It’s the bald truth.
Researchers at San Carlos Clinical Hospital in Madrid have developed a cure for androgenetic alopecia, commonly known as pattern hair loss.
An estimated 80 million Americans — 50 million men and 30 million women — experience some form of alopecia, although it affects women differently than men.
Men usually go through a receding hairline and bald spots, whereas women get thinner at the part line but rarely go fully bald.
In the study — published in the journal Stem Cell Research and Therapy — researchers used a combo of fat‑tissue-derived stem cells and the energy molecule ATP to reverse hair loss in mice, with shocking results.
All of the male mice grew back their coats. Half had full regrowth, while the other half had intensive regrowth.
Among females, a whopping 90% saw intense or complete hair revival.
Eduardo López Bran, head of the Dermatology Department at the Hospital Clínico San Carlos, explained that their special method “stimulates hair regeneration by combining the regenerative capacity of the former with the energy provided by the latter. This synergy favors the recovery of the hair follicle, promoting hair growth.”
While the findings will need to be replicated in human trials, the results pave a promising way forward in the fight against hair loss.
“In the future, we will be able to offer new solutions that allow us to meet patients’ expectations, allowing them access to new treatments that prioritize their well-being,” Eduardo López Bran said.
It’s an exciting development in an area where there’s plenty of room for growth.
While hair transplant surgery is on the rise, many people don’t realize that it actually often takes several procedures to achieve the desired result.
“An alarming trend is patients who now go to perform a hair transplant by a physician who does not consult the patient about his or her hair loss nor is he actively involved in the surgery,” Texas facial plastic surgeon and hair restoration expert Dr. Samuel Lam previously told The Post.
He noted that this troubling practice is “most rampant” in Turkey — where hair transplant surgery has exploded due to its relative affordability — but it is “also extremely prevalent in the US, unfortunately.”
Meanwhile, some men have been vocal about how post-finasteride syndrome (PFS) — a condition in which someone experiences severe side effects after they stop using finasteride — has completely upended their lives.
One woman even recently chronicled how PFS destroyed her husband’s sex drive — and ended their marriage.
Researchers are racing to find new, safer and more affordable hair loss treatments, inventing non-hormonal pills and gummies and repurposing older drugs to find a sustainable solution.
