Doctors Sharing Information About ACell

/by William Rassman, M.D./1 /

Hi Dr.,

I applaud your participation in the ACell study. I do wish to quickly ask why you have not contacted either Dr. Cooley or Dr. Hitzig about the specifics of ACell? Dr. Hitzig is adamant upon the fact that if Dr’s do not contact him about how to use this, then each Dr.’s study will most assuredly fail. As a result, Dr’s will prematurely claim the study a failure and disregard it as a major achievement in the fight against hair loss. I am pleading with you to contact either of the Dr’s to understand the specifics of this study. Please don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

Please check this thread out where Dr. Hitzig specifically talks about this: BaldTruth.com

All my best

We had extensive discussions with Dr. Cooley. I like sharing, and doctors who share information are ethical doctors. I do not mean to ignore Dr. Hitzig, but Dr. Cooley answered our questions to our satisfaction.

Tags: cooley, hitzig, acell, hairloss, hair loss

Is Plucking Hairs for ACell Procedure Faster than FUE?

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /,

Hey doc. I was just thinking. If Acell plucking works would it be fair to liken it FUE on steroids. Similarities being little scaring (or none with Acell), it is non strip, has the same yield except with the added bonus of unlimited donor hair. Also one more question, is the plucking technique faster than FUE per graft.

I don’t look too much into the ACell comparisons with follicular unit extraction (FUE) just yet, as it’s too early to tell. FUE is presently better organized as a procedure than the plucking/ACell. We’ve been performing FUE procedures for a decade, whereas experience has been limited with the ACell. This will change with time if ACell becomes the standard of care, but I believe that this is a long way off.

Tags: acell, fue, hair transplant, hairloss, hair loss

How Long Will it Take from Consultation to Surgery?

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /,

Hey Dr.,

I’ve been a long time reader and you’ve even answered a couple of my questions on the blog in the past.

I’m 27, been on Propecia two years and am planning a trip to the LA area in the spring. I have a couple of questions, if you wouldn’t mind answering.

  1. If I set up an appointment with you and you deemed I would be a candidate for a hair transplant, how long would I have to wait before going in for surgery?
  2. In the same vein, what are the chances of being an ACell test subject? I know that it’s not fully proven, but I like the notion of it, and it seems less likely to leave a scar.
  3. If ACell is in the question, can you give a rough estimate of what the cost would be (I guess per graft).

Very much obliged for any answers.

Thank you for being a long time reader!

1. The time it takes from first consultation to surgery can range from the next day (rare) to one or two months. Patients who are candidates can set up surgery based on our open schedule. We have two pricing models. For those who want surgery at a specific date, they pay $6 per graft and can have surgery as soon as the next day (if the space is available). For those who are more flexible and can work with our schedule, they pay $5 per graft. If you are traveling from out of town, you can still take advantage of this by giving us a general time frame of your availability and we will give you plenty of notice to arrange travel and vacation time. We also offer a travel reimbursement program. For further info, you can read about our fees at our site or call (800) NEW-HAIR.

2. We are enrolling patients in an ACell auto-cloning study, but they need to be completely bald up top so that we can clearly document the growth. If you want to participate in the ACell scar minimizing study (where we put the ACell in the donor area) you are welcome to participate as well. If you don’t want to participate in the study but still wish to have ACell used in your surgery, you can just pay for the material cost of ACell itself ($600).

3. We do not have an official fee for ACell auto-cloning surgery, as we aren’t offering it to the general public (it is only a research study at this time). For the ACell scar minimizing surgery (NOT auto-cloning) we are charging for the material cost (see above).

Tags: acell, hairloss, hair loss, hair transplant, surgery, schedule

I Want to Pay for ACell Along with My Transplant

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /,

Hey Doc,

I’m wondering if I got a hair transplant within the next 2 to 4 months, after I’ve got a master plan and such, if you would use ACell if I gave my consent to use it on a normal transplant. Of course the hopeful result is that if you use it with the hair transplant alone that it helps heal faster and 50 to 400% more could potentially grow than what was transplanted. Since it’s considered harmless by the FDA, do you think it would hurt to just use it and see the results if there are any and if not, no harm done right? It wouldn’t affect the actual hair or anything if I’m not mistaken. And end result being if it doesn’t grow more hairs it would heal faster.

