Could gene therapy cure baldness?
Introduction to Could gene therapy cure baldness? Hair loss affects millions of Americans — men, women and even children. It seems that there are an equal number of supposed remedies: wigs, hair pieces, topical treatments, drugs, vitamin supplements, transplant surgery, hats or simply shaving off what’s left. Beyond these treatments, there is an industry of hairloss associations, support groups, counselors and more. Because hair loss has no cure and is a matter of vanity, it also attracts its fair share of scam artists. But in the eyes of many researchers, the key to finding a hair loss treatment is finding out its cause. That’s why a recent study from a research group at the University of Pennsylvania has many people excited. Scientists have long believed that hair follicles develop in the womb, and that no new follicles appear after birth. A person’s head has 100,000 hair follicles, and when any of them shut down or gets severely damaged, that’s it. No new follicles are going to app
Hair loss affects millions of Americans — men, women and even children. It seems that there are an equal number of supposed remedies: wigs, hair pieces, topical treatments, drugs, vitamin supplements, transplant surgery, hats or simply shaving off what’s left. Beyond these treatments, there is an industry of hairloss associations, support groups, counselors and more. Because hair loss has no cure and is a matter of vanity, it also attracts its fair share of scam artists. But in the eyes of many researchers, the key to finding a hair loss treatment is finding out its cause. That’s why a recent study from a research group at the University of Pennsylvania has many people excited. Scientists have long believed that hair follicles develop in the womb, and that no new follicles appear after birth. A person’s head has 100,000 hair follicles, and when any of them shut down or gets severely damaged, that’s it. No new follicles are going to appear, and follicles are limited in their ability to
