New Hair Growth Technology
New hair growth technology provides hope to people who suffer from hair loss. Scientific breakthroughs in drug design, hair cloning and stem cell stimulation has led to promising new treatments to grow hair. Does this Spark an idea?
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Significance
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Hair loss is very personal and causes some people to feel as if they are losing their identity. This personal attachment drives research for new hair growth technology.
Types
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Prescription drugs, hair transplants, hair follicle generation and hair cloning are possible solutions for stimulating hair growth.
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Features
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There are drugs in the marketplace approved for regrowing hair. They block the production of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a molecule that inactivates hair follicles. New drugs are being developed to inactivate the receptor for DHT on hair follicles.
New advances in hair transplants involve robotics. Automation of certain techniques involved in hair transplants can speed up the surgery.
Hair follicle generation involves taking certain cells on the scalp that are linked to follicle formation, growing them in a culture and injecting them back into the scalp to form new follicles.
Hair cloning involves stem cells located in the scalp. Stimulation to these cells might regenerate the hair follicle.
Time Frame
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New drugs, hair follicle generation and hair cloning treatments are in the research phase and may gain approval by 2013. Hair transplant surgery with robotics is currently being tested in a clinical trial; the company, Restoration Robotics, expects to receive approval by 2012.
Benefits
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New hair growth technology is less invasive and believed to be more effective than current treatments. This area of research has implications beyond curing baldness. The role of stem cells in hair follicle formation is important. According to Stanford University Professor Anthony Oro, the process to regenerate hair follicles is similar to the process of organ formation. They share similar chemical growth signals. If scientists are able to regrow hair follicles, the same processes can be applied to other areas, such as organ regeneration.
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