Stem Cell
Therapy

Stem cells in human body are cells which are programmed to regenerate and remake the tissue. Hair follicle has stem cells inside the root which is responsible for hair growth and fall cycles in normal hair. Due to these stem cells, hair continues to grow for 1 to 3 years time and then enter in ‘sleep’ phase and start growing again when it gets signal from these growth initiating stem cells.

How it is researched?

Concept of stem cell treatment in hair regrowth is that, if by some means we can isolate these hair growing stem cells, multiply them in laboratory through culture and inject them back in bald scalp skin then new hair starts growing from these hair stem cells. Or if we can isolate these hair growing stem cells, multiply them in laboratory through culture, give them scaffold in lab around which they can generate the entire hair follicle in laboratory and then implant these newly made follicles in back in bald scalp skin then new hair start growing at new place.

By any of these two pathways, we can create multiple hair follicles out of single follicle and then in turn, patients with less donor hair available for hair transplant can also get a head full of hair! The ultimate goal among scientists is to create “hair farms,” by cloning hair follicles. It involves growing hair from stem cells—not fetal, but stem cells derived from a person’s own skin or blood—and implanting hair follicles rich with dermal papillae into the space around a person’s old, shrunken, dormant follicles.

But this is still a dream yet to come true!

Dr. Tatsuto Kageyama and Prof. Junji Fukuda from Yokohama National University in Japan found some success in these techniques and could grow hair on a mice in 2018. But it still needs more research before being available for use in humans. Since more than a decade, there has been lots of research going on in this direction.  But so far there is limited success in that. Stem cell treatments for hair at the present moment are still experimental and not available for use in patients.

However, there are some other treatments which are named stem cell treatments, which are not working on any of the above mentioned principles. They are working on utilizing body’s own stem cells from some other tissue and injecting in scalp in order to stimulate and support growth of dormant hair follicle cells. These other tissue stem cells can not multiply number of hairs and generate new hair follicles. But they can still work on hair follicle roots which are ‘near dead’ but not completely ‘dead’ and can generate hair out of it and thereby increasing hair growth.

However, there are some other treatments which are named stem cell treatments, which are not working on any of the above mentioned principles. They are working on utilizing body’s own stem cells from some other tissue and injecting in scalp in order to stimulate and support growth of dormant hair follicle cells. These other tissue stem cells can not multiply number of hairs and generate new hair follicles. But they can still work on hair follicle roots which are ‘near dead’ but not completely ‘dead’ and can generate hair out of it and thereby increasing hair growth.

Different types of stem cells for hair regeneration-

Autologous stem cells : The ones that we talked about in the beginning and are still experimental.

Adipose-derived (fat) stem cells : In this technique, fat of the patient is harvested from abdominal fat or loin or thighs. This fat is then processed to obtain nano fat which is then injected in scalp skin. Some centers process these fat globules in a specialized machine to obtain stromal vascular factor (SVF) which is a better concentrate of adipocyte stem cells and then inject it in scalp skin. Sometimes they are combined with PRP to improve the growth factor concentration.

The issue with sourcing stem cells from fat is that the stem cells are not always high quality or as potent and powerful, especially as patients get older. One needs to be careful with the injections in the scalp skin as, though a rare complication but, it may lead to fat embolous in small blood vessels and consequences of it.

Umbilical Cord blood stem cells from donor:

This procedure for hair loss involves separating the mesenchymal stem cells from the human umbilical cord and injecting them into the parts of the scalp affected by hair loss.

Stem cells so far are not FDA approved and the procedure described are investigational therapy only and has not been approved for hair loss by the FDA. Stem cell therapy is not a cure for hair loss and the results are temporary.

We at our centre perform none of the above mentioned procedures and do not recommend them either as they are still experimental and lack evidence for efficacy as of now. Presently, scientists expect break through technology to be available for human use in less than 10 years. But as of now it is wait and watch!

Misleading marketing: (Important to read)

Regenera activa: In this technique, a small piece of hair bearing skin from patient’s occipital scalp is taken and crushed at low RPM in the regenera machine and the solution obtained thereafter is injected in the bald area.

This is not stem cell therapy. Stem cells can not be harvested by simply crushing the tissue. Infact one needs to be very gentle with the tissue for harvesting any live cells rather than crushing it. Crushing the skin piece releases some growth factors but scientific evidence is still not promising and results claimed by the company of the equipment are usually not seen in the clinical scenario.

PRP-

Many clinics confuse PRP injections with stem cell treatment. But PRP is not stem cell. PRP works like fertilizer while stem cells are seeds.

Mesotherapy

Some mesotherapy solutions are available in the brand name of ‘Stem cells’. Its just their name! They are not stem cells. They have same efficacy as mesotherapy usually has.

So as of now for stem cell treatments – ‘Wait & Watch’