bimatoprost

So when is the next big hair loss solution?

The answer is unfortunately totally unknown. Many people on here talk about Histogen and Aderans, and those have some potentially significant upcoming dates that you can find in other threads. Allergan is supposed to have an upcoming trial on the stronger formulation of Bimatoprost that is supposed to start in the next three months, and we should probably hear about the results at the end of 2014 or so. If it's successful, the product might not be on the market for 5-6 years after that. The new Follica/Cotsarelis information is pretty interesting, but as far as I know there's no way to know what the timeline is for any products they're developing.

There might not be any viable treatments in our lifetimes. There might be one in ten to twenty years. There could be one in the next five years. No one knows if anything is going to come about, not even the most knowledgeable researchers in the world like Dr. Cotsarelis. But we are living in a time, the very first time I believe, when very sophisticated medical research is really leading to an understanding of the mechanisms of hair loss and applying that understanding to developing treatments. There is reason for some cautious optimism but I personally don't think anything is right around the corner, although Histogen/Aderans supporters might disagree. At this time, I remain interested in Bimatoprost and will be watching the developments over the next year and a half.

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Originally Posted by beetee133

There might not be any viable treatments in our lifetimes. There might be one in ten to twenty years. There could be one in the next five years.

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Follica already has the cure. Bam, our lifetime.

What cure does Follica have? Give me a link for more information.

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Originally Posted by beetee133

There might not be any viable treatments in our lifetimes. There might be one in ten to twenty years. There could be one in the next five years. No one knows if anything is going to come about, not even the most knowledgeable researchers in the world like Dr. Cotsarelis. But we are living in a time, the very first time I believe, when very sophisticated medical research is really leading to an understanding of the mechanisms of hair loss and applying that understanding to developing treatments. There is reason for some cautious optimism but I personally don't think anything is right around the corner, although Histogen/Aderans supporters might disagree. At this time, I remain interested in Bimatoprost and will be watching the developments over the next year and a half.

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Agree with this 100%, alot of reason for cautious optimism but unfortunately this biotech industry moves at SUCH a slow pace I cant imagine anything significant being done without going grey market and taking a few risks.

I think histogen will come out and give you a solid 20-30% hairloss boost which is great, but full-out cures and alternatives wont be coming in the next few years, unless we go out ourselves and buy a product in early trials, which in itself is very risky!

judging from the latest theories, it seems to me that it wont be one single thing that cures your hairloss, but a combination of 2-3 different medicines(say PGD2 inhibitors, wounding/FGF9 to kickstart the cell, then PGE2 supporters) PGE2 we have in a minor way with say Minoxidil or the oils i believe, PGD2 we are very close to finding something grey market wise, however the major need may be that FGF9 wounding process, which I dont believe we may be able to do ourselves yet.

I think single medicines like histogen may reinforce and boost your hair, or FIN may maintain your hair, but i think the process to actually reverse hairloss will take multiple things.

What cure does Follica have? Give me a link for more information.

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Originally Posted by Chris511026

What cure does Follica have? Give me a link for more information.

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http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-0...ring-hair.html

they dont necessarily have a cure, just more of a decent sounding theory. this came out a couple weeks ago.

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I think single medicines like histogen may reinforce and boost your hair, or FIN may maintain your hair, but i think the process to actually reverse hairloss will take multiple things.

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Do you think there will be an alternative to FIN that maintains hair and prevents further hair loss in the next five years?

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Originally Posted by Chris511026

Do you think there will be an alternative to FIN that maintains hair and prevents further hair loss in the next five years?

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100%, PGD2 inhibitors seem to be a good near-future candidate for that. Just about finding the right one which alot of forumers are trying to figure out.

you already have RU, as well as CB(but the vehicle needed for that needs to be figured out) for current alternatives.

There are ALOT of near-future options for alternatives to fin, but thats strictly talking maintenance.

