Hair Loss News

This weekend’s WrestleMania 23 will have millions of viewers watching as one of two billionaires have their heads shaved on national TV.

Dubbed the “Battle of the Billionaires”, Donald Trump and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon signed on the dotted line on March 13 agreeing to the highly anticipated “Hair vs. Hair” match at WrestleMania 23. 

Each billionaire has a wrestler who will represent them in the match and the losing billionaire will lose his locks if his wrestler loses the match.  Donald Trump’s designated wrestler is ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley, and Vince McMahon’s designated wrestler is “The Samoan Bulldozer” Umaga.

If Lashley wins, Trump will shave off McMahon’s hair, but if Umaga wins, Trump will have his hair shaved off live in front of a worldwide pay-per-view audience and more than 75,000 fans at Ford Field in Detroit.

At first Trump, 60, was hesitant to participate. He said the 61-year-old McMahon persuaded him by making a “sizable” donation to charity. Both Trump and McMahon will donate their checks, an amount McMahon said should exceed $5 million. WrestleMania 23 already has topped $5 million in ticket sales, making it the highest grossing one-day live event in WWE history.

Stone Cold Steve Austin will police the “Battle of the Billionaires” as the special guest referee.

WrestleMania 23 will be broadcast on pay-per-view TV on Sunday, April 1, 2007 at 7 EST / 4 PST.

For more info visit: http://www.wwe.com/

Intercytex recently released their annual report which includes details of their hair cloning technique dubbed ICX-TRC.

The Phase II trial of ICX-TRC, their cell therapy product for hair regeneration in male-pattern baldness, began in September 2006.  The process involves taking a biopsy from the subject, separating out the relevant cells, and growing them in their facility using a proprietary process.

All biopsies from the first group of 9 patients have been taken and most of these patients have been treated.  Further groups will follow to investigate variations in the delivery technique.   Intercytex expect to report preliminary data from this trial around the middle of 2007.

In the Phase I trial, which had 7 subjects, there were no safety issues and 5 out of the 7 patients had an increased number of hairs after treatment.  The Phase II trials have 10 patients per group and is ongoing.  It is an efficacy trial designed to look for new hair growth.

Intercytex has also received a £1.8m grant from the British government to assist in the commercialization of their process.

DENVER - To get ahead, it’s good to have a full head of hair.  That’s the conclusion of a national consumer survey that reached more than 1,000 men and women, ranging from about 20 to 50 years of age.  The survey, which was released today by Hair Sciences Center of Colorado, revealed, among other interesting results, that 61 percent of respondents believe that both men and women today are judged by their hair.

Other findings include:

• 52 percent of respondents believe that men and women who have what is perceived as “good hair” get better jobs while 53 percent say men/women with good hair have more attractive partners.
• 46.5 percent indicate that men with a full head of hair are smarter than those who are balding or bald.  Among these, results show that men who are losing their hair were the least smart when compared with those with hair or those who are already bald.
• 66 percent say they think that men with a full head of hair are more successful.  Men losing their hair ranked the least successful, even more so than those who are bald.
• 73 percent of respondents say they notice when a mature woman’s hair is thinning.
• Of the 140 female respondents that reported hair loss, 70 percent believe their self-esteem will decrease with hair loss.
• Although hair is perceived to play a key role in career paths, self-esteem, image and personal success among respondents, upwards of 83 percent of those surveyed say they would rather lose their hair than 20 percent of their income.

• Read more: According to a national survey on hair bald is not beautiful

Newswise — People are mixing supplements, herbs and over-the-counter medications and prescription drugs to cure themselves of ills, unaware that they could be making themselves sicker, says George Grossberg, M.D., director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Saint Louis University.

Dr. Grossberg is about to change all that. He is the co-author of a new book, “The Essential Herb-Drug-Vitamin Interaction Guide,” which is a comprehensive listing of what various herbs and supplements do, possible side effects and how they might interact with other medications and foods.

“People think if it doesn’t require a prescription, it’s got to be safe, and that’s not true. There could be life-threatening effects.”

Dr. Grossberg first became interested in the topic after a routine six-month visit with a patient he had successfully treated for depression. He had been seeing the patient for four or five years, and asked if the man was dealing with any new health problems.