If this was possible could we just pay a little extra to you for the cost of using ACell and see if we get results? Not saying there would be an sort of expectations beyond the actual transplant, but would it hurt to use it just in case or do you think it would complicate the normal transplant in some way?

There are talks and unsupported reports that ACell can speed up the hair transplant healing process and help the REGULAR transplanted hair follicles to grow better/faster. This has yet to be proven satisfactorily, as far as I know.

If you want to pay the extra cost of the ACell to be incorporated in a hair transplant procedure (on the hair follicle), I do not have a problem with it. But you must also accept the fact that ACell can have the complete opposite effect of less than optimal hair growth. While I do not believe this would be the case, we really do not know at this point and must always assume the worst.

Tags: acell, hair transplant, hairloss, hair loss

Is There a Possible Scarless Hair Transplant in Development?

/by William Rassman, M.D./1 /, ,

Hi Doc!
Are there any unavoidable obstacles that prevent developing a hair transplant technique that is completely scarless? I am also curious about how much do you know about CIT and its look when shaved to completely bald. Another hot topic is ACell. Only a part of the donor hair follicle is needed if I’m right. Does this help to prevent scarring? And how good are the existing ACell-friendly extraction procedures?

Sorry if some of the questions are silly, and thanks for your answers!

There is no surgery in the world that is truly scar-less. There are techniques to minimize scars, but any cut on your body will always produce a scar to some degree. Even for a traditional strip hair transplant surgery the scar is rarely seen (because it is covered by hair).

With respect to ACell, it is not a proven technology and any answer is just speculative at this point.

Tags: hair transplant, scarring, hairloss, hair loss

If ACell Works, Will It Be Standard Care?

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /

Will ACell be more expensive than traditional hair transplant procedures?

Will it become the standard and only procedure that you offer if it is proven to work?

ACell is too new to make any speculation at this point. Too many variables, too many questions to answer.

We made the ACell study announcement just weeks ago and I understand that people are excited (we are too), but I’m not going to make any big, speculative statements like what you’re asking of me.

Tags: acell, hair transplant

Could Autocloned Hair Suddenly Become Sensitive to DHT Years Down the Line?

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /,

Dear Dr Rassman

Is that possible that the Acell autocloned hair, from plucked hair from DHT resistant donor area, stay DHT-insensible for let’s say 10 years, and after that develop sensitivity to DHT ?

If many people stay bald free even up to 50 years old like the balding genes was inactive for decades… I suppose maybe something like that could happen to autoclone hair, like their balding genes could just wake up after many years, in some few cases.

We do not know the answer to this question. One would expect that the auto-cloned hair would be resistant to DHT and grow on just like the donor hair normally does. Apoptosis (cell death) is programmed in the balding hair follicle, but not in the hairs found in the donor area… but still, no one really knows.

In the case of general cloning, I recall there have been reports that the life span of a cloned animal is shorter than expected. It all has to do with something called telomerase, which may or may not apply to the hair. The short answer is: I simply do not know.

Tags: auto-cloning, hair cloning, acell, dht, hairloss, hair loss, telomerase

NHI’s ACell Program

/by William Rassman, M.D./1 /

When will your clinical trial on ACell start? When will the first patient get hair transplant using ACell? Thanks!

The ACell trial we’re conducting started a few weeks back and a few patients have already had treatments. As for when it will be PROVEN and be offered as a standard procedure, it will be at least one year (if it succeeds).

Tags: acell, nhi, hair transplant

Reader Doesn’t Think ACell Will Work

/by William Rassman, M.D./8 /

I don’t believe that A-Cell will work. Is there actually any proper evidence of this technology working anywhere? It seems to be just that guy with the finger which I am unsure whether has been exagerrated/fabricated. Other than this it feels like all hype.

Also, it seems like when you pluck these hairs, you have to take out so much of the hair that logically thinking I’m not even sure if they will grow back the same thickness (if at all). Now I know people will come back with how they wax their legs, chest, arms or even their head regularly and they always grow back, but I seriously doubt that when a normal person plucks/waxes, they are extracting the amount of tissue required to perform the A-Cell procedure.

