Latest Update
Latest Update - Thanks, Biopsies, and THE next study
- “Thank you guys for all your support – in all means possible- whether by posting, sharing or even contributing to the donations. With the generous contribution of people here and across channels we have closed the target for the next study.” “Thank you @Arcturus9for your generous contribution which will expedite our efforts- and help in reaching a significant milestone in treating hairloss.“ – Dr Taleb Barghouthi.
- While other colleagues have an interest in an FUT procedure, Dr Barghouthi is considering a full FUE or injecting into the recipient area for his next study.
- A 4mm biopsy was taken for both test and control areas in patient 1 and analysed by a pathologist . “Please be aware that the pathologist had very little insight as to what the test area and control areas are and that he only knew that it is an area of an extraction site. He has no insight about the trial whatsoever. I also randomly assigned which areas to take the biopsy from and was taken from the 0.32 mg injection and control sites.
Test: Sections show follicular hyperkeratosis, focal follicular plugging, No Lichenoid perifollicular lymphoid infiltrate, No dyskeratosis of the follicular epithelium, No perifollicular concentric fibrosis and minimal dermal fibrosis. 10 Hair follicles are seen. Three in anagen, 5 in catagen and 2 in telogen phase.
Control : Sections show follicular hyperkeratosis, focal follicular plugging, focal lichenoid perifollicular lymphoid cell infiltrate, No dyskeratosis of the follicular epithelium. Perifollicular concentric fibrosis in some hair follicles and focal dermal fibrosis. 5 hair follicles are seen, 1 in anagen, 2 in catagen and 2 in telogen phase.
I do think this is clearly a positive analysis on a cellular level. Of Course, we do have limitations in that we couldn’t biopsy all areas but I think it is a good result after all, especially the variation in dermal fibrosis and hair counts.” – Dr Taleb Barghouthi, March 19th 202
- On April 1st 2023, Dr Barghouthi discussed his latest work with verteporfin in this interview:
Dr Barghouthi’s First Trial With Verteporfin
Dr. Barghouthi has tried using verteporfin on a “test” FUE. He set up 3 control and 3 test locations across the donor region, where the control was injected with PBS and the test locations were injected with verteporfin with a concentration of 2 mg/mL, which was the concentration used in pigs, with dosages of 0.24 mg/cm2, 0.32 mg/cm2, and 0.4 mg/cm2. These dosages were extrapolated from the mice study, as the dosages for the pig study haven’t been released. He’s seen the patient weekly for the first month, and around monthly since then. Here is a video where Dr. Barghouthi shares his thoughts after the 3 month mark. Below are the most recent pictures of the latest results after 21 weeks.
“For this update I started with a zoomed out photo to try to make a more generalized idea about what’s going on. On the zoomed images you can still see (as in the last update at week 17) some potential hair growth around punch sites or within them as compared to control areas. You can also appreciate the difference in the punch area skin texture in between some of the test and control sites. Nonetheless, what is more interesting is the overall look of test vs control areas in the zoomed out photos. I particularly think that 0.4 mg gave an overall better healing and potential regrowth than others. You can hopefully appreciate how the area to the right of the blue line I marked shows a generally better looking donor healing than the same 0.4 control area. Again I do appreciate that limitations of this early trial and photography and I do think that some areas within the test areas healed better due to the injection technique or drug delivery method. This is something we have to improve as mentioned before. I will take histology in December of various sites to histologically compare test and control areas.” – Dr Taleb Barghouthi
0.4 mg/cm² verteporfin. Please note there is a pre existing scar in the top left.
0.4 mg/cm² PBS.
0.32 mg/cm² PBS in the control and 0.32 mg/cm² verteporfin in the test.
0.24 mg/cm² PBS in the control and 0.24/cm² verteporfin in the test.
0.4 mg/cm² PBS in the control and 0.4 mg/cm² verteporfin in the test.
0.32 mg/cm² PBS in the control and 0.32 mg/cm² verteporfin in the test.
