Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Hair Today, Hair Tomorrow? Cure for the Bald

A recent article in Reuters gives hope for a possible cure when it comes to baldness. What is more, from this research they have found that it is not only possible for certain stem cells (in a natural process) to repair damaged tissue, but it is also possible for those same stem cells to turn into sweat glands, hair follicles and other biological structures. This means that instead of just repairing damaged parts of our bodies, whether that is balding or lacerations, there is hope for regeneration. That is, the restoration/regrowth (or as close as we can get) of the original body part instead of just a scar.

With that being said, in labratory mice there were side effects. The hair that grew back was white. George Cotsarelis, the lead researcher heading up this experiment, said that it may not occur in humans due to our different pigment structures. On the other side of the experiment, another scientist , who had no affiliation with the study, has his doubts about such success in humans due to our skin and the skin of mice being different. They are looking at 5 years before this reaches the stage where humans could benefit from this if it works.

The drawback: skin has to be damaged for this regeneration to take effect, so in effect, they would have to injure your scalp by way of cutting, deep.

Read more here.

Some questions:

-If you are bald or are balding, would you opt for this treatment?
-A point was made in the article concerning our current technique of quickly repairing damage as opposed to allowing regrowth; do you think we have been treating wounds wrongly over the past several decades?
-Do you place much faith in such things as this for bringing about cures?

2 comments:

misawa said...

Being a selectively bald fellow, I don't see the need for this. Then again, I get asked "Why?" from men fighting the Battle of the Follicle (forward and aft fronts).

Funniness aside, I find this to be in the same arena as breast/rear/lip/calf implants. Why go through all the trouble, pain and suffering to "enhance?"

j razz said...

I asked another man his opinion (he being bald) and his answer was the same. He does not think it is worth it when it is completely healthy to be bald.

j razz