(Newswire.net — February 28, 2017) –Hair loss is something that affects 30 million women across the United States, as well as 25% of all men under the age of 21. That’s a staggering statistic when you consider how much of a negative effect it has on the psychology of an individual. In today’s appearance obsessed culture, hair loss can be incredibly destructive to a person’s psyche. Hair loss in women is less common than hair loss in men, but stats on both make for painful reading, and this is a problem no one gets over easily.
But if new research is anything to go by, then it could become a thing of the past very soon.
Bidding Farewell to Hair Loss
Over the last decade or so hair transplants have become very common, just another in a long line of common surgical procedures that we’re happy to undergo in the name of vanity. This involves taking hair follicles from one part of the body and transplanting them into the scalp. It takes a few months for the hair to be properly intergrated and it’s far from cheap, but it’s effective nonetheless.
New research may be providing an alternative though, and one that is more accessible. Researchers in Russia are piecing together trials for a treatment that can speed up hair growth in humans. So far, this treatment has been successful in growing hair on bald mice. This breakthrough was covered by the media a few years ago and was hailed (as all breakthroughs are) as a game-changer. After that, as so often happens, the researchers hit roadblocks, funds became a problem, and the research dried up.
But going into 2017 it could be back on. Researchers are pooling together what resources they have and are requesting further funds from the general public. They believe they are onto something, and once they get the money they should be able to prove their research in human trials.
Before long, this treatment could be used to quickly and painlessly grow hair in humans who are suffering from everything from alopecia to male pattern baldness. It could even be used to promote hair growth in cancer patients who have undergone chemotherapy.
This is a great time for medicine, there’s no doubt about that. And it’s somewhat reassuring to know that while other scientists focus on the big stuff—the cancers, the brain diseases—there are still people working on making sure I don’t lose my hair before I’m forty.