Dr. Wesley Pilofocus

[Artista]

Hi Javert, Yes it will be interesting to see how this turns out.
Once I am notified of when to go in for the testing I will let all know.
We all must stay positive.

[ShookOnes]

Thank you for your replies, all, and I will try my best to address each of your points.

First off, we don't charge $20K. Fees have not even been determined at this clinical stage of piloscopy. The journalist was simply referring to the range of prices currently charged by different surgeons throughout the world (about $3K to $20K). That is simply all that she meant.

ShookOnes: I appreciate your research, but those investigations do not relate to our use of ACell (we are not placing it in a strip nor are we plucking hairs). As I mentioned in my original presentation, the application of ACell will parallel that used in Dr. Cooley's donor area study (see image below). The proposed difference is this: the piloscopic approach may leave the overlying hair fragment in place within its native environment. Incorportion of ACell (e.g. an ACell 'flush' of the underlying pilosocpic plane) coupled with the native environment holds promise of a percentage of the overlying donor fragments resuming their growth cycle. As our instrument development primarily has taken place on cadaveric tissue, this has not been the recent focus. Neither has hair growth - as both donor hair regeneration and new hair growth would be quite disturbing findings on a cadaveric scalp!! This also speaks to Joachim's point: there was never a mysterious presentation to Spencer or to anyone. It was my presentation of the similarities between Cooley's findings and our approach coupled with the potentially-advantageous differences that truly Spencer understood and shared my excitement for its potential. I have never promised this phenomenon, but do believe in its promise.

Perhaps, most importantly, I would like to respond to hellouser's statement that the "delays" are "embarrassing". The first promise we make as physicians is "First, do no harm." While we have been working diligently to develop instrumentation that meets quality assurance standards and provides a safe and effective method to improve upon the status quo, a number of responsibilities (regulatory, manufacturing, investigational review board, sterilization studies, instrument cleaning assurances, etc.) also come into play. Having a busy practice in NYC to maintain as these are all taking place, it's in nobody's best interest to let any of these important items slip through the cracks. I personally, would feel more reassured than embarrassed knowing that an instrument is being carefully designed rather than hastily thrown together and marketed.

While I certainly understand the frustrations of those who wanted this to be done and ready a long ago, I can assure you that I and my engineering team also share your "bloodshot eyes from sleepless nights scrolling through online forums like Hair Loss Help and Bald Truth Talk". The only difference is that ours come from scrolling through all of the design hurdles that we encounter. Thank you for your patience and we'll keep our nose to the grindstone!

any thoughts on his method of using acell? Finally we know..?!

[Artista]

Hey there ShookOnes you said- "any thoughts on his method of using acell? Finally we know..?!"
Those images showing the use of Acell from Dr Wesley's posting on a different thread from yesterday is in fact Dr Jerry Cooley's preliminary finding.
Dr Wesley was respectfully using Dr Cooley's clinical photos to show everyone what might be possible.

Keep in mind that Dr Wesley's method of using Acell is MUCH different than Dr Cooley'S method of using Acell.
Im so glad that Dr Wesley basically explained how he had introduced Acell into HIS type of phase test surgery .
Read his thread https://www.baldtruthtalk.com/thread...e-on-piloscopy...

[ShookOnes]

Hey there ShookOnes you said- "any thoughts on his method of using acell? Finally we know..?!"
Those images showing the use of Acell from Dr Wesley's posting on a different thread from yesterday is in fact Dr Jerry Cooley's preliminary finding.
Dr Wesley was respectfully using Dr Cooley's clinical photos to show everyone what might be possible.

Keep in mind that Dr Wesley's method of using Acell is MUCH different than Dr Cooley'S method of using Acell.
Im so glad that Dr Wesley basically explained how he had introduced Acell into HIS type of phase test surgery .
Read his thread https://www.baldtruthtalk.com/thread...e-on-piloscopy...

That's what I meant.. I was asking for thoughts on Dr. Wesleys method lool.

[Artista]

Hi again Shook'
LOL I thought so,,I just wanted to make sure that no one here assumed that those preliminary Cooley photos were not of Dr Wesley's.

Just to reiterate, I was so VERY IMPRESSED last year when I actually saw Dr Wesley's preliminary 'before and after' photos during that first private Skype presentation last year.
Much more so IMPRESSED than with Dr Cooley prelim' pics. Not to negate what Dr Cooley is also doing !
I would imagine that Dr Wesley will present everything to the public once he is done with his phase testings and everything is in place.
Patience IS a virtue.

[stan]

query from a user at ***

Dr Wesley has been posting updates on BTT regarding pilofocus. A lot of people are comparing his weak statement of regeneration with that of Cooley while I agree with him they are different. He is not implanting plucked hairs and he is able to cleanly (from below the scalp) transect a follicle. Yet he never mentioned the study (or others) showing that transected follicles grow.


For somoe reason I was never able to register at BTT, anyone (hellhouser?) can relay my question to him, which is basically to ask him his opinion on the study below which shows that transected follicles grow back and if that is what he has in mind....


