Category: ACell

I don’t believe that A-Cell will work. Is there actually any proper evidence of this technology working anywhere? It seems to be just that guy with the finger which I am unsure whether has been exagerrated/fabricated. Other than this it feels like all hype.

Also, it seems like when you pluck these hairs, you have to take out so much of the hair that logically thinking I’m not even sure if they will grow back the same thickness (if at all). Now I know people will come back with how they wax their legs, chest, arms or even their head regularly and they always grow back, but I seriously doubt that when a normal person plucks/waxes, they are extracting the amount of tissue required to perform the A-Cell procedure.

In addition, Jerry Cooley states in his presentation on one slide: “you can see the thicker FUE grafts vs the thinner plucked hairs” – so this really isn’t what it is being hyped up to be?

This unfortunately to me feels like just another method of doing a standard hair transplant. Maybe it will infact become the common way as it appears to allow it to be done without any scaring at all, but right now it looks like you would actually be worse off using A-Cell method over current methods, as the hairs at the donor and recipient region will grow back thinner, that is if they grow back at all.

I don’t know of Dr Cooley’s reputation, but from watching his presentation this just doesn’t seem that impressive. The only way it might work is using beard hair that thinned out during the process and ended up like scalp hair, but even then if this worked perfectly is it really a cure? You can’t do whole units and can you control the direction?

Perhaps you are right, but in the spirit of scientific research we have to try. That is one reason why we are trying to conduct formal IRB approved clinical research. It will either prove or disprove the concept.

The hope is that the plucking approach will yield more hair than moving the hairs around with traditional transplantation. The fact is that not only us (NHI), but the entire hair transplant surgeon community needs to be able to replicate this technique to stand up to the test.

Hi there, I apologise if this is a silly question, it’s regarding the acell research that is under way at the moment: if the drug has the potential to regenerate cells including hair follicles – would it not be possible to use this drug in a preventative way by applying it to thinning areas affected by DHT in much the same as minoxidil?

The concept with the ACell is that it will stimulate the stem cells that are present in the plucked hairs to produce another mature hair from the plucked hairs. As the original hair will regrow, you get 2 hairs from one if there is a 100% growth of the plucked hair. That’s the idea, anyway. It isn’t a DHT blocker.

I have a few questions about ACell…first of I know it’s in early stages and a lot needs to be done but it it works I want to know this…

1. From my understanding it will involve plucking hairs from the donor hair putting into the top and then wait a few months for new hairs to sprout from the plucked areas to keep transplanting?
2. If that is the case how is not a cure where you once said somewhere? If plucking out hairs and they keep regrowing won’t you have an unlimited donor supply!?

Yes, the hair is plucked from a donor area and placed in a bald area. It is not a cure, because you are still genetically bald. You just added hair to look non-bald. If that was the definition of cure, then Propecia and hair transplant surgery could be considered a cure. If you are referring to the “theoretical” unlimited donor hair supply as a cure, then I suppose that would fit. But theory and practicality (of multiple surgeries) does not always work out in the real world.

There are a lot of unanswered questions here. I do not have all the answers, and the proliferation of information on the Internet makes it difficult to keep ahead. In other words, we are BEGINNING our clinical study. We can all speculate what the study will show, but as far as we are concerned, it is all hopes and dreams at this point. We promise we will keep you all up to date.

Hey Dr Rassman i hope your day is treating you well.

Being a hairloss sufferer myself i can relate to the extraordinary anticipation and hype surrounding the new buzz word in the field of hair restoration ”Acell”. However i also realize that this is far from establishing itself as a practical solution to genetic alopecia(if it even makes it that far). As a hair restoration physician i imagine you grow tired of those ”cure” type perennial questions. In my opinion readers need to recognize that when the hairloss community is equip with innovators like yourself Dr Rassman it provides us with the best chance possible of making the most out of these types (Acell) situations.

Being a daily reader of this blog i have nothing but good things to say about it. There is not a doubt in my mind that Dr Rassman and the other physicians that contribute to the blog will be efficient at posting occasional updates. So for a lack of a better term just ”chill out” time will tell…..

Thank you for your support! I don’t mind the large amount of emails I’ve received with ACell questions, as I kind of expected that… but I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea about what it can do (we’re still trying to figure it all out).

We will most definitely update the readers of this site on our progress as we can.

Dr Rassman,

As I can see from the board you are currently getting hammered with unknown questions regarding ACell possibilities prematurely before your own trials are done. That being said, here is another from a former patient to add to the lists of unknowns but to try and get a gage on your thoughts and opinions. If you pluck a hair from the back of the head with Acell the hope is that it will grow another hair and thus multiplying the donor area indefinitely. However, as you currently transplant hairs via strip or FUE it is done by dissecting the hair in their natural “clusters”…1-4 hairs.

With Acell is it your opinion that if you pluck a hair that it will only grow back one or that the genetic makeup will replicate where it was pulled from i.e. if you pluck from a 4 hair follicular unit it will replicate 4 hairs or are we to believe that this Acell procedure will be limited due to the fact that you will only be able to transfer hair as single 1 hair follicular units?

Thanks for your time

In theory, you get one for one. We pluck one hair at a time, not a full follicular unit. So when that single hair is re-implanted with just enough biological tissue on it, the ACell extracellular matrix should theoretically give it new life elsewhere on the scalp.

Hey Dr. Rassman, thanks a lot for taking the initiative to conduct a large-scale ACell study.

When can the general public expect an update regarding your progress? That is, how long do you think it will take for your team to determine whether or not autocloned hairs cycle regularly and whether or not the yield percentage is statistically significant?

The cycling question will reflect the normal cycles in the individuals under the study. I would assume that the cycle will run about 3 years, but indications may become apparent if the hair count starts to drop after a year or so.