The emerging science of stem cell therapy has provided excitement for cures for otherwise untreatable diseases. There is new hope for those individuals suffering from many degenerative and disabling diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, traumatic paralysis, blindness, and diabetes, just to name a few. Stem cells are already being used for burn therapy, corneal transplants and bone grafting. But exactly what are stem cells?
Stem cells are cells found both in fetal and adult tissue, which can continue to grow and differentiate into many types of cells in the body. They exist in most tissues, but especially where there is a high turnover of cells such as the blood, intestines, skin and hair. These stem cells provide the basis for new cell growth and for repair after injury. Many stem cells are called “pluripotent stem cells”, which means they can be stimulated to produce many types of cells, depending on what the body needs. At the base of the hair, close to follicle, stems cells can be found which are known to help produce both the new hair itself, as well as the blood vessels, collagen and other supporting tissue around the newly growing hair.
Over the last 5 years there has been an increasing interest in utilizing stem cells to help regrow hair. We already know that stem cells exist near the hair follicle but can adding more help grow more hair? At Medi Tresse we perform Platelet Rich Plasma(PRP) Therapy to stimulate new hairs to grow. We know that the platelet rich plasma (PRP) fluid has many types of growth factors which are proteins, which likely activate the stem cells that are already there to stimulate hair follicles to start growing a new hair.
There are several stem cell preparations available commercially which presumably provide more materials for more cell growth. At Medi Tresse we use BioD, which are stem cells retrieved from human placental tissue. Our experience with these stem cells added to the first PRP treatment demonstrates a more rapid response to the Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy. It doesn’t seem to increase the approximate 85% success rate of the Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy, but it does appear to make the growth start faster. We know that the Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy will work with or without the stem cells, but if you are looking for a quicker response, Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy with Bio D may be the preferred method.
Stem cells are certainly an amazing new addition to the treatments available to stimulate new hair growth and we will continue to monitor the newest research in this field to provide the best treatments available.
Posted by Your Medi Tresse Team
