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Scientists Induce New Hair Growth In Balding Men

sciencehabit writes "Scientists have successfully grown new hair follicles from the skin cells of balding men. While the research team (abstract) hasn't yet shown whether the structures, which produce strands of hair on our bodies, are fully functional and usable for transplants onto a scalp, experts say the discovery is a significant step toward finding new treatments for hair loss. Previous attempts used standard two-dimensional cell culturing techniques, but the new works grows the follicles in suspended droplets, better replicating the 3-D environment of the body. Using one's own cells to generate new follicles is useful because hair color and thickness will match perfectly with the rest of someone's head of hairs. And with the new technique, clinicians would be able to take just a few dermal papilla cells from a balding patient and expand the number of hair follicles available for transplant, rather than only be able to move follicles around."

8 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. Which color? by Valdrax · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Using one's own cells to generate new follicles is useful because hair color and thickness will match perfectly with the rest of someone's head of hairs.

    Assuming that you take samples from the same area, I'd guess. After all, a good number of people have very different hair color and thickness at different parts of the body, like men with dark hair and reddish beards. Do we actually know what controls that?

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  2. Hes not just the lead author of a scientific study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    He's also a client. --dept

  3. Re:Wow, glad we solved that! by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Insightful

    On the other hand, skin and hair are relatively easy to experiment on, making it a fairly reasonable first step, assuming that at least some of the techniques involved can be applied to other areas of regenerative research, such as organ regeneration, dermal regeneration for burn victims, etc.

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  4. Re:Who cares by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Or you could you know, just shave your goddamn head. Never understood why some people have such a want to get their hair back. Even tho transplants seem alot better than other solutions such as sprays and wigs, which will literally fall off or melt off your head in certain conditions, why waste the money. I have never understood this fascination.

    For some combination of mortality-anxiety and the desire to get laid, people are obsessed with any measures that can keep aging indicators at bay and restore a youthful appearance. Only a fairly small subset of male aesthetics actually look suitably young with a shaved head.

  5. Re:Who cares by mark-t · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Some of us happen to have godawful ugly heads and those around them can be blissfully grateful for whatever cover the hair upon it can afford, whether this hair is natural or not.

  6. Re:Who cares by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 5, Funny

    Some of us happen to have godawful ugly heads and those around them can be blissfully grateful for whatever cover the hair upon it can afford, whether this hair is natural or not.

    Have you thought of decals, caps, or racing stripes?

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  7. Re:Harvested foreskins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    The foreskin has the most sensitive parts of the penis.

    You probably mean that the glans has most sensitive parts of the penis. Which, of course, is protected by the foreskin, that helps to maintain the sensitivity of the mucous membrane.

    To fine touch, the foreskin is the most sensitive.
    look up:
    "Fine touch receptors in the human penis" Sorrels et al

  8. I have no problem with wanting my hair back. by oogoliegoogolie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I question how honest someone is being to themselves when they say that they are going bald or are bald and yet state it has not affected them. I've been bald for since the 90's. Do I worry about being bald? No. Am I aware I am bald? Every day.

    I have no guilt about money being spent on 'unbalding' research. We're not talking about cosmetic surgery or injections, but instead returning something that has been lost to me.

    To all the people, bald or hairy, that think going bald is no big deal. If the world was a fair place then yes, having no hair would not matter, and neither would other superficial things, but we don't reside in some fairy-tale realm. Unfortunately we have to deal with the real world and deal with real people that judge you on you appearance which includes height, body weight, the clothes you wear, swagger, body decorations like tattoos an piercings, and of course YOUR HAIR!

    Baldness adds years to your age. I'm not talking about shaved heads. I mean being bald and still letting your hair grow at the back and sides. 5-10 year easily gets added on.
    Thankfully shaved-heads have been an acceptable style for the past 20 years. Unfortunately not everyone can shave their head and still look good. Many men have Charlie Brown heads.
    As much as women say they find bald men sexy, those women are few and far between, and the bald men they are attracted to are usually 'larger than life' men like movie stars. In the real world the majority of women consider balding men unattractive.

    Everyone knows that baldness is very emotionally debilitating, but it also affects you physically.
    -You're colder in the winter because of the lack of hair thus less insulation. Sometimes I even have to wear a hat or toque indoors. I find hats uncomfortable. Debilitating no, but it is annoying.
    -the sun quickly cooks your cranium in the summer because there's no hair to insulate you from the sun's rays. Wear a hat you say? Well hat's make it worse if you shave your head because the hat forms an air-tight seal with your shaven head, preventing any air circulation underneath your hat. It's either shade or a bandanna or put up with the sun beaming down on the cranium for us baldies.
    -Hair acts as a cushion your head when you bang your head on something. Hair also has sensory functionality and warns you when something is about to touch it. When you have a chrome-dome, that sensory function is gone. Don't believe me? Hold your hand out and slowly move it towards your head and you hair will pick up and feel your hand while it is still inches away.
    -Hair hides stuff on your head. I have numerous acne scars on the back of my head that make me feel uncomfortable if others see. A coworker recently had a tumor removed from her brain. They went in through the upper back of her skull. Her scar is not visible because she has thick long flowing hair which hides the scar. That scar would be visible from thirty feet away on my shaved head.

    Those above items will seem trivial to many, but they are things I have to be conscious of and work around at times. You don't realize what a full head of hair does for you until it's gone.