2011 ISHRS Meeting Review, Part 3 – ACell
Note: The annual meeting of hair surgeons was in held in Alaska this past week. The following review is very selective and is biased by the things that were interesting to me and what I (Dr. Rassman) thought could be interesting to the readers.
This is part 3. More to come…
***
Dr. Hitzig and ACell
-
I had breakfast with Dr. Hitzig, known for popularizing the use of ACell for plucking hairs. For those unfamiliar, the idea was that by plucking a hair and keeping some of the genetic material in the original donor area, that plucked hair would grow into a full hair (with the use of ACell), along with the regrowth of the hair in the donor area. Essentially getting two hairs out of one.
I shared my experience with him (100% failure to have plucked hair regrow into new hairs in a balding area of the scalp). After considerable discussion, Dr. Hitzig seemed to retract his stance that ACell works with plucked hairs in a bald scalp. His present view is that these plucked hairs have to be put into an area where there is already hair present. This appears to be a 180 degree turnaround position from his previous reports that it can grow hair.
Of course, if it can not grow a hair, then obtaining two hairs from one is not possible, and the hair multiplication process is improperly named for this technique. I was a bit angry, considering that I offered this procedure to multiple patients (at no charge of course).
So if I understand you correctly if hairs plucked and dipped in Acell are put in an area where there is still a reasonable amount of hair (thin but not bald) Is there re-growth?
Such a disappointment but thank you for being honest with us.
I think by the time something like cloning will come out we will be so old we won’t care at if we have hair or not lol
LOL
Rassman rules!!
Now, please, go and pay a visit to dr. Gho.
I can imagine it:
Rassman: Hello dr. Gho, I am here to see proof of your technique
Gho: Here I have a scientific paper…
Rassman: LOL, Sorry, I can’t read, show me the real stuff!!
Gho: I cannot show photos because patient info is confidential.
Rassman: Yeah, then why do you have celebrity patients advertising your clinic?
Gho: Are you doubting me?
Rassman: YES!
Gho: Get out of my clinic!!
Rassman: HAHAHAHA!!
sorry, but that dr is in trouble if krama is real ,in this life or the next, bosley and the rest. total deceivers. ruined many lives.
So was there anything at all positive to look forward to in the Near future to cure hair loss for bald guys like myself from this ISHRS Meeting??
Over the last 10yrs it seems nothing real worth discussing at all has been achieved!!
Does more funding and more involved in research need to happen to have any kind of hope?
Thank you for debunking the ACELL ‘hair multiplication’ myth. I find it amazing that doctors at this level would rush to claim success prematurely. Unlike Dr. Rassman’s free Acell program, some clinics are rumored to be offering such treatments for a price. To give false hope AND to charge for it is terrible thing. The doctors who started this gold rush should state their exact findings and apologize if they unduly raised anyone’s hopes.
We are really close to a cure for hair loss guys. Stop freaking out. Well, sorry, if you’re already balding and in all of that you’re probably screwed. I’m 26 without balding so… I remain optimistic :) and hairy.