Regularly younger men come into my office who do not want to look like their fathers at 40 – with a (semi-)bald head. To prevent hair loss they have their scalp treated with stem cells.
For this purpose, a small portion of the patient’s fat is extracted first under local anesthesia, from which the stem cells are isolated. Subsequently, the obtained autologous stem cells are injected into the scalp.
Does that help? Well, we know that stem cell treatments work well for thinning hair and incipient baldness. The stem cells cause new hair growth and the hair gets more dense. Therefore, stem cells work even better as a preventive measure.
Unfortunately encouraging results for patients with a fully bald head do not exist. Obviously active hair follicles are required so the stem cells can act. In case of complete baldness the scalp does not contain hair follicles.
Just one more reason to prevent hair loss in time.
DDr. Heinrich, MD