Hair clinic tests stem cell therapy to help with thinning

RALEIGH, North Carolina -- Thinning hair is a problem that affects more than 80 million men and women in the United States, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

At Jernigan's Hair Replacement Clinic in Raleigh, they have been using many treatments to help patients with hair loss. The latest therapy, involving stem cells, is showing promising results.

"The idea with stem cells is we are adding extraneous or extra growth factors in cytokine in stem cells which we hope will get transferred into cells in the same area that we're injecting them," explained Jernigan's Medical Director, Dr. Grant Koher. "So, we want them to become new hair follicles."

Jernigan's is conducting several trials in the office, using stem cells as a stand-alone therapy or in conjunction with platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRP), where a patient's blood is drawn and spun down to extract the platelets. The platelets are injected into a patient's scalp, helping to stimulate growth.

"Platelet-rich plasma has been around several years and the stem cells is a relatively new advance and we have several trials going on in our own office here where we're seeing excellent results," Koher explained.

The results are all pointing back to the healing and regenerative benefits of stem cells taken from donated umbilical cord blood, amniotic fluid, or placentas that all would have been otherwise discarded after a live birth.

"It's absolutely getting mainstream," explained Natasha Achterberg, Director of Client Services at Jernigan's. "Another thing patients like is it's their own body's growth factors," Achterberg said. "You're not having other chemical additives added in as we are generally trying to get away from a lot of that in our lifestyle."