Potential new cure found for baldness

Very gently @Rosie ...speaking as a balding person I don’t think there is anything wrong here. Perhaps this is humour that doesn’t translate very well? (Self depreciation etc).

 

I made a comment up thread that I was glad that people who suffer baldness might be helped by this research (which I didn't read) because I know it can be very distressing. I wasn't thinking of male pattern baldness, but the medical conditions that can cause real distress.

To me the humour here mocked our research situation, with many specific allusions to problems with BPS research into ME/CFS, and the thinking underlying it, applied to a hair loss context. I don't think there was any mocking of bald people, which I wouldn't find funny. This thread did make me smile, which I was grateful for.

@Rosie - Maybe you have highlighted how humour is understood differently by different people. I can also understand how you might be more sensitive to offence in this area, given what you have shared.

 

I have found found this thread on the whole a bit glib and dismissive of people suffering from hair loss. It can be a very traumatic experience for people, especially women, leading to depression, isolation and thoughts of suicide. Not every person losing their hair suffers these problems but that doesn’t mean it’s not a life altering problem for many.

Yes of course I’d rather ME/CFS got more funding than hair loss treatments but I don’t begrudge research going into that problem.

Just because it seems like a superficial to some people doesn’t mean it is to everyone. I know it’s easy to get carried away with the fun on these threads and I’m as guilty as anyone but it’s good to stop and think sometimes.

 

@Wonko @Andy H @arewenearlythereyet @Skycloud @Diluted-biscuit Thank you all for your gentle replies. I felt quite sick after posting yesterday worried I had upset anyone but you were all very kind in your responses, thanks so much.

 

Did we not have a hair loss cure thread already?
If not and i am experiencing déjà vu then perhaps more CBT is in order...

 

Here

 

Thats completely different, you see baldness and stem cells for hair loss are unrelated and our research only covers whichever one is not in vogue and then we will claim its both in a different conversation and assume everyone has forgotten this one (which we can then claim is subterfuge) [/MS]

 

Thanks Rosie. I'll just leave this link to my previous views on this. Web article. Stem cell research solves baldness I would ask people to consider my other posts in that thread too.



The last lot of 'baldness' mocking was for a study funded by:

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine training grant,
a New Idea Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,
the National Cancer Institute (R25T CA098010),
the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01-GM081686 and R01-GM0866465),
the National Institutes of Health (RO1GM094232),
an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant (RSG-16-111-01-MPC),
the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (5R01AR57409),
a Rose Hills Foundation Research Award and the Gaba Fund.
The Rose Hills award and the Gaba Fund are administered through the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center.

So we can believe that Cancer Societies are mucking about, or we could look a little closer and maybe with a bit of empathy.

One of the reasons for finding drugs that 'cure' 'baldness' is that it would provide valuable income into research behind the immune reasons for hair loss, and associated diseases.

 

While I'm ranting on my soapbox:

Androgenetic alopecia is a common form of hair loss in both men and women. In men, this condition is also known as male-pattern baldness. Hair is lost in a well-defined pattern, beginning above both temples. Over time, the hairline recedes to form a characteristic "M" shape. Hair also thins at the crown (near the top of the head), often progressing to partial or complete baldness.

The pattern of hair loss in women differs from male-pattern baldness. In women, the hair becomes thinner all over the head, and the hairline does not recede. Androgenetic alopecia in women rarely leads to total baldness.

Androgenetic alopecia in men has been associated with several other medical conditions including coronary heart disease and enlargement of the prostate. Additionally, prostate cancer, disorders of insulin resistance (such as diabetes and obesity), and high blood pressure (hypertension) have been related to androgenetic alopecia. In women, this form of hair loss is associated with an increased risk of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is characterized by a hormonal imbalance that can lead to irregular menstruation, acne, excess hair elsewhere on the body (hirsutism), and weight gain.

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/androgenetic-alopecia

So, I can see how what at first glance looks like funding for male pattern baldness can be annoying, but there are wider reasons to study it.

I know people don't mean badly, but it easy to come across that way.

 

I've learned something, thanks.

 

Thanks

 

As a rule I never criticize someone or something else getting research, progress etc. This is not money taken from M.E./CFS and devoted to buying toupees for middle-aged men. It may be frustrating to see something cosmetic get research, but there is a reason it does and it's because it matters to a lot of people and a lot of diseases, and most people in the developed world are fairly healthy and to them cosmetic issues take on relatively greater importance.

In any case, this is actually a very probable effective treatment of the future, unlike most medical articles on 'cures' because it coincides with "breakthrough" South Korean research on WNT pathways. What's interesting is it looks like there is a sort of on/off intracellular 'switch', it's actually a complicated pathway, but that's a general idea. That that may be the main culprit and which didn't seem possible for something like baldness. So, as I understand, cyclosporine is k.o.ing a protein that blocks the pathway. And that may mean better treatements for all kind of hairloss, including cancer and auto-immune ones.