BACKGROUND The use of bisected hair follicles in hair transplantation has been previously reported,but the capacity of each half to regenerate the entire hair has not been clarified.
OBJECTIVE To evaluate duplicative surgery rate of success and to analyze the cell populations involvedin hair regeneration.
METHODS We screened 28 patients undergoing duplicative surgery. Approximately 100 hair folliclesfrom each patient were horizontally bisected and implanted. Upper and lower portions were stained forthe known epithelial stem cell markers CD200, p63,b1-integrin, CD34, and K19.
RESULTS Similar percentages of hair regrowth after 12 months were observed when implanting theupper (72.770.4%) and lower (69.271.1%) portions. Expression of CD200, p63, and b1-integrin wasdetected in both portions, whereas K19 and CD34 stained different cell populations in the upper andlower fragment, respectively.
CONCLUSION Duplicative surgery might represent a successful alternative for hair transplantation,because both portions are capable of regenerating a healthy hair. Moreover, our results suggest thepossible presence of stem cells in both halves of the follicle.

[joachim]

Hi again Shook'
LOL I thought so,,I just wanted to make sure that no one here assumed that those preliminary Cooley photos were not of Dr Wesley's.

Just to reiterate, I was so VERY IMPRESSED last year when I actually saw Dr Wesley's preliminary 'before and after' photos during that first private Skype presentation last year.
Much more so IMPRESSED than with Dr Cooley prelim' pics. Not to negate what Dr Cooley is also doing !
I would imagine that Dr Wesley will present everything to the public once he is done with his phase testings and everything is in place.
Patience IS a virtue.

what kind of preliminary before/after photos if the procedure was tested so far on cadavers only? what made them so impressive then?

[Artista]

Hi Joachim,
The privately shown 'before/after pics that I referred to were from early last year in Dr Wesley's Skype Presentation 2013.
They are from Dr Wesley's first initial phase test studies done with LIVE volunteer patients.
Only a very small number of people and other doctors have seen the Presentation which included the photos .

The before/after pics shown with cadavers that you are referring to are only meant to update his Piloscopy instrumentation. Nothing to do with regrowth testing... of course.

[Sogeking]

Hi Joachim,
The privately shown 'before/after pics that I referred to were from early last year in Dr Wesley's Skype Presentation 2013.
They are from Dr Wesley's first initial phase test studies done with LIVE volunteer patients.
Only a very small number of people and other doctors have seen the Presentation which included the photos .

The before/after pics shown with cadavers that you are referring to are only meant to update his Piloscopy instrumentation. Nothing to do with regrowth testing... of course.

Hi Artista, glad you are back man .

Honestly there is contention about donor regrowth with transecting follicles (Dr. Gho comes in mind). So basically if Dr. Wesley has indeed documented some donor regrowth that is certainly good news. However some questions still remain. What percentage of regrowth occurs in average, and can those folicles that do regrow be used again in HT session with pilofocus of course? I guess this will be answered after the trials.

However I am interested if you know when do the trials exactly tart, at least for you, and how many people are going to be in the trials (if you can divulge that information)?

[Artista]

Thanks Sogeking, ( my life has been so busy and stressful at times-all work related)
Those questions of yours will have to be answered after the next round of phase testings. I dont know what the actual percentage numbers were from that first round but I can honestly say that I was truly astounded by those before/after photos. Spencer was surprised as well.
As far as my upcoming phase test activity is concerned, I know that it has been said that phase testing would begin this month but I have yet to get the call. Im confident that Ill hear from Dr Wesley sometime soon..Cheers to you bro

[FearTheLoss]

Artista, is Dr. Wesley opposed to us seeing that presentation you were able to see? I don't see what the big deal is about him showing it us, although I understand if he doesn't want to.

[FearTheLoss]

Hi again Shook'
LOL I thought so,,I just wanted to make sure that no one here assumed that those preliminary Cooley photos were not of Dr Wesley's.

Just to reiterate, I was so VERY IMPRESSED last year when I actually saw Dr Wesley's preliminary 'before and after' photos during that first private Skype presentation last year.
Much more so IMPRESSED than with Dr Cooley prelim' pics. Not to negate what Dr Cooley is also doing !
I would imagine that Dr Wesley will present everything to the public once he is done with his phase testings and everything is in place.
Patience IS a virtue.

Okay, so you're saying you have seen pictures of Dr. Wesley's method regenerating hair? These being different than the ones of Dr. Cooley's he showed in the powerpoint to the general public?

[mjolnir]

One thing I've always wondered about these methods with the potential for donor regeneration is whether there's any concern over telomere shortening - a cell can only divide so many times, and if you're using the same follicle over and over, expecting it to grow new complete follicles, presumably you're necessitating more cell divisions than would normally be required during the lifetime of said follicle. Telomere shortening in general causes many of the problems associated with aging, and I could imagine follicles that have been frequently split having problems several years after a procedure.

[Kiwi]

One thing I've always wondered about these methods with the potential for donor regeneration is whether there's any concern over telomere shortening - a cell can only divide so many times, and if you're using the same follicle over and over, expecting it to grow new complete follicles, presumably you're necessitating more cell divisions than would normally be required during the lifetime of said follicle. Telomere shortening in general causes many of the problems associated with aging, and I could imagine follicles that have been frequently split having problems several years after a procedure.

So the worst case scenario is that we have ageing grey hair? and we all look like the handsome silver fox... bring it on!!!

[Artista]

Hi mjolnir, you made a very valid point in question.. Spencer had shown the same basic concern.. Although the very first phase test did show very impressive and promising
regeneration/regrowth in the patients donor regions, it is as we have said, very anecdotal. You defined the concern quite well thanks bro! We shall see how it goes with the next phase testing and of course subsequent testings afterwards.