Spencer Kobren Interviews Dr. Jerry Cooley | ACell MatriStem Plucked Hair

[KeepTheHair]

lol What are we even arguing about.


I agree this is a huge huge step in the right direction. This might even make some completely bald people(that have a lot of money) into norwood 3-2's again. This is really good.


I am just not that full of hope at all right now. This doesn't change anything for me. I can't afford to travel to get a HT and then pay for it also. Even if I could... FUE has bad yield and FUT has room for too much complications. HTs aren't that great right now at all in my opinion... This is still a HT. Just a more complicated one for someone with donor.


I am being a ass probably. But I also try to help people here. I doubt we all come here when we are full of optimism about life and all that.

[mlao]

You are young and everyone on this site has been supportive to you from your first post.
If you were 45 and there was no other cure available to you this would be the Holy Grail.
Nobody can truly predict future hair loss I have seen guys who were perfect, thick NW1s until the reached 40 and then in a matter of 4 years became NW4s. This is truly a break thru but I guess a guy like me will never be as smart as you!!!

[KeepTheHair]

I think you should CAREFULLY read the interview it implies that in theory a person could have an unlimited donor supply. You pluck a hair from the donor area which grows back, you apply the acell to the plucked hair, you implant that hair and it produces a new hair.

I think if you CAREFULLY read my post you will know that you don't answer my question.






I am just saying, unlimited donor is only important if you need big, big transplants done. Not so? I admit I don't fully understand everything. But I doubt this changes much for me since I don't need that many grafts. This will only make a HT more expensive for me. For a norwood 4+ this is definitely good news though.

[clee984]

I was so excited by this news that I went out and got drunk last night.

Don't get me wrong, I go out and get drunk every night, but I am still vibrating with excitement because of this news. Unlimited donor hair is a cure, as far as I'm concerned. It's all gravy.

[mlao]

Does Acell change anything for someone with more than enough donor? Or is it just good for people that need to have several HTs with only minimal donor.


I don't really see how this changes everything although it definitely is a big step.

I think you should CAREFULLY read the interview it implies that in theory a person could have an unlimited donor supply. You pluck a hair from the donor area which grows back, you apply the acell to the plucked hair, you implant that hair and it produces a new hair.

[KeepTheHair]

Does Acell change anything for someone with more than enough donor? Or is it just good for people that need to have several HTs with only minimal donor.


I don't really see how this changes everything although it definitely is a big step.

[Jonathan]

Dr Cooley,
I am writing from Sweden, and I am very excited over Your promising research results. Are you planning to build out Your organisation, train new surgeans etc, to meet the request that will come from all over the world?
In short, when do you think a person like me will get access to this new technique?
Yours sincerely
Jonathan

[utah23]

I'm sure that I am not the only one who has been thinking a lot about this news recently. I really want to believe that we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel (overdramatic ha ha).
I have been wondering, since the big presentation at the ISHRS conference, if there are plans to study the ACELL technology in a more aggressive way? Weren't there clinical trials that tested thousands of men using Propecia before it was approved? Even with the clinical trials that Histogen is now involved in, it seems that there is a plan to get their product to the consumer as fast as possible.
With Acell (since it is already FDA approved), it kind of seems like there are just a couple of doctors experimenting with the stuff in their clinics with trail and error. I wonder if there was more of a program, doctors got on board and really aggressively tried to make this work, if it could become a realistic option in a quicker amount of time. Something similar to the clinical trial programs that we are all so used to hearing about. Not telling anybody how to do their job, just wondering if anybody has heard of any programs that are being created to more aggressively study this technology. Thanks

[Skywalker]

Potentially Fantastic News

It is very hard not to get very excited by this, but I have seen so many 'false dawns' that I am trying hard to retain my usual scepticism

Thanks for posting Dr Cooley and for trying to move things forward for us, if this new hair can be delivered consistently and cycles properly with donor dominance then you and Dr Hitzig (good reputation or not) will have changed the hair loss restoration industry forever. It would mean that for the first time people with poor donor like me can consider an HT transplant a real possibility instead of an impossibility.