Yes, unfortunately I don't think Follica has a cure yet, although their latest news release and the discovery of the FGF9/wound healing link that they described in the Nature article is very interesting and promising. I think there may have been a little confusion as their press release stated that they had achieved follicular neogenesis for the first time, but it seems that most people that have read it closely agree that this was referring to the results of an earlier (I think around 2007) wounding trial and not the results of something based on the most recent FGF9 research. So the idea is that going forward they would be using that earlier wounding system with some other kind of chemicals that they will identify as a result of the FGF9 research.

Still, good news. I think it's very likely that if a "cure" comes about it will be from Follica/Cotsarelis and this line of research, and I don't think there's another academic out there that has been working towards a cure so consistently and made so much progress. In order to get to the end point there have to be many many steps in between, and while those steps may be frustrating in comparison to the desired end goal, we're not going to get there without them.

Also, this may be of interest:

"Prostaglandin E2 induces fibroblast growth factor 9 via EP3-dependent protein kinase Cdelta and Elk-1 signaling."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16982695

So it seems there is a link between PGE2 and FGF9, which could be interesting for those following these two strands of research. Now I don't know if this relationship is sufficient to induce the kind of feedback signaling that Cotsarelis describes in his article in Nature as being necessary to instigate follicular neogenesis, but it seems to me that the main thing coming out of that article is that they need to introduce some chemical that either induces FGF9 production or mimics FGF9 (similar to how bimatoprost is a PGE2 analogue and not PGE2 itself) that they can introduce during the wounding process. They used some chemical to induce FGF9 production in mice during the studies reported in the Nature article, so either that chemical, or perhaps a PGE2 analogue. Or maybe just the PGE2 analogue could play an important role in FGF9 production without other processes.

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Originally Posted by rdawg

Agree with this 100%, alot of reason for cautious optimism but unfortunately this biotech industry moves at SUCH a slow pace I cant imagine anything significant being done without going grey market and taking a few risks.

I think histogen will come out and give you a solid 20-30% hairloss boost which is great, but full-out cures and alternatives wont be coming in the next few years, unless we go out ourselves and buy a product in early trials, which in itself is very risky!

judging from the latest theories, it seems to me that it wont be one single thing that cures your hairloss, but a combination of 2-3 different medicines(say PGD2 inhibitors, wounding/FGF9 to kickstart the cell, then PGE2 supporters) PGE2 we have in a minor way with say Minoxidil or the oils i believe, PGD2 we are very close to finding something grey market wise, however the major need may be that FGF9 wounding process, which I dont believe we may be able to do ourselves yet.

I think single medicines like histogen may reinforce and boost your hair, or FIN may maintain your hair, but i think the process to actually reverse hairloss will take multiple things.

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Rdawg, from what we understand of the concepts underlying the recent research, I think you're spot on that some sort of multi-faceted approach like what you describe (in fact, exactly as you describe it) would most likely be required. It's a little scary to think how long each of these components would take to get FDA approval.

Is Bimatoprost known for darkening the skin of the scalp within the area it is being applied?

Or have I already asked that question?

Does bimatoprost change the pigmentation of your hair? So if I have brown hair, it'll change it to black?

The current product made by Allergan has been reported to have the potential to darken skin, but that product is made for eyelashes. From what I understand it is not common but it is listed as a potential side effect. It has also been stated by Allergan officials that they thought if their experimental product worked it might also darken scalp hair, but that is theoretical as that product does not exist yet (if it ever will).

You can ask others on here that have experimented with Bimatoprost or similar PGE2 analogues as to what kind of results they've had, but I haven't heard any evidence, either anecdotal or scientific, that the current formulations will do anything noticeable for scalp hair. It's really tempting to want to do something, even if there's no real evidence that it will work, but to be honest there's a very good chance you may spend a lot of money and not get any results at all. You may want to wait, as hard as that may seem, to see if Allergan is able to produce something for scalp hair that has shown evidence that it will work.

But wait for how long? How long will it be?

Are there any promising drugs that are in the pipeline for hair loss maintenance as alternatives to propecia?