In addition, Jerry Cooley states in his presentation on one slide: “you can see the thicker FUE grafts vs the thinner plucked hairs” – so this really isn’t what it is being hyped up to be?

This unfortunately to me feels like just another method of doing a standard hair transplant. Maybe it will infact become the common way as it appears to allow it to be done without any scaring at all, but right now it looks like you would actually be worse off using A-Cell method over current methods, as the hairs at the donor and recipient region will grow back thinner, that is if they grow back at all.

I don’t know of Dr Cooley’s reputation, but from watching his presentation this just doesn’t seem that impressive. The only way it might work is using beard hair that thinned out during the process and ended up like scalp hair, but even then if this worked perfectly is it really a cure? You can’t do whole units and can you control the direction?

Perhaps you are right, but in the spirit of scientific research we have to try. That is one reason why we are trying to conduct formal IRB approved clinical research. It will either prove or disprove the concept.

The hope is that the plucking approach will yield more hair than moving the hairs around with traditional transplantation. The fact is that not only us (NHI), but the entire hair transplant surgeon community needs to be able to replicate this technique to stand up to the test.

Tags: acell, hairloss, hair loss

Could ACell Regrow Hair on Its Own as a Topical?

/by William Rassman, M.D./2 /

Hi there, I apologise if this is a silly question, it’s regarding the acell research that is under way at the moment: if the drug has the potential to regenerate cells including hair follicles – would it not be possible to use this drug in a preventative way by applying it to thinning areas affected by DHT in much the same as minoxidil?

The concept with the ACell is that it will stimulate the stem cells that are present in the plucked hairs to produce another mature hair from the plucked hairs. As the original hair will regrow, you get 2 hairs from one if there is a 100% growth of the plucked hair. That’s the idea, anyway. It isn’t a DHT blocker.

Tags: acell, hairloss, hair loss

If ACell Could Possibly Give You Unlimited Donor Hair, How Isn’t It a Cure?

/by William Rassman, M.D./2 /

I have a few questions about ACell…first of I know it’s in early stages and a lot needs to be done but it it works I want to know this…

  1. From my understanding it will involve plucking hairs from the donor hair putting into the top and then wait a few months for new hairs to sprout from the plucked areas to keep transplanting?
  2. If that is the case how is not a cure where you once said somewhere? If plucking out hairs and they keep regrowing won’t you have an unlimited donor supply!?

Yes, the hair is plucked from a donor area and placed in a bald area. It is not a cure, because you are still genetically bald. You just added hair to look non-bald. If that was the definition of cure, then Propecia and hair transplant surgery could be considered a cure. If you are referring to the “theoretical” unlimited donor hair supply as a cure, then I suppose that would fit. But theory and practicality (of multiple surgeries) does not always work out in the real world.

There are a lot of unanswered questions here. I do not have all the answers, and the proliferation of information on the Internet makes it difficult to keep ahead. In other words, we are BEGINNING our clinical study. We can all speculate what the study will show, but as far as we are concerned, it is all hopes and dreams at this point. We promise we will keep you all up to date.

Tags: acell, hair loss, cure, hairloss, hair loss, donor hair

Reader Tells Others to Calm Down Over ACell Inquiries

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /

Hey Dr Rassman i hope your day is treating you well.

Being a hairloss sufferer myself i can relate to the extraordinary anticipation and hype surrounding the new buzz word in the field of hair restoration ”Acell”. However i also realize that this is far from establishing itself as a practical solution to genetic alopecia(if it even makes it that far). As a hair restoration physician i imagine you grow tired of those ”cure” type perennial questions. In my opinion readers need to recognize that when the hairloss community is equip with innovators like yourself Dr Rassman it provides us with the best chance possible of making the most out of these types (Acell) situations.

Being a daily reader of this blog i have nothing but good things to say about it. There is not a doubt in my mind that Dr Rassman and the other physicians that contribute to the blog will be efficient at posting occasional updates. So for a lack of a better term just ”chill out” time will tell…..