[ryan555]

You're doing the Lord's work, Dr. Cooley. I am so glad there are doctors with the cojones to move technology forward instead of just sitting back and accepting the status quo. Keep pushing forward.

[Fixed by 35]

I think the lack of news coverage may be because this is a cosmetic procedure. In much the same way as gastric bands et al never made the headlines, nor has this. FUE only reached the British press early this year as far as I can tell, when it was already being offered to patients.

Certainly, the British media will only cover what they perceive as a miracle. Now, don't get me wrong, if this works it is a miracle. But the British press will only consider a magic pill or potion worthy of coverage, rather than cosmetic surgery.

[utah23]

I'm so impressed that Dr. Cooley is taking the time to answer these questions. News like this is very exciting and I am sure he is being flooded with questions and phone calls. Like everyone else, I am excited for this breakthrough.
I mean absolutely no disrespect to Dr. Cooley when I say that we have all learned to take news like this with a grain of salt. The hairloss industry as a whole is really a scary place. It eases my mind that Spencer seems to be excited about this and I also noticed that respected surgeons like Dr. Bernstein and Dr. Rassman have blogged about their excitement as well.
I don't personally know any of these men though and when you look at us as a group of hairloss sufferers on this forum, we are small. I hope that I am not crazy to get excited about something I read on a small forum on the internet. (again, no disrespect intended).
The point of my post is that, if this were all true (which it very well could be, as far as I know Spencer and Dr. Cooley have good track records) wouldn't it be receiving some more major national news coverage? Does anyone know if it has and if I have just missed it? It just seems like news as big as successfully creating hair follicles where there weren't any before would be talked about in more places than on bald truth talk.
I mean ABSOLUTELY no disrespect with this post. I am as excited to see the results of Dr. Cooley's work as anybody else. I think that I can speak for a lot of us when I say that hair loss can be exhausting and I have become a little bit of a sceptic.
One more thought... I know that Dr. Hitzig was heavily involved in this as well and from things I have read about him, he doesn't have a great reputation. I know that this is the internet and people can say anything about anyone and remain anonymous but this still worries me. Any input from anybody would be great.

[abb83]

i jsut dont get it

maybe it's because english it's not my first language but if you have a transplant then the donor site is stitch back together, where does the new clonned hairs will appear??

[Fixed by 35]

You miss my point. The huge mass majority of hairloss sufferers fit into the category MPB.. that's MALE patern baldness. Ergo.. it would make a stronger case for a hair loss solution if for example Dr. Cooley cited test that were actually performed on bald men.. not talking about 1500 graphs he did on a female head. Why didn't he talk about a 4000 hair session performed on a bald guy, I'm sure there's like 10,000 bald guys out there who even not knowing the permanency of this procedure would jump at the chance... but alas.. he talks about 1500 graphs he did on a female head. Why does this already make me uneasy about the promise of this procedure?!

It always troubles me when pioneers are criticised in this way by amateurs. To be fair, this is quite tame; sometimes, hair growth researchers are treated like criminals for trying to do something (think Whitfield). What they're doing is not only huge, it is almost certainly beyond our comprehension. I hope I speak for everyone when I say show these people some RESPECT.

[Jerry Cooley, MD]

Sorry to pile on with the questions Dr. Cooley. One more:

Would a recipient area that has already endured a transplant and that simply needs more density still be considered a healthy scalp for the purposes of reaching approx 75%, or would the little scars resulting from the previous procedure make it fall into the 40-50% range? In other words, by 'scar' are you just referring to the donor scar in the back?

Thanks again for all you're doing. Many docs may push back against or remain skeptical of these advances but I hope you stay resolute! You're drastically changing the face of your medical profession as we speak!!

How do you intend to find out whether these hairs will cycle normally? How long will this take?

We plan to re-pluck the hair and see if it grows back. This will indicate it is cycling into anagen again.
Also

How do you intend to find out whether these hairs will be sensitive to DHT? How long will this take?

One option is test for androgen receptors and 5-alpha-reductase levels in the new follicles, but this is difficult to do. Another way is to simply observe what happens to grafts placed in balding areas (e.g. the balding crown). This will take time.

--Dr Cooley