Need Help - Opinions

Hair Transplant
1

Hello all. I’m brand new to this forum and hair transplants in general. But I’ve read up some on the new non-strip FUE and am going to get one done. I’ve scheduled an appointment to get 2000 FUE units with one of the doctors discussed frequently on here. However, my question is that he is also offering PRP and ACell along with the FUE. I know very little about these treatments/products. I haven’t seen any objective data or information on either. Assuming that the price is not consideration, should I get PRP and/or ACell? If so, should I get ACell in both donor area and recipient area or just in one? What are the benefits, if any, of each of PRP and ACell? Are there any risks?

Thank you SO MUCH in advance. I’m really a novice and need the advice of people who have studied these much more than I have and are much more knowledgable in general!

2

» Hello all. I’m brand new to this forum and hair transplants in general.
» But I’ve read up some on the new non-strip FUE and am going to get one
» done. I’ve scheduled an appointment to get 2000 FUE units with one of the
» doctors discussed frequently on here. However, my question is that he is
» also offering PRP and ACell along with the FUE. I know very little about
» these treatments/products. I haven’t seen any objective data or
» information on either. Assuming that the price is not consideration,
» should I get PRP and/or ACell? If so, should I get ACell in both donor
» area and recipient area or just in one? What are the benefits, if any, of
» each of PRP and ACell? Are there any risks?
»
» Thank you SO MUCH in advance. I’m really a novice and need the advice of
» people who have studied these much more than I have and are much more
» knowledgable in general!

ACell can regenerate skin tissue and promote faster and improved healing following a hair transplant procedure. Our primary goal in using ACell, at our office, is to further improve the appearance of donor areas following follicular unit extraction via CIT. We’re still examining whether and how ACell can reduce the appearance of hypopigentation, which sometimes develops following FU extraction. From this perspective, ACell would be MOST beneficial administered to your donor area, but can also greatly reduce the healing process up top when applied to your recipient zones. Repeat patients of ours, who have tried ACell, report that they experience much faster, and more complete, healing with this treatment.

ACell has been FDA-approved and is safe for use in humans however, because it is derived from the basement membrane of pig’s bladder, it should not be used by those who may have an allergy to pig or porcine products. However, such allergies are very rare.

Platelet Rich Plasma, or PRP, is derived from your own blood and contains about 5 times the number of platelets found in circulating blood. These concentrated platelets contain growth factors which have been shown to accelerate tissue repair and appear to have positive effects on hair growth. There are a few different potential benefits of PRP treatment: it may enhance hair follicle viability; promote improved and accelerated healing and tissue repair after hair transplant surgery; enhance the growth of transplanted hair; and revive dormant hair follicles. There is some evidence from various studies that PRP treatment may be successful at all of these things but we cannot say for sure at this point. Dr. Greco, for one, has done a lot of research on PRP and has been using it to stimulate re-growth of native hair for a while now. We have heard that there has been up to a 70% success rate with this. At our center, as with ACell, we are hoping that PRP will improve the overall aesthetics of the donor area post surgery.

Since PRP comes from your own body, there is no allergy risk or foreign-body reaction risk. However, PRP does increase the probability that you will experience frontal swelling because it augments the inflammatory response. Although this can be alarming as a patient, it’s not necessarily a concern because it is a sign that cells are being sent to this area to promote healing and reduce trauma. This is one thing we KNOW about PRP- it improves healing.

We’ve had some reports from patients, who have received PRP, who have seen improved coverage in the recipient area, even without grafts. We’ve also had a patient who had a body hair procedure involving beard and chest hair who received great yield from the beard hair but very poor results with the chest hair. However, on a second pass, this time placing the body hair only in an existing strip scar, but with ACell and PRP added, the very first hairs to re-grow were chest hairs. We also had a patient follow-up in just today who did not appear to have nearly the number of extraction sites he should for the number of grafts he had done. The areas that were treated with ACell and PRP were a normal skin tone- unlike the hypopigmented region visible upon close inspection elsewhere. Obviously, these are just a couple of isolated cases and we can’t make assumptions at this point that every patient will see such results, but Dr. Cole thinks that what we’ve seen so far looks promising.

It’s really up to you whether you opt to have these treatments, and unfortunately they are still too new to have any really objective data on (side-by-side comparisons might ultimately be necessary to reach that point). I would say that they can both definitely offer some benefits but there certainly won’t be any adverse consequences to NOT opting to have the treatments. If you have selected a top physician, you will most likely have great results with or without, so I wouldn’t stress too much over the decision!

3

What’s the charge for adding A-Cell to a transplant?

4

» What’s the charge for adding A-Cell to a transplant?

Isn’t Acell the stuff that some people said can regrow one’s finger or something like that, that was hyped by some posters as the miracle powder that could heal everything, well I guess the reality finally sinks in.

5

» What’s the charge for adding A-Cell to a transplant?

It depends on the amount you receive (generally based on the size of the CIT procedure) but Dr. Cole offers it at cost.

