Baldness

Main article: Hair

Causes of baldness

Rosacea may be a cause of baldness

In 2023, it was mentioned that rosacea could be the cause of loss of eyebrows and baldness^[1].

2026: OLED Cap Against Hair Loss Introduced

A research team from Hong Kong and South Korea has presented a wearable phototherapy device to combat hair loss, made in the form of a headdress with integrated OLED panels. The development was announced in the journal Nature Communications on January 10, 2026. Read more here.

2025: An innovative method of treating baldness began to be used in Russia - cells are transplanted

Russian doctors have introduced an innovative method of treating androgenetic alopecia using transplantation of regenerative cells extracted from the hair follicles of the patient himself, which allows you to start the process of hair restoration in cases of progressive baldness and significantly reduce the percentage of hair loss with an increase in their density per square centimeter. This became known on August 5, 2025.

According to the press service of Sechenov University, the V. A. Rakhmanov Clinic for Skin and Sexually Transmitted Diseases of the Clinical Center for Health Sciences of Sechenov University has developed and is applying advanced methods of treating the most common hair disease, which worries from 80% to 90% of men and up to 50% of women in Europe. The research is supported by the Sechenov University Development Program for 2025-2036 as part of the Priority-2030 program.

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Фото: Freepik

Androgenic alopecia develops due to an increased sensitivity of the hair follicle to androgens, in particular to testosterone. The hair bulb thins and its life cycle ends faster than usual, resulting in hair loss.

Vladimir Pinegin, Associate Professor of the Department of Skin and Sexually Transmitted Diseases named after V. A. Rakhmanov, explained that most of the susceptible hair bulbs are in the forehead, crown and crown, so bald spots appear in these places. From the onset of androgenetic alopecia to the changes visible to the patient, it usually takes 2-3 years, while the genetic program increases with age.

There are fewer sensitive follicles on the temples and the back of the head, so in these places hair is more often preserved until the end of life. The process of baldness occurs untimely and develops gradually over several years.^[2]

2022

Cyclosporine A may help stop baldness

Balding people will help save their hair with a drug created to prevent rejection of transplanted organs.

In September 2022, it became known that British scientists discovered that an immunosuppressive drug created to prevent the body from rejecting transplanted organs could help keep hair balding people.

The drug cyclosporin A began to be used in clinical practice back in 1980, but its property to preserve hair was discovered only now. Attention to this side effect drew one of the researchers dealing with alopecia problems.

It turned out that the drug stimulates hair growth. In the earliest stages of clinical trials, it was noted that the drug inhibits the growth of many tissues, including hair follicles, but no one gave due attention to this.

Scientists believe that the discovery of this property of drugs may be a solution to the problems of balding people. So far, solving this problem is extremely difficult. One of the ways is to transplant hair from other parts of the body, and the other way is drug treatment with the use of several drugs at once.

In the near future, experts plan to conduct additional clinical trials of cyclosporin A. And if they are successful, the drug will be recommended to be used in the treatment of baldness together with other drugs.

Investigation of SCUBE3 protein molecule for hair restoration after baldness

Scientists have come up with "Botox for baldness." This became known on September 7, 2022.

The near future of hair loss treatment seems highly promising. Recent studies in mice have discovered another way to restore hair and resemble the inset of Botox. Moreover, other approaches to radical treatment of baldness should soon undergo clinical trials in humans.

An experimental treatment developed by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, uses a protein molecule known as SCUBE3. The team's work has shown that SCUBE3 plays a vital role in how certain cells at the bottom of our hair follicles, known as dermal papillae, cause hair growth. They also showed that injecting SCUBE3 into the skin of mice could lead to the formation of new hair, including in mice with human hair grafted with follicles.

You have a patient sitting in a dentist-like chair, he closes his eyes, and then you start tk, tk, tk, tk, tk, - explained the author of the study, professor of developmental biology and cell biology, chief researcher at Hair Biotech Amplifica Maxim Plicus.

Of course, many experimental drugs have shown promise in animal studies and then failed in human trials, so it is still unclear if SCUBE3 will prove to be something of value. But there are other treatments for hair loss in the works.

This spring, the Food and Drug Administration approved an existing arthritis drug called baricitinib as the first of its kind to treat alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that can cause complete baldness throughout the body and scalp. Baricitinib and other similar drugs that are likely on the road can suppress certain parts of the immune system that attack hair follicles in people with the condition, which can lead to abrupt restoration of their hair.

Even old hair loss medications can get a new lease of life. In recent years, doctors have begun to prescribe very low doses of minoxidil, the active ingredient in Rogaine, in pill form to patients with hair loss. Although research on this method is still ongoing, oral minoxidil still seems as safe and modest in efficacy as topical minoxidil, but may be more convenient and easy for many patients.

Turn Biotechnologies hopes to use the mRNA technology behind the COVID-19 vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech to rejuvenate dormant stem cells in hair follicles. The company expects human trials to begin in late 2023 or early 2024. Two other companies, RepliCel and HairClone, plan to collect, grow and then transplant hair cells from a healthy area of a person's head to one where the hair goes bald. RepiCel has already begun human trials in Japan^[3] with ^[4]

See also

• Hair transplant

Notes