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Study to Determine Effect of Gentle Wounding to Stimulate Hair Follicle Neogenesis
Sponsor: Johns Hopkins University
Summary
The investigators have extensive evidence in mouse that wounding leads to the generation of new hair follicles in the skin. This can be an important new therapy for patients with scarring, but especially those with alopecia. The question is whether gentle wounding in human subjects can cause the generation of a new hair follicle. The plan is to first carefully map a small area of the scalp without hair follicles. Investigators will then try various modalities of gentle wounding (including fractionated Carbon Dioxide (CO2) laser, mild curetting) of the surface epithelium in the presence and absence of FDA approved topical medications (including retinoids). Investigators will then prospectively monitor the area for hair growth both by noninvasive visual monitoring (including photographs and dermoscopy) and biopsies. The outcomes of this study hopefully will allow new therapies for especially scarring alopecia conditions where hair follicles are completely lost and there are no current therapies.
Official title: Pilot Exploratory Study to Determine Effect of Gentle Wounding to Stimulate Hair Follicle Neogenesis
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - 80 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
24
Start Date
2018-01-01
Completion Date
2024-11-01
Last Updated
2026-06-12
Healthy Volunteers
No
Interventions
Retinoic acid
The study team will treat skin with topical retinoic acid
Laser
The study team treat skin with a surface laser.
Sham treatment
No drug will be given
Sham treatment
No laser treatment will be given
Locations (1)
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Dermatology Department
Baltimore, Maryland, United States