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Originally Posted by Chris511026

Are there any promising drugs that are in the pipeline for hair loss maintenance as alternatives to propecia?

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Histogen's HSC...which should be available in Europe by late 2015 and USA by 2018.

Also CB, which should be out in America by 2016..2017 at the latest.

Fear the Loss: I'm not familiar with CB, can you let me know what it is?

Chris511026: I think the great majority of people that are on these forums are overall fairly eager, if not downright desperate, for some kind of viable treatment to come on the market. We're all in the same boat. However, all of that combined desire for something to come out does not have any impact on the speed with which a product can or will come to market. To some extent we have to be patient as we really don't have a choice, even though I'm sure that none of us like that fact. On the positive side, I believe there are more products in the pipeline than at any time in the past and that these products are based on a deeper understanding of the science of the human body and the underlying mechanisms of MPB, and therefore on some level would seem more likely to produce results. People have faith or interest in different potential products for different reasons, so you may want to investigate the likeliest candidates, like the ones Fear The Loss points out, do a little research, and settle in to wait and follow the developments.

Perhaps keep in mind that if something like a "cure" does come out, you will be part of the first generation in human history that has access to something like that, and that that would actually be a pretty incredible thing.

Rest assured though that any company that creates a product will immediately be among the most successful companies in the world, so the financial incentive is there in spades for them to develop something. Every single major scientific development that has any possible implications for treating MPB is being explored by some company somewhere. The promise of stem cells for regenerative medicine is a very real phenomenon, and one that could potentially be applied here, which would be very big (and good) news.

Allergan's clinical trials on the reformulated version of Bimatoprost for hair are to begin in early August of this year and set to wrap up in early to mid 2015. I would expect results to be reported at around that time.

Has anyone tried Saw Palmetto for hair loss. Is it effective? Maintenance?

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Originally Posted by Chris511026

Has anyone tried Saw Palmetto for hair loss. Is it effective? Maintenance?

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no, it is not effective. i used it and did nothing but it is good for your health though

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Originally Posted by Chris511026

Has anyone tried Saw Palmetto for hair loss. Is it effective? Maintenance?

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Kind of a side to this but is there a reason you only seem to post/look at this thread? I always see you update it every once in a while, not hating just curious haha. There are tonnes of other good threads you know

to answer your question, many use Saw Palmetto on the side, but it doesn't really do much.

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Originally Posted by Chris511026

Has anyone tried Saw Palmetto for hair loss. Is it effective? Maintenance?

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I used a lot of it, for a long time. Can't say it made any difference at all to my hair, unfortunately.

I wanted to know if in the future I decide to go with a hair transplant where they graft hair from the back of my head can it only be done on areas of the scalp that are already bald? Since I've been on propecia I've been able to maintain but that hair will shed once I get off propecia. I don't want to have to go bald before I get a hair transplant. Can they graft hair on preexisting hair that is guaranteed to fall out is my question?

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Originally Posted by Chris511026

I wanted to know if in the future I decide to go with a hair transplant where they graft hair from the back of my head can it only be done on areas of the scalp that are already bald? Since I've been on propecia I've been able to maintain but that hair will shed once I get off propecia. I don't want to have to go bald before I get a hair transplant. Can they graft hair on preexisting hair that is guaranteed to fall out is my question?

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If you let your existing hair fall out after getting a hair transplant, you'll look awful

What are you saying? That I should let it fall out before getting the hair transplant?

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Originally Posted by Chris511026

What are you saying? That I should let it fall out before getting the hair transplant?

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No, that you should maintain as much as you can. Right now if you go totally bald, even with surgery, there's no coming back from it. You want to maintain as much of your natural hair as you can. IIRC almost all people who have a hair transplant are on finasteride for life afterwards. Otherwise you end up with a hairline and nothing else.

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Originally Posted by HairBane

IIRC almost all people who have a hair transplant are on finasteride for life afterwards. Otherwise you end up with a hairline and nothing else.

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Depends if you had grafts placed in the entire forelock or just the hairline, and age, too.