Hair-raising cells offer bald solution. Cells grown in a laboratory may offer a solution to hair loss, preliminary trials suggest.
The technique involves taking a small amounts of the remaining hair cells, multiplying them, then injecting them into bald areas.
Six months after treatment, 11 out of 19 patients had grown new hair, UK researchers told an Italian conference.
But a UK specialist said more work would be needed so the new hair looked right.
The new method, called “follicular cell implantation” and developed by British firm Intercytex, claims to be able to provide a limitless supply of replacement hair cells.
If trials show it to be safe and effective, it could be available within five years.
Doctors take only the dermal papilla cells, which are found in the follicle and are responsible for hair growth.
They are harvested from areas on the back of the head, bathed in a specially developed chemical and placed back into bald areas of the scalp.
“It will revolutionise hair care, I think,” said Intercytex’s scientific officer Dr Paul Kemp.
“People will use this when they are starting to go bald – they’ll come and see us, we’ll take a few dermal papilla cells, grow them up in the lab, freeze most of them, and inject some.”
“They can keep coming back as the balding process continues.
“I’m convinced it will work – it’s just a question of fine tuning the technique.