even works with what we know now? A snails pace is being generous with how fast this stuff goes. I hope I am still alive to see the answer. If we find out it prevents MPB twenty years from now its not of much help to me.

[hellouser]

Are we ever going to see something from that PGD2 discovery? How many years is it going to take before they check if it even works with what we know now? A snails pace is being generous with how fast this stuff goes. I hope I am still alive to see the answer. If we find out it prevents MPB twenty years from now its not of much help to me.

Attention-whoring Dr. George Cotsarelis would be able to answer that for you. Of course, if all goes smoothly he'd answer it in '2-5 years'.

[35YrsAfter]

Are we ever going to see something from that PGD2 discovery? How many years is it going to take before they check if it even works with what we know now? A snails pace is being generous with how fast this stuff goes. I hope I am still alive to see the answer. If we find out it prevents MPB twenty years from now its not of much help to me.

Here is a decent article from 2012 that breaks down some factors related to hair miniaturization in MPB.

Often times common sense and reasoning eliminates the necessity for formal studies. For example I don't need to grind down the roof of my car to the bare metal, duct tape towels continually soaked in salt water to prove, within a relatively short period of time there's going to be rust holes. One doesn't need to try this on their classic DeLorean to prove that stainless steel is highly rust resistant. Perhaps there's a way to safely "galvanize" those hair follicles genetically susceptible to the effects of DHT? There are many approaches to the hair loss problem. I have seen some great successes first hand working at Dr. Cole's.

Here is a Webpage that lists once ridiculed theories that were later proven true.

Chuck

[doke]

Its noted that pgd2 on its own will not regrow lost hair so its no miracle but they are working on mixing it with other drugs to enhance the formula.
So it still seems a long way off till they find something that works in combo so will this be another let down? we do know dht must be a problem that affects us that suffer mpb that make our follicles weak as it happens with some taking anabolic steroids.
Why no trial on topical dutasteride as there was a guy on another site that mixed pure aloe gel with dutas every day fresh and his hair started regrowing so i may try this with minox.

[HairBane]

For you guys patiently waiting for hair loss researchers to market a cure, I say don't hold your breath.

1.) Hair transplant doctors placed 4mm plugs on men's heads for decades even though they looked like crap.

2.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of minoxidil.

3.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of finasteride.

4.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of dutasteride.

5.) Hair loss researchers weren't responsible for the development of bimatoprost.

6.) Hair loss researchers didn't develop platelet rich plasma for the treatment of miniaturizing hair due to MPB.

This is more just a consequence of the way medical discoveries have been made through all of research history. We throw lots of different compounds at a problem, see what helps, and then say "here take this, it should help, we're just not quite sure why". This leads to lots of accidental medical discoveries, such as minoxidil and finasteride. It's also the case with almost ALL medical discoveries ever.

However, with targeted stem cell and gene therapies, that dynamic is changing. It's an entirely different paradigm of biological control. We can, for the first time in history develop targeted treatments for regeneration, genetic conditions, etc. So I wouldn't take those statistics into account.

[35YrsAfter]

This is more just a consequence of the way medical discoveries have been made through all of research history. We throw lots of different compounds at a problem, see what helps, and then say "here take this, it should help, we're just not quite sure why". This leads to lots of accidental medical discoveries, such as minoxidil and finasteride. It's also the case with almost ALL medical discoveries ever.

However, with targeted stem cell and gene therapies, that dynamic is changing. It's an entirely different paradigm of biological control. We can, for the first time in history develop targeted treatments for regeneration, genetic conditions, etc. So I wouldn't take those statistics into account.

I agree.... Great post.

Chuck

[walrus]

Often times common sense and reasoning eliminates the necessity for formal studies. For example I don't need to grind down the roof of my car to the bare metal, duct tape towels continually soaked in salt water to prove, within a relatively short period of time there's going to be rust holes. One doesn't need to try this on their classic DeLorean to prove that stainless steel is highly rust resistant. Perhaps there's a way to safely "galvanize" those hair follicles genetically susceptible to the effects of DHT?

The scientific method exists for a reason. Without a properly designed study it would not be possible to answer the question you pose.