SkinTE Hair Regeneration in Full Thickness Wounds

@Ahab The reason for moving skin-bearing hair from the back is, it appears to serve as a “template” for regenerating new skin-bearing hair.

The PolarityTE website is interesting, and shows lots of pictures of some of the skin with hair, which I assume is new skin and hair that has been regenerated.

http://www.polarityte.com/products/skinte

However, notice that the hairs appear to be unpigmented (colorless), and coverage is possibly thinner and sparser than ideal.

Those pictures are from the trials on pigs.
So I believe the regenerated hair is pretty normal in color and density.

Good point, except depending on what age someone lost their hair, the regenerated hair might last for 20 to 50 years. Might be worth it to save the expense and trouble of doing FUT/FUE and using the stuff to regenerate donor.

I think we don’t know how well this will work yet, and what the risks might be of using it to cover large portions of the scalp. For example, the surgeon would probably have to remove lots of “healthy” (but bald) tissue and replace it with this polarized stuff. Does that mean existing circulation (small veins and arteries leading into the scalp) would be compromised? Would any of that circulation have to be restored? How much of it would be regenerated through this process?

I could see how this might be very beneficial as an adjunct to HT and probably be welcomed by HT surgeons. It might make many more people great candidates for HT and allow for more of a full head of hair to be recreated using a combination of this and some HT. Probably HT/FUE for the hairline, where precision and artistry are important, then this procedure for coverage of areas on the crown/back that are normally kept very thin even in the best HT’s.

My prediction is, assuming it works that way, it would completely revolutionize the HT industry.

Firstly, I think that if this treatment creates new hair they should use the donor region follicles as the template for the new hair. That aside, I think it’s doubtful that this treatment will create new terminal hairs.

Secondly, I think that if this treatment does create new terminal hairs they may have decided not to make a big issue of that fact because the FDA would probably fast track a treatment for burns/wounds but would probably want a lengthier clinical trial process for a hair loss treatment.

Thirdly, maybe these researchers aren’t as aware of the value/need for a breakthrough hair loss treatment since hair loss isn’t their main area of medical research.

Good point, jarjarbinx. Since so many people like to believe that hair loss is a trivial concern, SkinTe asking the FDA to look at their research as a way to regenerate hair would mean the FDA assigning the lowest possible priority to SkinTe trials. This is one of the many BIG reasons that a*holes around here shouldn’t be posting that hair loss is not a serious problem. One of the things that makes me crazy is that while guys with hair love being able to preach to us about how hair loss is trivial, I believe many of them secretly gloat that we are bald because it’s less competition for them.

Assuming this stuff really grows cosmetically useful terminal hairs, I can see a better way of using this than removing large sections of scalp.

How about if small punches of skin were removed and filled in with this polarized tissue product they’re using? That would keep the scalp circulation and innervation intact in the surrounding native skin. If the PolarityTE regenerated areas really grow as they describe, they’d grow terminal hairs. Then some transplants could be placed in the surrounding native scalp tissue. This would reduce tremendously the number of donor follicles that would need to be removed for HT, and provide much fuller coverage over a much bigger area of scalp.

I just don’t know Roger. I would not count on this stuff. It sounds like it’s probably another Acell type failure.

I actually tend to agree with you, I am saying I doubt it will produce a lot of cosmetically useful terminal hairs, but IF it does, this would be how to make the most of it.

Cool thing is, we won’t have to wait in the dark for years with this like we do everything else. We will know if it works very, very soon. I definitely understand the doubts, and my hopes aren’t up either. But I am excited to see some human results in the next few months nonetheless.

I like your punch idea as well!

What do you mean we’ll have some answers in the next few months? Are they near the end of a clinical trial for hair loss with this treatment?

If they could produce an 8 inch by 8 inch sized piece of hair-bearing skin using a piece of skin from your donor region for the template then that would result in an unlimited donor supply of hair. And I can’t think of any reason that they wouldn’t be able to use a piece of skin from your donor region for the template. Hmmmm…

And you could even have skin from your donor region cryo-preserved so you would always have a source to get more hair if you ever needed it.

I wonder if the hair transplant industry is even aware of this yet.

When you say it’s registered with the FDA does that mean it’s FDA approved and hair transplant surgeons could start using it right away on paying customers if they wanted to?

If hair transplant specialists can start using this technique for paying customers then we should make sure Dr. Cole is made aware of this. He’s one of the most innovative specialists in the hair industry and he might be willing to start using it soon if it’s FDA approved.

Jarjar I don’t think that’s exactly how this works. I think they need to go through a multi step process: 1) extract a biopsy sample of the donor tissue including all the skin appendages they want to regrow; 2) blend that up into a paste; 3) treat the paste with their proprietary process to polarize it (and maybe enclose it in some kind of capsules?); 4) spread this mixture to cover the wound site and wait for it to grow into full thickness tissue with skin appendages.

The biopsy is necessary because that’s how you get all the necessary cell types. I think it has to be grown in vivo (adjacent to living tissue in the animal) and possibly cannot be grown in vitro.

This is just my guess based on what I’ve read/seen so far.

Yes and no - it’s an HCT/P, meaning it uses human cells, tissues, or tissue-based products. Hence the FDA ‘registration’ process is different than the long-winded approval process for drugs. It’s good to go though. It can be used, yes. But PolarityTE, the company that makes it has stated they are doing a controlled, limited release to select medical institutions this year. So some of the aforementioned institutions might already be putting it in action… Then they plan to rev up commercialization of the product in Q1 next year, which is when I assume others will be able to get their on hands on it as well.

I say we will know very soon if this works because it is already out in clinical settings being used. And in the coming few months (Q1 2018) even more places will be able to use it. If it works as they say it does, we will hear about and we will see the results, and vice versa.

If Dr. Cole is a communicative, easy-to-reach Doctor, then yeah - I think that’s an excellent idea! Definitely worth a shot to put this on his radar if it’s not already. Might even be able to get some of his thoughts or insight into the product!

This might be a good investment depending on what the facts are.

I don’t think so. If the video shows an accurate representation of the actual protocol, this photo below (extracted from the video) will be the size of the biopsy which is very small by any standards.

:slight_smile: HAHAHA finally ! I have been searching for a long time for an effective way to have my strip scars fixed, I was almost went to Dr Umar to have beard grafts put into my scars, so glad I didn’t pull the trigger. I think this is it, full generation for my donor and it sounds like this could happen relatively soon :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: I am prepared to wait 3-4 years for this.

If this works, it should be available far sooner than 3-4 years!.. Still a big IF though…

Well good news for those with hair transplant scars but what about people like myself who never had hair transplants done before? I definitely don’t want to have to wound my entire scalp in order to generate new hairs.

I hope they can tweak this so that it will work without requiring a massive wound in the first place.