6

» » What’s the charge for adding A-Cell to a transplant?
»
» Isn’t Acell the stuff that some people said can regrow one’s finger or
» something like that, that was hyped by some posters as the miracle powder
» that could heal everything, well I guess the reality finally sinks in.

ACell has done some fascinating things, including: regrowing esophagus and bladder tissue that has been excised due to cancer, as well as a tympanic membrane. It has been used to re-grow muscle over a soldier’s leg wound and was able to improve his muscle tissue function by 15%. ACell has also been used to treat damaged heart, or myocardial, tissue that was injured subsequent to a heart attack or vascular inclusion. There have also been a handful of cases where it has been shown to re-grow the tips of peoples’ fingers. We haven’t seen any truly miraculous limb regeneration or anything like that but it’s still a pretty fascinating product with a lot of potential applications and benefits for people.

FDA approval for use in humans only occurred fairly recently so I believe there is still plenty of untapped potential for this product. I’ll say that one of the struggles we’ve had, in using it for hair transplant applications, is that we haven’t yet found an ideal delivery method. ACell comes in a grainy sort of form which makes it difficult to administer to tiny extraction sites. Dr. Cole is in talks with ACell currently to try and come up with an alternative way to deliver it.

7

» Hello all. I’m brand new to this forum and hair transplants in general.
» But I’ve read up some on the new non-strip FUE and am going to get one
» done. I’ve scheduled an appointment to get 2000 FUE units with one of the
» doctors discussed frequently on here. However, my question is that he is
» also offering PRP and ACell along with the FUE. I know very little about
» these treatments/products. I haven’t seen any objective data or
» information on either. Assuming that the price is not consideration,
» should I get PRP and/or ACell? If so, should I get ACell in both donor
» area and recipient area or just in one? What are the benefits, if any, of
» each of PRP and ACell? Are there any risks?
»
» Thank you SO MUCH in advance. I’m really a novice and need the advice of
» people who have studied these much more than I have and are much more
» knowledgable in general!

Hi,
First of all, as a novice in this field, you shouldn’t believe each and every crap you read on ANY forums on the Internet.

Secondly, I strongly advise you to check out very carefully ALL the following informations and URL’s (links), including all post-/comment-attached links, as well as attached answers/comments within them:

http://ushairrestoration.com/blog/2010/08/multiplication-of-hair-by-dividing-hair-stem-cells-is-it-possible/

Concerning PRP (“Platelet Rich Plasma”) and ACell’s MatriStem products, you should review the following:

PRP

Q. What is the PRP treatment?

A. “PRP (plasma rich protein) is a solution that has been suggested by and is currently being used by some hair transplant doctors to keep and maintain hair grafts during the transplantation process and, after hair transplant surgery, to enhance the growth of grafts and the healing of the wound. However, the scientific evidence-based research to prove the effectiveness of this procedure in a larger scale study is lacking.”

Source: SEO Services For Doctors - Digital Marketing | Ekwa Marketing

Until today, nothing has changed: PRP is an unproven procedure, and as for now, has just been “an unproven money making machine” for some hair transplant doctors/clinics out there - over and out.

ACell’s MatriStem

In contrast to PRP, ACell’s MatriStem products –among some similar products out there- ARE already scientifically proven wound healing products:

http://www.acell.com/research_field.php

Related (accurate) articles: Miracle Powder Regrows Fingertips? (Video)

Concerning any applicability/usefulness of ACell’s MatriStem products in the hair restoration field in general, as well as in the “hair multiplication” field too, currently, some interesting studies are ongoing:

Posted on 07-19-2010, 10:04 AM

“Over the past few weeks I’ve started researching the new ACell treatment that several are considering a medical breakthrough for skin and scar regeneration.
After contacting the company, Doc Cole, Doc Cooley and several others working on the concept I found the following:
The only Doc’s actually working hand in hand with the ACell company at this time is Jerry Cooley and Hitzig. Cole is just using it as a test treatment and does not have much in line of actual achievements as of yet…”

Source: google it.

Claims within the posting above are definitely correct: Currently, the only Doc’s out there who are really and seriously “working hand in hand with the ACell company at this time” is Dr. Jerry Cooley in North Carolina and Dr. Gary Hitzig in New York.

Anyway, in barely 1 month from now (Oct. 2010), it’s time for them (Cooley and Hitzig) to present their preliminary results of their studies (gathered within the past 2 years) in front of their colleagues and experts:

Source: http://www.ishrs.org/PDF/18ASM_ProgramMailer_FINAL-06-03-10.pdf

And yeah, it really seems, that many other researchers and HT doctors out there too, can’t await to see and hear their preliminary results at this annually congress, as for instance:

So it’s up to you to carefully REVIEW for yourself each and every part of my post and claims – more accurate ADVISE – before you intent to have any traditional “hair follicle extinction procedures”, instead of having any NEW scientifically proven hair multiplication procedures, just due to any lack of knowledge and/or awareness of any already existing and scientifically proven HM procedures/treatments.

Good luck,
as well as happy reading and studying of all the stuff above! :slight_smile: