Scientists have made a breakthrough with a new 'cure' for hair loss, which is said to take effect in just 20 days.
Hair loss affects well over 80 million people across the US, with androgenetic alopecia being the most common cause.
Data shows the problem is particularly prevalent among men, with an estimated two-thirds anticipated to have suffered a noticeable loss by the time they reach 35. By age 50, this rises to around 85 per cent.
In a bid to maintain youthful, luscious locks, many have opted to go under the knife for a hair transplant, though this isn't without risk.
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The NIH says while the surgery is relatively safe, there are some documented incidents of complications from itching and dissatisfaction to more surgical complications like infections, wound dehiscence and/or skin necrosis.
However, such procedures could soon become a thing of the past.
Researchers at National Taiwan University have seemingly created a serum that can be applied to the skin, which has been shown to restore hair growth in mice, as per their study published in Cell Metabolism.
In their experiments, the serum worked to stimulate fat cells in the skin that miraculously regenerated hair follicles.
According to the scientists, the serum is made of naturally derived fatty acids, meaning it doesn't irritate skin when applied and could be transformed into an over-the-counter product.
Professor Sung–Jan Lin, study author at National Taiwan University, said he was so confident of the skincare product's effectiveness that he personally tried and tested a portion of it on his legs.
Speaking to New Scientist, he said: "I personally applied these fatty acids, dissolved in alcohol, on my thighs for three weeks and I found it promoted hair regrowth."
The study is also based on a well-known fact that injuries or irritation to the skin surface can actually promote excessive hair growth, a process known as hypertrichosis.
As a result, the researchers induced eczema on patches of shaved areas on the backs of the mice of both sexes, which they did by applying the irritant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS).
In as little as 10 days, some areas of the skin started to sprout new hair follicles at just a fraction of a millimetre wide.
Meanwhile, hair didn't appear to regrow on areas that hadn't been irritated, nor in the selection of rodents that weren't dosed with the chemical irritant.
The researchers now believe the irritant provokes immune cells to move into the layer of fat beneath the skin, in turn triggering the cells to release fatty acids that are absorbed by hair follicle stem cells, thereby inspiring hair growth.
"These results demonstrate that skin injury not only induces tissue inflammation but also stimulates hair regeneration," the authors state.
Yet to mitigate skin irritation, the team created different fatty acids without any chemical irritants that similarly worked to promote hair growth with few apparent side effects.
Now, the next stage involves testing dosages of the serum on human scalps.
"Supported by our experimental results, demonstrating hair growth activation upon topical application of monounsaturated fatty acids, their natural existence and established safety profile suggest considerable potential for treating hair loss conditions in the future," they concluded.
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