We have a vast array of regenerative medicines for treating hair loss. These include:
Cytokine rich plasma
Platelet rich plasma (PRP)
Extracellular matrix injections + topical treatments
Amniotic membrane
Autologous follicle stem cell injections + topical treatments
Soon, we will also offer adipose-enriched stem cells. Derived from body fat, adipose stem cells include a variety of regenerative stem cell populations, including: pericytes (considered by some researchers to be equivalent to mesenchymal stem cells), supra-adventitial adipose stromal cells, and hematopoietic stem cells. We look forward to sharing more about this exciting development!
Follicle Cell Stimulation Research is Advancing Quickly
Most of our regenerative treatments currently link to one of several treatment types:
Growth factors -A diverse range of small proteins that encourage cellular division.
Cytokines -Small proteins that play an important role in cell signaling.
Chemokines -A specific family of cytokines that play an important role in cell migration for hair development.
Each is contributive to hair growth. While very effective, we are currently researching new ways to improve and hasten this process. Below, we outline several new advancements that we are proud to introduce and explain.
Radical PRP Improvement
Only two centers in the world currently offer cytokine-rich plasma -our own and Greco Medical Group. We carefully studied PRP this past year to optimize it and deliver the highest concentrations of specific growth factors. Then, we took this one step further.
PRP Efficiency and Growth Factor Concentration
First, understand that platelets have many cellular parts irrelevant to hair regeneration. Not only ineffective, these irrelevant parts also bottleneck activation. The body, in fact, must remove unnecessary cellular debris from the platelets after they activate. Our research involves removing this debris, thereby increasing the PRP's concentration of growth factors.
We developed a protocol to lyse the platelets, removing the cellular debris. This enables us to deliver five to eight times the concentration of growth factors available from even the best PRP kits.
Excellent Results
What are the benefits of these high concentrations of growth factors?
Transplant regrowth
Increased hair density
We discovered that transplanted grafts resume growing much faster after our cytokine-rich plasma injections. Hair density, meanwhile, increases 50% by 6 months using our PRP and ACell treatments.
The Future: Sustained Release
We are also taking our cytokine-rich plasma a step further this year. We are combining our cytokine-rich plasma with microparticles. Like other treatments, this delivers a sudden burst of growth factors for follicles. More significantly, combining these two factors also creates a sustained release of growth factors.
ACell Improvements
We are also studying the application of ACell in hyaluronic gel. Applying this treatment to FUE extraction sites is doing two things:
Encouraging overall hair health
Decreasing the incidence of scarring
This ACell hyaluronic gel is the perfect complement for our premier FUE solution: Cole Isolation Technique (CIT®). This minimum-invasion technique has a few advantages. The most immediate, and obvious, is a lack of scarring. Further, CIT® also leaves CK15 and CD34 stem cells in the donor area.
Remnant Stem Cells Promote Regeneration and Scalp Health
Why is this a big deal? The remnants of these cells allow the donor area to regenerate extracted hair follicles. About 30% of all extraction sites regenerate at least one hair follicle. Regardless, pinpointing the extraction site is a challenge. Particularly after application of ACell, CIT® extractions are undetectable. Unto itself, this is a good thing.
Normal appearing skin signifies the regrowth of tiny blood vessels. Such vessels are absent in every other method of FUE. As many hair restoration experts make the point out, blood flow to the scalp is essential to promote hair growth and health.
Patient-derived Stem Cells Make the Difference
Increasingly, we find that the origin of stem cells is also important. Namely, top effectiveness requires using the patient's own stem cells. Doctors widely acknowledge that PRP treatment is vastly more effective if it derives from the patient's own body. We are currently proving the same with ACell. The effects are noteworthy, and we plan to pursue this research.
In addition to patient-derived stem cells, we are also combining the ACell treatment with microparticles. This addition does three things:
Aggregate formation of stem cells
Promote cell viability
Enhance neovascularization
Our Methodology
We produce follicle stem cells by taking nine to fifteen follicular units from your donor area, removing the hair shaft, and then turning the entire complex into stem cells through mechanical means. We are enclosing a photograph of a woman treated one month previously with her own follicle stem cells.
Advances in Adipose Stem Cells
We recently developed a method to harvest adipose stem cells from hair-bearing skin. The secret? Harvesting from the shallower areas. Adipocytes are lipocytes or shallow "fat cells" that enhance energy storage.
How? Lipocytes are far more likely to carry regenerative growth cells for hair follicles. The shallower, the better. This alternative is proving itself to maximize regeneration. Such advances encourage more regeneration than any other method across the world.
Why Spend More?
We are ecstatic about personalizing stem cells and adding them to our treatments. More importantly, we are also willing to prove its effectiveness. We are offering stem cell treatment for any procedure of over 2000 grafts for a limited time. Schedule to maximize your hairline and its density.
John Cole, MD