You have probably realized that there are currently two ways to improve androgenetic alopecia, two ways that are usually followed simultaneously.
On the one hand, medical treatment works quite well, but it has limitations, mainly two: the possibility of adverse effects (although low, it is not null) and that it requires continued use to maintain improvement, even at low doses.
On the other hand, there is the option of surgery, which also works well, but is limited by the fact that you can only use your own hair and the balder you are, the less hair you have to donate and repair other areas.
When you do your research and realize this, you wonder what lies beyond. Will we ever get to clone hair?
This post is dedicated to when I predict that will happen and when I predict it will cost. It is also interesting for the complete recovery, the healing of alopecia. Today I tell you about Unlocking the Future of Hair Loss: Advancements and Projections in Alopecia Treatments.
I believe there will be five stages, and we are in the second stage. You see, there was a first stage, which we have already passed. I think it started at the end of the 20th century, beginning of the 21st century, when hair transplantation was established with microsurgery of follicular units. This completely changed the prognosis for many bald and some balding people, something you can see even in Hollywood actors who have multiple transplants.
From there, we began to change the conception of androgenetic alopecia in society and we moved on to the current phase, which is the pharmacological revolution together with the FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) technique. This phase started approximately in 2015 and I estimate that it will end in 2035. It is characterized by a significant revolution in the pharmacological field, with the appearance or use of many drugs other than those approved to improve androgenetic alopecia, both male and female.
In terms of hair transplantation, two things have happened since 2000: the FUE technique has gained much more weight and advances are being made in tissue engineering, especially in how to three-dimensionally grow hair follicles and then clone them in tens of thousands. This stage will persist, but the pharmacological component will decrease and the surgical component will maintain its importance.
The next stage will be cell regeneration or tissue engineering. I believe it will go from the year 2035 to about 2050. At this stage, there will be advances in treatments that stimulate hair growth without cloning. These treatments will have safety advantages and, over time, their efficacy will be improved.
Stage four will be hair cloning, which I believe will start around 2050. In this stage, patient hairs will be cloned in the laboratory and implanted. Although it has been attempted in the past, the technology is not yet ready to produce significant clinical results.
Finally, stage five will be gene therapy, which I consider the ultimate cure. At this stage, the patient's hair cells will have no ability to thin. This stage is far in the future and we are unlikely to see it in our lifetime.
In summary, although a complete cure for alopecia is still a long way off, we can expect continued advances in pharmacological, surgical and cell regeneration treatments in the coming decades.
