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Elain Fuchs Video

#1

http://www.ascb.org/ibioseminars/includes/player.cfm?name=fuchs&num=2

Thats a very interesting video and I think it’s been posted earlier as well. Still, anyone interesting in Follica procedure should definitely watch the Entire video.

Two things that really stood out were:

i) incresed WNT signalling causes the follicles to go from telogen to anagen phase.

ii) Going full-throttle on WNT signalling leads to ‘Pilomatricoma’, which basically is benign (non-cancerous) tumors. And apparently they are quite common in gen-pop (esp. women). The key point being to NOT overdo the WNT signalling.

On a Side Note: We know lithium boosts WNT signalling which is essential for hair regeneration, however, lithium is also prescribed for manic depression etc. Could it be possible that part of the problem is lithium deficieny which causes depression associated with hairloss??

About the Pigmentation Issue: Just saw the NBC video again and the NBC science women said that in mice the hair were colorless because the mouse’s skin is unpigmented, hopefully in humans that wouldn’t be an issue.

#2

» http://www.ascb.org/ibioseminars/includes/player.cfm?name=fuchs&num=2
»
» Thats a very interesting video and I think it’s been posted earlier as
» well. Still, anyone interesting in Follica procedure should definitely
» watch the Entire video.
»
»
» Two things that really stood out were:
»
» i) incresed WNT signalling causes the follicles to go from telogen to
» anagen phase.
»
» ii) Going full-throttle on WNT signalling leads to ‘Pilomatricoma’, which
» basically is benign (non-cancerous) tumors. And apparently they are quite
» common in gen-pop (esp. women). The key point being to NOT overdo the WNT
» signalling.
»
»
» On a Side Note: We know lithium boosts WNT signalling which is essential
» for hair regeneration, however, lithium is also prescribed for manic
» depression etc. Could it be possible that part of the problem is lithium
» deficieny which causes depression associated with hairloss??

You’re right, this video was posted before… but that was probably when most of us couldn’t see past ICX.

To be honest, the WNT side-effects are my absolute biggest concern right now. Might be a tough sell for Follica to ask the FDA to approve a product that could cause cancer or hair tumors (however obscure or benign). Having said that, there seems to be genuine consensus in the science community that WNT signaling is the key to hair growth. Maybe Follica is onto something REALLY legit.

.

#3

Interesting vid, makes you appreciate how complex it really is but also provides hope that a cure can be found.

#4

I agree that WNT expression bears some risk-related study. But honestly I fail to worry about it too much.

Chew on this:

How is the Folica HM method fundamentally different from just being on some type of EGF-R suppressing medication, while having a diet that includes decent Lithium (raw garlic is very healthy, plenty of people take full-blown Lithium supplements & medications, etc), and then getting a skin wound (anywhere on your body)?

I’m not saying this would really cause the perfect hair-growth as well as Folica might do. But at the same time I don’t see any big fundamential biochemical difference. I think the accidental chain of events I just proposed would theoretically cause all the same risky issues that we’re worrying about with Folica’s HM method.

A couple of EGF-R suppressing drugs have been on the market for several years. Arava for example. But we’re not seeing a rash of lawsuits against these drugs for causing cancerous growths at the site of every cut & scrape the patient gets while on the drug, are we?

#5

» I agree that WNT expression bears some risk-related study. But honestly I
» fail to worry about it too much.
» How is the Folica HM method fundamentally different from just being on
» some type of EGF-R suppressing medication, while having a diet that
» includes decent Lithium (raw garlic is very healthy, plenty of people take
» full-blown Lithium supplements & medications, etc), and then getting a skin
» wound (anywhere on your body)?
»

I think the most important step of the Follica procedure is ‘wounding’. That alone should be sufficient to give ‘some’ regrowth. Especially, when the person is on finas/dutas. That way the immune system would be ‘sort of’ down and would give the body a chance to repair/regenerate the follicle.

As of plucking, I think it’s important because removing hair from root (plucking/waxing, NOT shaving/hair removal creams) causes the hair follicle to go into the anagen (hair growing) phase. Which is beneficial because the vellus hair have a significantly long telogen phase (months), waxing/plucking them would put them straight back into anagen phase and speed up the process.

Benji said that the patent mentions plucking hair 2-3 days before the procedure. This way all the hair would be in anagen phase, combined with signicantly less DHT and wounding should create a really good environment for follicle regeneration. We definitely we need someone to experiment with this (on a small area), the good thing is with this technique the person doesn’t need to get on EGF inhibitors (the dangerous stuff).

As of WNT, Fuchs in her video says that increased WNT signaling is responsible for new follicles and such. However, I was reading on lithium and one of the side effects of taking lithium is hair-thinning. weired? this really is one cursed disease!

#6

» » I agree that WNT expression bears some risk-related study. But honestly
» I
» » fail to worry about it too much.
» » How is the Folica HM method fundamentally different from just being on
» » some type of EGF-R suppressing medication, while having a diet that
» » includes decent Lithium (raw garlic is very healthy, plenty of people
» take
» » full-blown Lithium supplements & medications, etc), and then getting a
» skin
» » wound (anywhere on your body)?
» »
»
» I think the most important step of the Follica procedure is ‘wounding’.
» That alone should be sufficient to give ‘some’ regrowth. Especially, when
» the person is on finas/dutas. That way the immune system would be ‘sort of’
» down and would give the body a chance to repair/regenerate the follicle.

If “wounding” is done through peelings, I must remember that it was already very popular at these hairloss forums some years ago, that fashion gone … I don’t think peeling itself will produce a “significant” regrowth if any

»
» As of plucking, I think it’s important because removing hair from root
» (plucking/waxing, NOT shaving/hair removal creams) causes the hair follicle
» to go into the anagen (hair growing) phase. Which is beneficial because the
» vellus hair have a significantly long telogen phase (months),
» waxing/plucking them would put them straight back into anagen phase and
» speed up the process.

Let me make a joke here, but now we know that the old lunatic resident from alt.baldspot ( Ernie Primeau ) was right … LOL

»
» Benji said that the patent mentions plucking hair 2-3 days before the
» procedure. This way all the hair would be in anagen phase, combined with
» signicantly less DHT and wounding should create a really good environment
» for follicle regeneration. We definitely we need someone to experiment with
» this (on a small area), the good thing is with this technique the person
» doesn’t need to get on EGF inhibitors (the dangerous stuff).
»
» As of WNT, Fuchs in her video says that increased WNT signaling is
» responsible for new follicles and such. However, I was reading on lithium
» and one of the side effects of taking lithium is hair-thinning. weired?
» this really is one cursed disease!

#7

» If “wounding” is done through peelings, I must remember that it was
» already very popular at these hairloss forums some years ago, that fashion
» gone … I don’t think peeling itself will produce a “significant” regrowth
» if any

what peel concentration did they try? It has to disrupt stratum corneum for it to be effective…so not just any light peel. I have read about people trying scalp peels BUT they tried it with their hair grown and they went with lighter peels to protect the hair. The problem with that approach is that peel didn’t get straight through to scalp (too many hair in the way), and it wasn’t strong enough.

Btw, Do you know of any users who tried stronger peels on their scalps…the ones that actually cause peeling of the skin?

» Let me make a joke here, but now we know that the old lunatic resident
» from alt.baldspot ( Ernie Primeau ) was right … LOL

Who’s that guy? What was he all about?

#8

» » If “wounding” is done through peelings, I must remember that it was
» » already very popular at these hairloss forums some years ago, that
» fashion
» » gone … I don’t think peeling itself will produce a “significant”
» regrowth
» » if any
»
» what peel concentration did they try? It has to disrupt stratum corneum
» for it to be effective…so not just any light peel. I have read about
» people trying scalp peels BUT they tried it with their hair grown and they
» went with lighter peels to protect the hair. The problem with that approach
» is that peel didn’t get straight through to scalp (too many hair in the
» way), and it wasn’t strong enough.
»
» Btw, Do you know of any users who tried stronger peels on their
» scalps…the ones that actually cause peeling of the skin?

Tomorrow ( now I’m going to bed ) I will try to find some links about what I was talking about, I remember that peeling was a hot topic at alt.baldspot some years ago, I can’t remember if the same guys talked about it here at hairsite too.

»
»
» » Let me make a joke here, but now we know that the old lunatic resident
» » from alt.baldspot ( Ernie Primeau ) was right … LOL
»
» Who’s that guy? What was he all about?

he’s just a lunatic, he said that by plucking facial and body hair ( not the scalp hair ) you forced the nutrients to travel up to the scalp and regrow your hair, he said that the DHT theory was false and propecia caused hair loss, and that androgens were needed to grow hair. He wasn’t somebody to be taken seriously, but he was a nuisance

#9

» he’s just a lunatic, he said that by plucking facial and body hair ( not
» the scalp hair ) you forced the nutrients to travel up to the scalp and
» regrow your hair, he said that the DHT theory was false and propecia caused
» hair loss, and that androgens were needed to grow hair.

haha…actually before I knew about hairloss I believed in the same theory. Because my hairloss and body hair started at the same time.

#10

» Tomorrow ( now I’m going to bed ) I will try to find some links about what
» I was talking about, I remember that peeling was a hot topic at
» alt.baldspot some years ago, I can’t remember if the same guys talked about
» it here at hairsite too.

Well, the treatment was known as the “Oz brew”, Oz was the guru and there were a lot of followers, and it included a scalp peel. At that time the magic word was “fibrosis” ( collagen buildup around the follicle ), and peeling/DMSO/etc supposedly helped to figh it. One link :

http://www.hairlosshelp.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=10&threadid=41744

#11

» http://www.ascb.org/ibioseminars/includes/player.cfm?name=fuchs&num=2
»
» Thats a very interesting video and I think it’s been posted earlier as
» well. Still, anyone interesting in Follica procedure should definitely
» watch the Entire video.
»
»
» Two things that really stood out were:
»
» i) incresed WNT signalling causes the follicles to go from telogen to
» anagen phase.
»
» ii) Going full-throttle on WNT signalling leads to ‘Pilomatricoma’, which
» basically is benign (non-cancerous) tumors. And apparently they are quite
» common in gen-pop (esp. women). The key point being to NOT overdo the WNT
» signalling.
»
»
» On a Side Note: We know lithium boosts WNT signalling which is essential
» for hair regeneration, however, lithium is also prescribed for manic
» depression etc. Could it be possible that part of the problem is lithium
» deficieny which causes depression associated with hairloss??
»
» About the Pigmentation Issue: Just saw the NBC video again and the NBC
» science women said that in mice the hair were colorless because the mouse’s
» skin is unpigmented, hopefully in humans that wouldn’t be an issue.

cool!