The elderly generation may have given in gracefully to a receding hairline or perhaps a bald head as a natural process. But for the younger lot, it is still a distressing occurrence, and for some, it shatters their self-confidence.
This is why despite the numerous hair treatments that already exist, and many that are also super effective, we’re still waiting with bated breath. We’re waiting for the glorious day when Science would claim it has found a 100% effective magic bullet to cure our receding hairline.
Are you in the same boat too? Then here is a summary of Science’s progress thus far.
The Progress of Science
Hair loss has affected millions of individuals of both genders for decades, yet we have seen no 100% cure come forth. Androgenetic alopecia or pattern baldness is the most common hair loss, and approximately fifty million men and thirty million women in the U.S. alone suffer.
For most men, a receding hairline begins above their temples and then progresses into an “M” shape. During this, their hair atop the crown also begins to fade, progressing on to complete or partial baldness. For women, pattern baldness or receding hairline has a different pattern. For women, their hair generally grows thinner all over.
The male sex hormone or heredity is generally responsible for the male pattern baldness. For female pattern baldness, there is uncertainty about the true cause. It frequently occurs after menopause and can relate to reducing female hormones.
Since many masses suffer androgenetic alopecia, a permanent cure would reduce much of the anxiety prevalent in that lot. Moreover, any pharmaceutical company that would reach such a discovery would mint millions with their magical product.
But having said, is it time to build our hopes high? Perhaps it is.
Scientists have reached another breakthrough in the last year in their quest for a permanent cure for baldness. They believe they can now create natural hair with the help of stem cells. This breakthrough could mean that we’re closer than ever to potential and permanent cure for a receding hairline.
Recent developments include explorations of a series of scientific publications involving stem-cell research as well as 3Dprinting. These advances aim to clone a person’s actual hair and then insert it into her or her scalp in unlimited and incredible quantities.
Researchers, particularly from the United States, claim to have invented an advanced method to grow hair using mice skin. They used dermal papilla cells that they extracted from the human pluripotent stem cells.
When they presented their developments so far at the International Society’s annual meeting for Stem Cell Research in Los Angeles, they called their findings a “critical breakthrough in hair loss.”
In studies, the research combined mice cells with human stem cells and then attached them to a biodegradable 3D scaffold. They made this scaffold using the same materials present in dissolvable stitches.
The primary function of this scaffold is to control the condition in which the hair will grow. It will also integrate the stem cells into the skin and work as a tough natural barrier. The professor who licensed the technology states that their new protocol has overcome the crucial technological advancements that had compelled them to keep the discovery hidden thus far.
Now, with all evidence and results in places, the world will access to a highly-controlled and robust method of generating natural-like hair typically. The hair will also grow through the skin with the help of an unlimited human iPSC source. This source is derived from the dermal papilla cells.
This breakthrough has sent waves of excitement in hair loss, cell-based therapies, and the medical field of regeneration. Hair loss is an inevitable fate of millions of people worldwide today, but scientists hope that this Science will be applicable and 100% effective on humans.
They claim that an unlimited supply of stem cells exist that they can derive through a simple withdrawal of blood. The hair treatments you can pick today include drugs such as rogaine, minoxidil, finasteride, etc. Other options include laser therapies or hair transplants that can cost thousands of dollars. Additionally, transplants are also a discomforting procedure.
Many people believe that Science has been slack in creating a foolproof method of hair growth. After all, how difficult is it really to create hair in a lab? Hair is just a strand made out of protein filaments. It does not have to function as our brains or liver; it merely has to sit, grow, and not fall out.
The truth is, our hair is much more complex than a researcher would have expected. Every single strand of ours takes at least thousands of stem cells we refer to as dermal papillae. They sit at the base of each of our follicles. Our scalp contains around a hundred thousand follicles, but each has a limited life span.
As our dermal papillae diminish over time, our follicles tend to miniaturize and become inactive ultimately. When any of our follicles become dormant, we cannot restore them afterward. So the ads you do see for hair restoration refer to the transplants that take hair from a certain part of the scalp is grafted into the balding spots.
Not only are surgical transplants way too costly, but they also produce limited results in how many vital hair follicles the professional was able to attach to the bald spots.
Thus, the only cure we can hope for is some magic bullet that will permanently and continuously generate new hair. The discovery and breakthrough we have mentioned in this article refer to Science creating cell therapy’s bodily structures. These will work to cure our receding hairlines with our stem cells in the future. Till then, we only need to keep our fingers crossed.
Final Thoughts
Scientists are on an ultimate quest to create hair farms for humans. They strive to develop a magic bullet in the name of treatment to grow hair from our stem cells and not fetal. Stem cells that will come from our blood or skin and the hair follicles, rich in dermal papillae, will be inserted into our dormant follicles to bring them back to life.