The patient mentioned that he was scheduled to go in for cystoscopy in a couple weeks because there had been blood in his urine. The procedure involves inserting the pencil-thin tip of a probe through the urethra, up to the bladder to detect the cause of the problem.

The patient had undergone thousands of dollars of MRIs and CAT scans of his lower abdomen and pelvis, which had not revealed the reason for the bleeding, and the test was the next diagnostic step.

• Read more: Beware of combining herbal supplements with drugs

“Hair loss is an important health issue for millions of American men and women, and they need accurate medical information in order to make informed decisions about their treatment options,” said Alan J. Bauman, M.D., a leading U.S. hair restoration physician.
 
Dr. Bauman is a top U.S. expert on hair loss who’s heard the full range of hair loss myths, rumors and mistakes from the hundreds of male and female patients he treats every year.

According to Dr. Bauman, the five most common hair loss myths are:

MYTH #1: Hair loss can be predicted by looking at your mother’s father.

FACT: Baldness is inherited, but it’s a combination of genes passed on from both the mother’s and father’s side of the family.

MYTH #2: Hair loss stops after a certain age.

FACT:   Hair loss is a progressive trait that doesn’t stop at any particular age. Regardless of whether a person still has a full head of hair or thinks they’ve lost all they can, hair loss can increase over time.

MYTH #3: Special shampoos that “unclog” hair follicles can prevent baldness.

FACT: There is no scientific proof that follicles can actually “clog” and prevent hair growth.

MYTH #4: Wearing a hat or helmet can cause hair loss.

FACT: Headwear like hats and helmets have no effect on hair loss. However, heavy hairpieces that are attached to existing hair by weaves, tape or glue can sometimes lead to hair loss called “traction alopecia.

MYTH #5: Brushing or massaging the scalp can reduce hair loss.

FACT: There is no scientific proof that brushing or massaging the scalp to improve circulation will prevent or reduce hair loss.
 
Over 80 million American men and women suffer from hair loss, and they spend about $2 billion on treatments each year. For more information about the causes and treatments of hair loss, visit Dr. Bauman’s website at www.baumanmedical.com

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced new draft guidance that would implement a more stringent approach for considering potential conflicts of interest for its advisory committee members and for recommending eligibility for meeting participation.

Advisory committees provide FDA with independent advice from outside experts on issues related to human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, and food. In general, advisory committees include a chair, several members, plus a consumer, industry, and sometimes a patient representative. Additional experts with special knowledge may be consulted as needed. Although the committees provide advice to the agency, their recommendations are not binding and FDA makes final decisions.

“FDA is committed to making the advisory committee process more rigorous and transparent so that the public has confidence in the integrity of the recommendations made by its advisory committees,” said Randall Lutter, Ph.D., FDA’s acting deputy commissioner for policy. “Today’s draft guidance document should provide more consistency in the consideration of who is eligible to participate in advisory committee meetings and would simplify the process.”

FDA currently screens all prospective advisory committee participants before each meeting to determine whether the potential for a financial conflict of interest exists. Under law, FDA may grant a waiver when certain criteria are met, such as when the need for an individual’s expertise outweighs the potential for a conflict of interest.

• Read more: FDA Proposes New, Tougher Procedures for Membership on Advisory Committees

OTTAWA, Canada - A coalition of Canadian pharmacists and patients have called on the Regional Coroner for Vancouver Island to hold an inquest into the death of a woman who died after apparently taking counterfeit pills she had ordered online.

Coroner Rose Stanton, Regional Coroner for Vancouver Island, reported on Tuesday that poisoning appeared to be the cause of death of 57-year-old Marcia Bergeron, who died on December 27th, 2006.

The coroner has linked the death to pills Bergeron purchased from a purported Canadian internet pharmacy about a month before she died. Toxicology tests revealed the counterfeit pills contained dangerously high levels of the heavy metals strontium, uranium and lead, the coroner said.

“The circumstances of Ms. Bergeron’s death are disturbing to Canadian pharmacists and patients, and an inquest is necessary to make public all the facts in this case,” said CPhA Executive Director Jeff Poston. “This case reinforces our message that Canadians should buy their drugs from their community pharmacist, not from unknown internet sites.”

Bergeron was a U.S. citizen who spent part of the year on Quadra Island in Vancouver, Canada.

• Read more: Women dies after ordering fake pills off the internet