ChillThank you for your support! I don’t mind the large amount of emails I’ve received with ACell questions, as I kind of expected that… but I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea about what it can do (we’re still trying to figure it all out).

We will most definitely update the readers of this site on our progress as we can.

Tags: acell, hairloss, hair loss, autocloning

ACell and DUPA?

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /,

Hi doctor,
Great site. My question is about ACell and all the other in development treatments like it. Will this in theory work for those who have dupa or fpb? I mean I understand the are years away and a big ? If they will even work. But if they do will the help those individuals as well. Eventhough there us miniaturization in the donor, or is there no hope for us?

Please answer… Thanks again.

Clearly, ACell will not impact DUPA (diffuse unpatterned alopecia) or female pattern hair loss unless it was used in conjunction with an auto-cloning procedure. We need to take one step at a time. We still need to see how well ACell works when used in an auto-cloning fashion. We do not know if you pluck a hair from the permanent zone that is not miniaturized in a person with DUPA or female balding, if that hair will grow at all. How it would be compared with a plucked hair in a non-DUPA patient is yet unknown.

Tags: dupa, hairloss, hair loss, acell

ACell, FUE, and Follicle Harvesting

/by William Rassman, M.D./3 /, ,

Hi,

Love the site and the calm measured manner you guys take to things. I’m finding the Acell stuff really fascinating for a lot of reasons beyond my own hair concerns. I had a couple questions and was hoping you might be able to shed some light on them.

From what I understand, one of the many unanswered questions in the auto-cloning process is whether or not a plucked hair from the balding-immune donor zone, implanted into the bald area will continue to be fully immune to balding because of the mixed biological source nature of the hair/implant zone/newly generated follicle. Theortically couldn’t this issue be circumvented thusly :

1) Use standard FUE/implant techniques from donor areas
2) Depending on scalp availability, reseed these areas with acell plucked hairs
3) Harvest established acell hairs for further implanting
4) repeat until desired results

Not to get into totally wacky territory here, but is there any investigatory efforts to see if Acell plucked hairs can be implanted in other areas of the body and harvested in that manner if scalp tightness is an issue? For instance, growing a crop of donor hair via auto-cloning on the arm/back/leg, and taking them for standard implant from there?

Perhaps you are misunderstanding what the auto-cloning technique with the ACell product is all about. The research we’re conducting is basically plucking out hair from a donor scalp area (where hairs are considered immune to genetic balding), applying the ACell products, and transplanting to an area of scalp where there is balding. We are not harvesting hairs to be multiplied in a lab. Growing a crop of donor hair is not what this is all about.

Finally, we still do not know if the transplanted ACell plucked hairs will continue to survive years down the line as if they are immune to genetic balding like standard transplanted hair follicles. We are all assuming that it will be just like transplanted hair follicles, but this has yet to be proven. That proof will come many years from now where we can follow those transplanted patients.

Tags: acell, fue, autocloning, auto-cloning, hair cloning, hairloss, hair loss, hair multiplication

Would Plucking a Single Hair Multiply the Entire Follicular Unit with ACell?

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /

Dr Rassman,

As I can see from the board you are currently getting hammered with unknown questions regarding ACell possibilities prematurely before your own trials are done. That being said, here is another from a former patient to add to the lists of unknowns but to try and get a gage on your thoughts and opinions. If you pluck a hair from the back of the head with Acell the hope is that it will grow another hair and thus multiplying the donor area indefinitely. However, as you currently transplant hairs via strip or FUE it is done by dissecting the hair in their natural “clusters”…1-4 hairs.

With Acell is it your opinion that if you pluck a hair that it will only grow back one or that the genetic makeup will replicate where it was pulled from i.e. if you pluck from a 4 hair follicular unit it will replicate 4 hairs or are we to believe that this Acell procedure will be limited due to the fact that you will only be able to transfer hair as single 1 hair follicular units?

Thanks for your time

In theory, you get one for one. We pluck one hair at a time, not a full follicular unit. So when that single hair is re-implanted with just enough biological tissue on it, the ACell extracellular matrix should theoretically give it new life elsewhere on the scalp.

Tags: acell, hair plucking, follicular unit